Paramount+ is starting September with a bang with hundreds of new film titles joining its library, from comedies like “Blazing Saddles” and “The Big Lebowski,” to award-winning dramas like “Schindler's List” and “Forrest Gump” and sci-fi thrillers like “Terminator 2” and “Annihilation.”
But the streamer isn’t stopping there, with even more TV series (including Paramount+ originals and exclusives) and sports available throughout the month on the Paramount+ Essential plan and even more titles on the Paramount+ with Showtime.
Check out The Streamable’s picks for the top five titles arriving to the streamer this month!
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What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Coming to Paramount+ in September 2023? “Blazing Saddles” | Friday, Sept. 1
Return to Rock Ridge with Mel Brooks’ fourth-wall-breaking classic that will leave you anything but tired. The satirical Western-black comedy follows...
But the streamer isn’t stopping there, with even more TV series (including Paramount+ originals and exclusives) and sports available throughout the month on the Paramount+ Essential plan and even more titles on the Paramount+ with Showtime.
Check out The Streamable’s picks for the top five titles arriving to the streamer this month!
30-Day Free Trial $5.99+ / month paramountplus.com
For a Limited Time, Get 1 Month of Paramount+ With Code: Lioness
What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Coming to Paramount+ in September 2023? “Blazing Saddles” | Friday, Sept. 1
Return to Rock Ridge with Mel Brooks’ fourth-wall-breaking classic that will leave you anything but tired. The satirical Western-black comedy follows...
- 8/29/2023
- by Ashley Steves
- The Streamable
Later in life, Raquel Welch would occasionally acknowledge that Richard Lester’s The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974) provided her with the best reviews of her career. And it’s hard to argue. Prior to those successful, and slyly subversive, reworkings of Alexandre Dumas’ most famous novel, Welch was known as the sex symbol of the ’60s. She was the redhead in the fur bikini of One Million Years B.C. (1966); the poster image that was so iconic her figure became the primary sales pitch for a movie about dinosaurs!
The bombshell persona opened the doors of Hollywood, but for a woman who was already a mother of two at the time and had to change her name to hide her Bolivian heritage, it was a mirage. She ran with it throughout the ‘60s, leaving a legacy that lingered on in movies which ranged from The Shawshank Redemption (1994) to Belfast...
The bombshell persona opened the doors of Hollywood, but for a woman who was already a mother of two at the time and had to change her name to hide her Bolivian heritage, it was a mirage. She ran with it throughout the ‘60s, leaving a legacy that lingered on in movies which ranged from The Shawshank Redemption (1994) to Belfast...
- 2/18/2023
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Jean-Pierre Melville’s film is a harrowing look at life in the French resistance during World War II. Starring legendary actors Lino Ventura, Simone Signoret, and Jean-Pierre Cassel, the film was a political football during its initial release in 1969, but has been reappraised and, more importantly, restored for safekeeping.
The post Army of Shadows appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post Army of Shadows appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 8/15/2022
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
To mark the release of the restoration of The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie on 20th June, we’ve been given 2 copies to give away on Blu-ray.
This virtually plotless tale of six middle-class guests and their interrupted attempts to have a meal together stars Fernando Rey, Paul Frankeur (The Phantom Of Liberty), Delphine Seyrig, Bulle Ogier (L’Amour Fou), Stéphane Audran and Jean-Pierre Cassel (Murder On The Orient Express) and was the recipient of the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar as well as two BAFTA awards on its release in 1972.
Buñuel’s humorous satire depicts a group of friends – the Thévenots, the Sénéchals, Madame Thévenot’s younger sister Florence and Latin American ambassador Don Rafael Acosta – make repeated attempts to dine together, but are constantly frustrated by bizarre interruptions, including a series of dreams.
Please note: This competition is open to UK residents only
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The Small...
This virtually plotless tale of six middle-class guests and their interrupted attempts to have a meal together stars Fernando Rey, Paul Frankeur (The Phantom Of Liberty), Delphine Seyrig, Bulle Ogier (L’Amour Fou), Stéphane Audran and Jean-Pierre Cassel (Murder On The Orient Express) and was the recipient of the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar as well as two BAFTA awards on its release in 1972.
Buñuel’s humorous satire depicts a group of friends – the Thévenots, the Sénéchals, Madame Thévenot’s younger sister Florence and Latin American ambassador Don Rafael Acosta – make repeated attempts to dine together, but are constantly frustrated by bizarre interruptions, including a series of dreams.
Please note: This competition is open to UK residents only
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The Small...
- 6/13/2022
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
"I don't think I belong here." The Film Forum in NYC has revealed an official 4K restoration trailer for the iconic, surrealist masterpiece The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, one of the great Luis Buñuel's final films. It originally premiered in 1972, which means it's celebrating its 50th anniversary this year in 2022. It's highly regarded as a cerebral classic dealing with time travel and the bourgeoisie and their never-ending appetite. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie follows a group of dinner guests attempting to dine together, despite continual interruptions involving dreams and repeating scenes. The film is described as Bunuel's "most frivolously witty movie, directed (at the age of 72) with exhilarating ease." The French film stars Fernando Rey, Stéphane Audran, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Paul Frankeur, Delphine Seyrig, Bulle Ogier, Julien Bertheau, and Milena Vukotic. It's one of the most confusing films you'll ever see, but that's also part of the "discreet charm" of figuring it out,...
- 5/30/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Actor Jean-Paul Belmondo, whose performance in Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 “Breathless” helped usher in the French New Wave, has died at the age of 88. The actor’s lawyer confirmed the report to news outlets on Monday. No cause of death has been revealed. Belmondo starred in nearly 100 features, for both film and television including the aforementioned “Breathless” and “Pierrot le Fou.”
Belmondo was April 9, 1933 west of Paris in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Acting didn’t come immediately to Belmondo. He began as a boxer, making his amateur debut in the ring in 1949. The physical changes to his face, according to the actor, compelled him to leave the sport. He would eventually attend a private drama school , transitioning to the Conservatoire of Dramatic Arts in his twenties. He made his stage debut in 1953.
His first film role came in Jean-Pierre Cassel’s 1957 “On Foot, on Horse, and on Wheels,” but he wound up on the cutting-room floor.
Belmondo was April 9, 1933 west of Paris in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Acting didn’t come immediately to Belmondo. He began as a boxer, making his amateur debut in the ring in 1949. The physical changes to his face, according to the actor, compelled him to leave the sport. He would eventually attend a private drama school , transitioning to the Conservatoire of Dramatic Arts in his twenties. He made his stage debut in 1953.
His first film role came in Jean-Pierre Cassel’s 1957 “On Foot, on Horse, and on Wheels,” but he wound up on the cutting-room floor.
- 9/6/2021
- by Kristen Lopez
- Indiewire
All hail the cinematic delights of Luis Buñuel, a world-class directing genius whose work ranges from insightfully impish to point-blank outrageous. Driven from Spain by Fascists and from New York by commie hunters, he found a cinematic haven in Mexico, adapting his surreal mindset to popular film forms. These final three French features embrace the surrealist ethos, where a coherent narrative is optional. We definitely recognize our ‘rational’ world; Buñuel’s high art simply tells the truth.
Three Films by Luis Buñuel
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Phantom of Liberty, That Obscure Object of Desire
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 102. 290, 143
1972-1977 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 5, 2021 / 99.95
Cinematography: Edmond Richard
Production Designer: Pierre Guffroy
Film Editor: Hélène Plemiannikov
Written by Luis Buñuel, Jean-Claude Carrière
Produced by Serge Silberman
Directed by Luis Buñuel
Tracking down the films of Luis Buñuel has been an ongoing effort.
Three Films by Luis Buñuel
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Phantom of Liberty, That Obscure Object of Desire
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 102. 290, 143
1972-1977 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 5, 2021 / 99.95
Cinematography: Edmond Richard
Production Designer: Pierre Guffroy
Film Editor: Hélène Plemiannikov
Written by Luis Buñuel, Jean-Claude Carrière
Produced by Serge Silberman
Directed by Luis Buñuel
Tracking down the films of Luis Buñuel has been an ongoing effort.
- 1/9/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Mubi's double bill Renoir, Beginnings and Endings is showing September 15 - October 15, 2020 in the United States.Above: NanaJean Renoir, one of the greatest French filmmakers, if not the greatest, was a passionate raconteur. Not only did he write his expansionist memoir, My Life and My Films (1974), and rendered some of his life in prose in his late novels, but, according to his biographer, Pascal Merigeau, he also had a prodigious talent for molding fact into myth.Renoir’s dramatic story begins with his second feature, Nana (1927). Renoir adapted the tale about a striving actress from Émile Zola’s novel, to launch the career of his wife, Catherine Hessling. Hessling dreamed of Hollywood, as eventually did Renoir. Some ten years later, he moved to Los Angeles, where he lived till his death, in 1979. The film’s Nana plays hussies but dreams of a tragic role. When a theater director humiliates her,...
- 9/11/2020
- MUBI
Jean-Pierre Melville’s most accomplished, most personal movie gets a new reissue. Ignored in 1969 and released in the United States only 37 years later, this somber, ultra-realistic look at the French resistance has never been equalled. Forget thrilling adventure tales with daring escapes, patriotic oaths and beautiful spies; Melville presents resistance activities in the Occupied territory as a fearful grind leading in one direction only. Criterion’s extras include an interview piece with historical operatives, who still argue points of strategy.
Army of Shadows
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 385
1969 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 145 min. / L’Armée des ombres / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date April 7, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Simone Signoret, Claude Mann, Paul Crauchet, Christian Barbier, Serge Reggiani, André Dewavrin.
Cinematography: Pierre Lhomme, Walter Wottitz
Film Editor: Françoise Bonnot
Original Music: Eric De Marsan
Written by Jean-Pierre Melville from the novel by Joseph Kessel
Produced by Jacques Dorfmann
Directed...
Army of Shadows
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 385
1969 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 145 min. / L’Armée des ombres / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date April 7, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Simone Signoret, Claude Mann, Paul Crauchet, Christian Barbier, Serge Reggiani, André Dewavrin.
Cinematography: Pierre Lhomme, Walter Wottitz
Film Editor: Françoise Bonnot
Original Music: Eric De Marsan
Written by Jean-Pierre Melville from the novel by Joseph Kessel
Produced by Jacques Dorfmann
Directed...
- 4/7/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Bodard worked with iconic directors Jacques Demy, Agnès Varda, Robert Bresson, Jean-Luc Godard, Maurice Pialat, Alain Resnais and Claude Miller.
Legendary French producer Mag Bodard, who worked with iconic directors Jacques Demy, Agnès Varda, Robert Bresson, Jean-Luc Godard, Maurice Pialat, Alain Resnais and Claude Miller, has died at the age of 103-years-old.
Bodard, whose heyday was in the 1960s and 70s, got her first producer credit in 1962 on Norbert Carbonnaux’s comedy The Dance, featuring Françoise Dorléac in her first starring role opposite Jean-Pierre Cassel.
The crew featured production designer Jacques Saulnier, who would go on to work closely with Resnais,...
Legendary French producer Mag Bodard, who worked with iconic directors Jacques Demy, Agnès Varda, Robert Bresson, Jean-Luc Godard, Maurice Pialat, Alain Resnais and Claude Miller, has died at the age of 103-years-old.
Bodard, whose heyday was in the 1960s and 70s, got her first producer credit in 1962 on Norbert Carbonnaux’s comedy The Dance, featuring Françoise Dorléac in her first starring role opposite Jean-Pierre Cassel.
The crew featured production designer Jacques Saulnier, who would go on to work closely with Resnais,...
- 3/1/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
A breezy five-episode compilation movie about swindles plays out in five film capitals, under the eye of five different directors including Claude Chabrol and Jean-Luc Godard. But Roman Polanski’s Amsterdam segment couldn’t be included, which is a shame. It’s in B&W ‘scope, and everybody gets to bring their favorite cameraman and composer along.
The World’s Most Beautiful Swindlers
Blu-ray
Olive Films
1964 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 95 108, 124 min. / Street Date April 25, 2017 / Les plus belles escroqueries du monde / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98
Starring: Mie Hama, Ken Mitsuda, Nicole Karen, Gabriella Giorgelli, Jan Teulings, Arnold Gelderman, Guido Giuseppone, Giuseppe Mannajuolo, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Catherine Deneuve, Francis Blanche, Sacha Briquet, Jean-Louis Maury, Philomène Toulouse, Charles Denner, Jean-Luc Godard, Jean Seberg, László Szabó.
Cinematography: Raoul Coutard, Tonino Delli Colli, Jerzy Lipman, Asakazu Nakai, Jean Rabier
Film Editor:
Original Music: Serge Gainsbourg, Pierre Jansen, Krzysztof Komeda, Michel Legrand, Keitaro Miho, Piero Umiliani...
The World’s Most Beautiful Swindlers
Blu-ray
Olive Films
1964 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 95 108, 124 min. / Street Date April 25, 2017 / Les plus belles escroqueries du monde / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98
Starring: Mie Hama, Ken Mitsuda, Nicole Karen, Gabriella Giorgelli, Jan Teulings, Arnold Gelderman, Guido Giuseppone, Giuseppe Mannajuolo, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Catherine Deneuve, Francis Blanche, Sacha Briquet, Jean-Louis Maury, Philomène Toulouse, Charles Denner, Jean-Luc Godard, Jean Seberg, László Szabó.
Cinematography: Raoul Coutard, Tonino Delli Colli, Jerzy Lipman, Asakazu Nakai, Jean Rabier
Film Editor:
Original Music: Serge Gainsbourg, Pierre Jansen, Krzysztof Komeda, Michel Legrand, Keitaro Miho, Piero Umiliani...
- 5/16/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
A pure-gold Savant favorite, Sir Richard Attenborough's first feature as director is a stylized pacifist epic of the insane tragedy of WW1, told through contemporary songs, with the irreverent lyrics given them by the soldiers themselves. And one will not want to miss a young Maggie Smith's music hall performance -- luring young conscripts to doom in the trenches. It's the strangest pacifist film ever, done in high style. Oh! What a Lovely War DVD The Warner Archive Collection 1969 / Color / 2:35 enhanced widescreen / 144 min. / Street Date September 22, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 16.99 Starring: Too many to name, see below. Cinematography Gerry Turpin Production Design Donald M. Ashton Art Direction Harry White Choreography Eleanor Fazan Film Editor Kevin Connor Original Music Alfred Ralston Written by Len Deighton from the musical play by Joan Littlewood from the radio play by Charles Chilton Produced by Richard Attenborough, Brian Duffy, Len Deighton Directed...
- 2/23/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The Eighth Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — co-produced by Cinema St. Louis and the Webster University Film Series — celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. The featured films span the decades from the 1920s through the early 1990s, offering a comprehensive overview of French cinema.
The fest is annually highlighted by significant restorations, and we’re especially pleased to present Jacques Rivette’s long-unavailable epic Out 1: Spectre Additional restoration highlights include Jean-Luc Godard’s A Married Woman and Max Ophüls’ too-little-seen From Mayerling To Sarajevo. Both Ophüls’ film and Louis Malle’s Elevator To The Gallows – with a jazz score by St. Louis-area native Miles Davis — screen from 35mm prints. All films will screen at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (47- E. Lockwood)
Music fans will further delight in the Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra’s accompaniment and original score for Carl Th. Dreyer’s...
The fest is annually highlighted by significant restorations, and we’re especially pleased to present Jacques Rivette’s long-unavailable epic Out 1: Spectre Additional restoration highlights include Jean-Luc Godard’s A Married Woman and Max Ophüls’ too-little-seen From Mayerling To Sarajevo. Both Ophüls’ film and Louis Malle’s Elevator To The Gallows – with a jazz score by St. Louis-area native Miles Davis — screen from 35mm prints. All films will screen at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (47- E. Lockwood)
Music fans will further delight in the Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra’s accompaniment and original score for Carl Th. Dreyer’s...
- 2/16/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Danièle Delorme and Jean Gabin in 'Deadlier Than the Male.' Danièle Delorme movies (See previous post: “Danièle Delorme: 'Gigi' 1949 Actress Became Rare Woman Director's Muse.”) “Every actor would like to make a movie with Charles Chaplin or René Clair,” Danièle Delorme explains in the filmed interview (ca. 1960) embedded further below, adding that oftentimes it wasn't up to them to decide with whom they would get to work. Yet, although frequently beyond her control, Delorme managed to collaborate with a number of major (mostly French) filmmakers throughout her six-decade movie career. Aside from her Jacqueline Audry films discussed in the previous Danièle Delorme article, below are a few of her most notable efforts – usually playing naive-looking young women of modest means and deceptively inconspicuous sexuality, whose inner character may or may not match their external appearance. Ouvert pour cause d'inventaire (“Open for Inventory Causes,” 1946), an unreleased, no-budget comedy notable...
- 12/18/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
By Todd Garbarini
Update: Producer Ilya Salkind now also slated to appear.
Richard Lester’s film The Four Musketeers is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. With an all-star cast that includes Oliver Reed, Faye Dunaway, Raquel Welch, Richard Chamberlain, Michael York, and Sir Christopher Lee, the film will be shown on Tuesday, September 29th, 2015 at 7:00 pm as a special tribute to Sir Christopher as well as part of the theatre's Anniversary Classics series. Actors Richard Chamberlain and Michael York are scheduled to appear at the screening and take part in a Q & A and discussion on the making of the film.
From the press release:
Last year the Anniversary Classics series presented a successful 40th anniversary screening of The Three Musketeers, director Richard Lester's stylish and entertaining retelling of Alexandre Dumas' classic novel. Join us this year to see Lester's stirring conclusion of the tale, The Four Musketeers...
Update: Producer Ilya Salkind now also slated to appear.
Richard Lester’s film The Four Musketeers is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. With an all-star cast that includes Oliver Reed, Faye Dunaway, Raquel Welch, Richard Chamberlain, Michael York, and Sir Christopher Lee, the film will be shown on Tuesday, September 29th, 2015 at 7:00 pm as a special tribute to Sir Christopher as well as part of the theatre's Anniversary Classics series. Actors Richard Chamberlain and Michael York are scheduled to appear at the screening and take part in a Q & A and discussion on the making of the film.
From the press release:
Last year the Anniversary Classics series presented a successful 40th anniversary screening of The Three Musketeers, director Richard Lester's stylish and entertaining retelling of Alexandre Dumas' classic novel. Join us this year to see Lester's stirring conclusion of the tale, The Four Musketeers...
- 9/1/2015
- by [email protected] (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
From April 20 to April 28, 2015, filmgoers will celebrate the 19th edition of Colcoa French Film Festival, "9 Days of Film Premieres in Hollywood." The festival has recently unveiled the Focus on a Filmmaker program as well as an exclusive line up of French Classics of predominantly digitally restored films, presented as World, International or North American Premieres. All screenings will take place at the Directors Guild of America. For the first time, the Colcoa Classics Series from Tuesday to Saturday will be free with no reservation, on a first come, first served, basis.
Focus on a Filmmaker: Academy Award-Winner Michel Hazanavicius
Colcoa will honor Academy Award-winning writer-director Michel Hazanavicius on Thursday, April 23 with a special encore presentation of "Oss 117 Cairo Nest of Spies" (2006) (Colcoa Classics), as well as the Los Angeles Premiere of his new film , three years after the triumph of multi-Academy Award- winner, "The Artist." The cast of "The Search" includes Academy Award Nominee Bérénice Bejo and Academy Award nominee AAnnette Bening . "The Search" had its World Premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last year. Hazanavicius joins writer-directors Cedric Klapisch, Bertrand Blier, Costa Gavras, Florent Siri, Julie Delpy and Alain Resnais, whose key body of work has been cited in past festivals. This will be his third film presented at the festival, following "Oss 117 Cairo Nest of Spies" and the International Premiere of "Oss 117, Lost in Rio." Michel Hazanavicius will meet the audience for a Happy Hour Talk panel dedicated to his work. (Colcoa Classics + Panel + Premiere of "The Search.")
30th Anniversary of Palme D'Or Winner "Paris,Texas"
The digitally restored version of French production "Paris,Texas" (1984) will have its West Coast Premiere at Colcoa. The Cannes Palme d'Or winner, co-written by Sam Shepard and L.M. Kit Carson, and directed by Academy Award Nominee Wim Wenders, will be presented in association with Argos Films and Janus Films. The cast includes Nastassja Kinski who will present the film, Harry Dean Stanton and Dean Stockwell. (Colcoa Classics)
North American Premiere of Digitally Restored "La Chienne"
Colcoa will present the digitally restored version of "La Chienne" (1931), the second talking movie co-written and directed by Jean Renoir. It stars Michel Simon, Janie Marèse and Georges Flamant. This exclusive new presentation in the U.S. is made possible thanks to the Franco-American Cultural Fund (Facf), Janus Films La Cinémathèque Française and Les Films du Jeudi. (Colcoa Classics)
World Premiere of Digitally Restored "Will It Snow for Christmas?"
A special 20th anniversary screening of digitally restored "Will It Snow for Christmas?" (1996) will be offered to the Colcoa audience. The film, written and directed by Sandrine Veysset, starring Dominique Reymond, Daniel Duval and Jessica Martinez, will be presented for the first time in advance of a U.S. release by Carlotta Films. (Colcoa Classics)
First American Presentation Since 1961 "Five Day Lover"
This romantic comedy by the late writer-director Philippe de Broca, starring Jean-Pierre Cassel François Périer, Jean Seberg and Micheline Presle, will be presented in an American theatre for the first time since its opening in 1961. Colcoa will present the digitally restored version of "Five Day Lover" as a World Premiere. The Cohen Media Group will release the film later this year in the U.S.. (Colcoa Classics) World Premiere of Digitally Restored "Two Men in Town"
A classic film noir written and directed by José Giovanni, starring Alain Delon and Jean Gabin, "Two Men in Town"(1973) will be presented for the first time on the big screen in a digitally restored version. The Cohen Media group will release the film later this year (Colcoa Classics). North American Premiere of Digitally Restored "The Last Metro"
Following last year's homage to the universally renowned François Truffaut, Colcoa is proud to offer the North American Premiere of the digitally restored "The Last Metro" (1980), presented in association with the Franco-American Cultural Fund, La Cinématheque Française, MK2 and Janus Films. This masterpiece was also Truffaut's most successful box office success. It stars Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu. (Colcoa Classics...
Focus on a Filmmaker: Academy Award-Winner Michel Hazanavicius
Colcoa will honor Academy Award-winning writer-director Michel Hazanavicius on Thursday, April 23 with a special encore presentation of "Oss 117 Cairo Nest of Spies" (2006) (Colcoa Classics), as well as the Los Angeles Premiere of his new film , three years after the triumph of multi-Academy Award- winner, "The Artist." The cast of "The Search" includes Academy Award Nominee Bérénice Bejo and Academy Award nominee AAnnette Bening . "The Search" had its World Premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last year. Hazanavicius joins writer-directors Cedric Klapisch, Bertrand Blier, Costa Gavras, Florent Siri, Julie Delpy and Alain Resnais, whose key body of work has been cited in past festivals. This will be his third film presented at the festival, following "Oss 117 Cairo Nest of Spies" and the International Premiere of "Oss 117, Lost in Rio." Michel Hazanavicius will meet the audience for a Happy Hour Talk panel dedicated to his work. (Colcoa Classics + Panel + Premiere of "The Search.")
30th Anniversary of Palme D'Or Winner "Paris,Texas"
The digitally restored version of French production "Paris,Texas" (1984) will have its West Coast Premiere at Colcoa. The Cannes Palme d'Or winner, co-written by Sam Shepard and L.M. Kit Carson, and directed by Academy Award Nominee Wim Wenders, will be presented in association with Argos Films and Janus Films. The cast includes Nastassja Kinski who will present the film, Harry Dean Stanton and Dean Stockwell. (Colcoa Classics)
North American Premiere of Digitally Restored "La Chienne"
Colcoa will present the digitally restored version of "La Chienne" (1931), the second talking movie co-written and directed by Jean Renoir. It stars Michel Simon, Janie Marèse and Georges Flamant. This exclusive new presentation in the U.S. is made possible thanks to the Franco-American Cultural Fund (Facf), Janus Films La Cinémathèque Française and Les Films du Jeudi. (Colcoa Classics)
World Premiere of Digitally Restored "Will It Snow for Christmas?"
A special 20th anniversary screening of digitally restored "Will It Snow for Christmas?" (1996) will be offered to the Colcoa audience. The film, written and directed by Sandrine Veysset, starring Dominique Reymond, Daniel Duval and Jessica Martinez, will be presented for the first time in advance of a U.S. release by Carlotta Films. (Colcoa Classics)
First American Presentation Since 1961 "Five Day Lover"
This romantic comedy by the late writer-director Philippe de Broca, starring Jean-Pierre Cassel François Périer, Jean Seberg and Micheline Presle, will be presented in an American theatre for the first time since its opening in 1961. Colcoa will present the digitally restored version of "Five Day Lover" as a World Premiere. The Cohen Media Group will release the film later this year in the U.S.. (Colcoa Classics) World Premiere of Digitally Restored "Two Men in Town"
A classic film noir written and directed by José Giovanni, starring Alain Delon and Jean Gabin, "Two Men in Town"(1973) will be presented for the first time on the big screen in a digitally restored version. The Cohen Media group will release the film later this year (Colcoa Classics). North American Premiere of Digitally Restored "The Last Metro"
Following last year's homage to the universally renowned François Truffaut, Colcoa is proud to offer the North American Premiere of the digitally restored "The Last Metro" (1980), presented in association with the Franco-American Cultural Fund, La Cinématheque Française, MK2 and Janus Films. This masterpiece was also Truffaut's most successful box office success. It stars Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu. (Colcoa Classics...
- 2/25/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Luis Buñuel movies on TCM tonight (photo: Catherine Deneuve in 'Belle de Jour') The city of Paris and iconoclastic writer-director Luis Buñuel are Turner Classic Movies' themes today and later this evening. TCM's focus on Luis Buñuel is particularly welcome, as he remains one of the most daring and most challenging filmmakers since the invention of film. Luis Buñuel is so remarkable, in fact, that you won't find any Hollywood hipster paying homage to him in his/her movies. Nor will you hear his name mentioned at the Academy Awards – no matter the Academy in question. And rest assured that most film critics working today have never even heard of him, let alone seen any of his movies. So, nowadays Luis Buñuel is un-hip, un-cool, and unfashionable. He's also unquestionably brilliant. These days everyone is worried about freedom of expression. The clash of civilizations. The West vs. The Other.
- 1/27/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Marie Dubois, actress in French New Wave films, dead at 77 (image: Marie Dubois in the mammoth blockbuster 'La Grande Vadrouille') Actress Marie Dubois, a popular French New Wave personality of the '60s and the leading lady in one of France's biggest box-office hits in history, died Wednesday, October 15, 2014, at a nursing home in Lescar, a suburb of the southwestern French town of Pau, not far from the Spanish border. Dubois, who had been living in the Pau area since 2010, was 77. For decades she had been battling multiple sclerosis, which later in life had her confined to a wheelchair. Born Claudine Huzé (Claudine Lucie Pauline Huzé according to some online sources) on January 12, 1937, in Paris, the blue-eyed, blonde Marie Dubois began her show business career on stage, being featured in plays such as Molière's The Misanthrope and Arthur Miller's The Crucible. François Truffaut discovery: 'Shoot the...
- 10/17/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
(This review pertains to the UK Region 2 DVD release).
By Tim Greaves
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I first encountered Lionel Jeffries’ 1973 melodrama Baxter! during the summer of 1978 on what I believe to be its one and only British television airing by the BBC. Its conspicuous absence on video in the UK – and, until 2014, DVD – meant that, for me, some 36 years elapsed between viewings. A small, and in many respects not particularly memorable film, it nevertheless stayed with me over the intervening years for, I think, two reasons. The first was its unexpectedly dark nature, which completely caught me off guard given the family friendly nature of the director’s previous films, The Railway Children and The Amazing Mr Blunden; best remembered for his myriad of on-screen performances, Baxter! was in fact the third of only five projects which positioned Jeffries on the other side of the camera.
By Tim Greaves
Normal 0 false false false En-Us X-none X-none
I first encountered Lionel Jeffries’ 1973 melodrama Baxter! during the summer of 1978 on what I believe to be its one and only British television airing by the BBC. Its conspicuous absence on video in the UK – and, until 2014, DVD – meant that, for me, some 36 years elapsed between viewings. A small, and in many respects not particularly memorable film, it nevertheless stayed with me over the intervening years for, I think, two reasons. The first was its unexpectedly dark nature, which completely caught me off guard given the family friendly nature of the director’s previous films, The Railway Children and The Amazing Mr Blunden; best remembered for his myriad of on-screen performances, Baxter! was in fact the third of only five projects which positioned Jeffries on the other side of the camera.
- 9/30/2014
- by [email protected] (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
10. Altered States (1980)
Directed by: Ken Russell
Is it a horror film? Many of Ken Russell’s films could be argued as such, but there’s enough in Altered States that makes it less horror and more science fiction/psychological thriller. Based on the novel by Paddy Chayefsky, Altered States introduced the world to William Hurt (and also featured the film debut of Drew Barrymore). Edward Jessup (Hurt) is studying schizophrenia, but branches out into sensory deprivation experimentation with a floating tank. Eventually, he travels to Mexico to visit a tribe that provides him with an extract which he begins to take before his trips into the flotation tank, resulting in bizarre imagery and eventual physical devolution, once to a primitive man and to a near primordial blob. Side effects start to occur, causing Edward to suffer from episodes of partial regression even without the hallucinogenic drug. Russell’s direction shifts...
Directed by: Ken Russell
Is it a horror film? Many of Ken Russell’s films could be argued as such, but there’s enough in Altered States that makes it less horror and more science fiction/psychological thriller. Based on the novel by Paddy Chayefsky, Altered States introduced the world to William Hurt (and also featured the film debut of Drew Barrymore). Edward Jessup (Hurt) is studying schizophrenia, but branches out into sensory deprivation experimentation with a floating tank. Eventually, he travels to Mexico to visit a tribe that provides him with an extract which he begins to take before his trips into the flotation tank, resulting in bizarre imagery and eventual physical devolution, once to a primitive man and to a near primordial blob. Side effects start to occur, causing Edward to suffer from episodes of partial regression even without the hallucinogenic drug. Russell’s direction shifts...
- 9/24/2014
- by Joshua Gaul
- SoundOnSight
Ah, Hollywood, where the best present one can get under the tree are the remake/reboot rights to a studio property. Really, they shouldn't have.... First up, Ed Helms will attempt playing Detective Frank Drebin in a reboot of "The Naked Gun." We don't envy "Night At The Museum" screenwriting pals Thomas Lennon and R. Ben Garant who will have to try and match the gonzo perfection of the 1988 movie, which is one of Leslie Nielsen's finest hours. The perfect cocktail of hilarious/clever/deeply stupid one liners, B and C-level casting (Priscilla Presley, Ricardo Montalban, George Kennedy, O.J. Simpson) is the sort of lightning in a bottle you can't re-create by committee. But they'll try anyway.. Meanwhile, Ridley Scott is among the producers who have decided that Sidney Lumet's star-studded (Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Jacqueline Bisset, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Vanessa Redgrave and Ingrid Bergman) 1974 mystery "Murder On The Orient.
- 12/13/2013
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
‘La Cage aux Folles’ director Edouard Molinaro, who collaborated with Catherine Deneuve, Jeanne Moreau, Orson Welles, dead at 85 Edouard Molinaro, best known internationally for the late ’70s box office comedy hit La Cage aux Folles, which earned him a Best Director Academy Award nomination, died of lung failure on December 7, 2013, at a Paris hospital. Molinaro was 85. Born on May 31, 1928, in Bordeaux, in southwestern France, to a middle-class family, Molinaro began his six-decade-long film and television career in the mid-’40s, directing narrative and industrial shorts such as Evasion (1946), the Death parable Un monsieur très chic ("A Very Elegant Gentleman," 1948), and Le verbe en chair / The Word in the Flesh (1950), in which a poet realizes that greed is everywhere — including his own heart. At the time, Molinaro also worked as an assistant director, collaborating with, among others, Robert Vernay (the 1954 version of The Count of Monte Cristo, starring Jean Marais) and...
- 12/8/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Jean-Claude Carrière has enjoyed a long and fruitful career as perhaps France's most important screenwriter, with extended collaborations with Buñuel and Pierre Étaix, as well as smaller stints with Milos Forman, Claude Berri, Jacques Deray and Jean-Luc Godard. He has also worked as co-director alongside Étaix, and his one solo job, the short film The Nail Clippers, is a little classic.
But Carrière has also carried on a modest career as an actor, playing small roles in many of the films based on his scenarios. 1971's L'alliance, directed by Christian de Chalonge, seems to be his one real attempt at becoming a movie star.
In a rather Buñuelian scenario, Carrière's Hugues presents himself at a dating agency and announces that he's looking to find a wife with a spacious apartment. It turns out that he's a vet and needs somewhere to both live and practice. He's...
But Carrière has also carried on a modest career as an actor, playing small roles in many of the films based on his scenarios. 1971's L'alliance, directed by Christian de Chalonge, seems to be his one real attempt at becoming a movie star.
In a rather Buñuelian scenario, Carrière's Hugues presents himself at a dating agency and announces that he's looking to find a wife with a spacious apartment. It turns out that he's a vet and needs somewhere to both live and practice. He's...
- 10/9/2013
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
Of all the cinéma de papa stylists so despised by the nouvelle vague, René Clair stands alone as the sole member of the old guard to stand down in the face of critical opposition. Or so it seems: Les fêtes galantes (1965) was his last film.
While Carné and the rest struggled on, defiantly filming when they could, Clair apparently had no stomach for the fight: if people thought he was old-fashioned, maybe he should stop.
One doesn't have to hate Clair with the ferocity that Truffaut could muster in order to see some sad wisdom in this retirement: for some time, Clair's films had been a little stiff. His early days among the surrealists, when he could make a kinetic exercise in visual absurdity like Entr'acte (1924), were long gone, and the vein of absurdist fantasy that enlivened his earliest narrative movies had its last expression in 1952's Les belles de nuit,...
While Carné and the rest struggled on, defiantly filming when they could, Clair apparently had no stomach for the fight: if people thought he was old-fashioned, maybe he should stop.
One doesn't have to hate Clair with the ferocity that Truffaut could muster in order to see some sad wisdom in this retirement: for some time, Clair's films had been a little stiff. His early days among the surrealists, when he could make a kinetic exercise in visual absurdity like Entr'acte (1924), were long gone, and the vein of absurdist fantasy that enlivened his earliest narrative movies had its last expression in 1952's Les belles de nuit,...
- 7/11/2013
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
Luis Buñuel's brilliant hothouse flower of a film benefits from a little distance from the bourgeois conventions in question
Luis Buñuel's surreal masterpiece from 1972, co-written with Jean-Claude Carrière, is stranger and more sensual than ever. The weirdness under the conventions throbs even more insistently and indiscreetly, now that those conventions themselves are historically distant. We can see with hindsight how Buñuel's subversion absorbed the various modish forms of agitprop and radical chic, and subverted those as well. The action revolves around some half-a-dozen well-to-do metropolitan sophisticates who are forever attempting to meet up for dinner parties and elegant soirees only to find the event ruined by an absent host, or some mysterious misunderstanding, or bizarre turn of events, and then one will awake to find it all to be a dream, yet the distinction between dream and waking does not become any clearer. The surrealist and anthropologist...
Luis Buñuel's surreal masterpiece from 1972, co-written with Jean-Claude Carrière, is stranger and more sensual than ever. The weirdness under the conventions throbs even more insistently and indiscreetly, now that those conventions themselves are historically distant. We can see with hindsight how Buñuel's subversion absorbed the various modish forms of agitprop and radical chic, and subverted those as well. The action revolves around some half-a-dozen well-to-do metropolitan sophisticates who are forever attempting to meet up for dinner parties and elegant soirees only to find the event ruined by an absent host, or some mysterious misunderstanding, or bizarre turn of events, and then one will awake to find it all to be a dream, yet the distinction between dream and waking does not become any clearer. The surrealist and anthropologist...
- 6/28/2012
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
When Bernard Natan, head of Pathé, had his French nationality taken away during the French Occupation (after which he perished in Auschwitz), his brother Emile, also a film producer, was similarly denaturalized. But Emile escaped the country, enlisted abroad, and was able to return to France as a conquering hero at the end of the war. His citizenship was restored and he resumed his producing career, notably with Yves Allegret's Maneges (1950).
When Natan died, his company was taken over by his daughter Monique. Now it was the Sixties, and a whole new generation of filmmakers were at work, with a whole new style. But Monique rejected all offers from the nouvelle vague—the only two filmmakers she took a real interest in were Jean Rollin, with whom she produced and co-wrote Le frisson des Vampires (softcore erotic vampire S&M horror), and Alain Jessua.
Jeu de massacre (1967), Jessua's film for Natan's Les Films Modernes,...
When Natan died, his company was taken over by his daughter Monique. Now it was the Sixties, and a whole new generation of filmmakers were at work, with a whole new style. But Monique rejected all offers from the nouvelle vague—the only two filmmakers she took a real interest in were Jean Rollin, with whom she produced and co-wrote Le frisson des Vampires (softcore erotic vampire S&M horror), and Alain Jessua.
Jeu de massacre (1967), Jessua's film for Natan's Les Films Modernes,...
- 6/14/2012
- MUBI
It has been a year since Sidney Lumet passed away on April 9, 2011. Here is our retrospective on the legendary filmmaker to honor his memory. Originally published April 15, 2011.
Almost a week after the fact, we, like everyone that loves film, are still mourning the passing of the great American master Sidney Lumet, one of the true titans of cinema.
Lumet was never fancy. He never needed to be, as a master of blocking, economic camera movements and framing that empowered the emotion and or exact punctuation of a particular scene. First and foremost, as you’ve likely heard ad nauseum -- but hell, it’s true -- Lumet was a storyteller, and one that preferred his beloved New York to soundstages (though let's not romanticize it too much, he did his fair share of work on studio film sets too as most TV journeyman and early studio filmmakers did).
His directing career stretched well over 50 years,...
Almost a week after the fact, we, like everyone that loves film, are still mourning the passing of the great American master Sidney Lumet, one of the true titans of cinema.
Lumet was never fancy. He never needed to be, as a master of blocking, economic camera movements and framing that empowered the emotion and or exact punctuation of a particular scene. First and foremost, as you’ve likely heard ad nauseum -- but hell, it’s true -- Lumet was a storyteller, and one that preferred his beloved New York to soundstages (though let's not romanticize it too much, he did his fair share of work on studio film sets too as most TV journeyman and early studio filmmakers did).
His directing career stretched well over 50 years,...
- 4/9/2012
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
The actor, trained ballet dancer, and husband of Monica Bellucci is a man of hidden depths. In his latest role, he plays an anarchic disciple of Sigmund Freud. So, asks Elizabeth Day, did he get to the bottom of why he's drawn to the dark side?
Vincent Cassel is very charming. He knows it. I know it. Everyone in the room – the photographer, her assistant, the make-up artist, the fashion team – knows it, too. When he speaks, his every witticism is greeted with a tinkling outburst of communal laughter. When he moves his leg ever so slightly to alter his pose, the photographer becomes breathless with admiration: "Perfect. That's perfect." It's only a matter of time until we all break into a round of applause and throw long-stemmed roses at his feet.
Once the photos are done, we take a seat in an adjoining room in what is quite possibly the hippest hotel in Paris,...
Vincent Cassel is very charming. He knows it. I know it. Everyone in the room – the photographer, her assistant, the make-up artist, the fashion team – knows it, too. When he speaks, his every witticism is greeted with a tinkling outburst of communal laughter. When he moves his leg ever so slightly to alter his pose, the photographer becomes breathless with admiration: "Perfect. That's perfect." It's only a matter of time until we all break into a round of applause and throw long-stemmed roses at his feet.
Once the photos are done, we take a seat in an adjoining room in what is quite possibly the hippest hotel in Paris,...
- 2/5/2012
- by Elizabeth Day
- The Guardian - Film News
A look at what's new on DVD today:
"Meskada" (2010)
Directed by Josh Sternfeld
Released by Anchor Bay Entertainment
When this thriller premiered at Tribeca this past spring, Alison Willmore wrote, "the second film from writer/director Josh Sternfeld ("Winter Solstice") has ambitions reaching beyond being a straightforward police procedural," though critics, including her, were mixed about the end result. Nick Stahl and Rachel Nichols star as small-town sleuths who investigate a botched home invasion case that claims the life of a young child in an affluent community and enflames class divisions when the main suspects are from the poorer community nearby. Grace Gummer, Meryl Streep's second daughter to go into the family profession, makes her film debut.
"Anywhere USA" (2008)
Directed by Chusy Haney-Jardine
Released by Cinevolve Studios
Winner of a Spirit of Independence prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, Chusy Haney-Jardine's collection of three comic vignettes involves a...
"Meskada" (2010)
Directed by Josh Sternfeld
Released by Anchor Bay Entertainment
When this thriller premiered at Tribeca this past spring, Alison Willmore wrote, "the second film from writer/director Josh Sternfeld ("Winter Solstice") has ambitions reaching beyond being a straightforward police procedural," though critics, including her, were mixed about the end result. Nick Stahl and Rachel Nichols star as small-town sleuths who investigate a botched home invasion case that claims the life of a young child in an affluent community and enflames class divisions when the main suspects are from the poorer community nearby. Grace Gummer, Meryl Streep's second daughter to go into the family profession, makes her film debut.
"Anywhere USA" (2008)
Directed by Chusy Haney-Jardine
Released by Cinevolve Studios
Winner of a Spirit of Independence prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, Chusy Haney-Jardine's collection of three comic vignettes involves a...
- 3/22/2011
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
Chicago – Imagine working on the most ambitious, personal artistic endeavor of your life only to watch the most unusual circumstances of fate tear it away from the public eye. Such was the case with 1969’s excellent “Army of Shadows,” a film that took 37 years to find an audience stateside. Released in U.S. theaters for the first time in 2006, Jean-Pierre Melville’s fascinating tale of the French Resistance has now been given the Criterion Blu-ray upgrade and firmly stands as the excellent piece of work that it should have been recognized as for the last several decades.
Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0
Like its characters, “Army of Shadows” fell victim to politics, revolution, misunderstanding, and a bit of propaganda. The film was released in France shortly after a quelled uprising in 1968 had turned President De Gaulle into an enemy of the cultural revolution. The immensely-powerful Cahier du Cinema read the film as a...
Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0
Like its characters, “Army of Shadows” fell victim to politics, revolution, misunderstanding, and a bit of propaganda. The film was released in France shortly after a quelled uprising in 1968 had turned President De Gaulle into an enemy of the cultural revolution. The immensely-powerful Cahier du Cinema read the film as a...
- 1/21/2011
- by [email protected] (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
DVD Playhouse: January 2011
By
Allen Gardner
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (20th Century Fox) Sequel to the seminal 1980s film catches up with a weathered, but still determined Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas, who seems to savor every syllable of Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff’s screenplay) just out of jail and back on the comeback trail. In attempting to repair his relationship with his estranged daughter (Carey Mulligan), Gekko forges a reluctant alliance with her fiancé (Shia Labeouf), himself an ambitious young turk who finds himself seduced by Gekko’s silver tongue and promise of riches. Lifeless film is further evidence of director Oliver Stone’s decline. Once America’s most exciting filmmaker, Stone hasn’t delivered a film with any teeth since 1995’s Nixon. Labeouf and Mulligan generate no sparks on-screen, and the story feels forced from the protracted opening to the final, Disney-esque denouement. Only a brief cameo by Charlie Sheen,...
By
Allen Gardner
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (20th Century Fox) Sequel to the seminal 1980s film catches up with a weathered, but still determined Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas, who seems to savor every syllable of Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff’s screenplay) just out of jail and back on the comeback trail. In attempting to repair his relationship with his estranged daughter (Carey Mulligan), Gekko forges a reluctant alliance with her fiancé (Shia Labeouf), himself an ambitious young turk who finds himself seduced by Gekko’s silver tongue and promise of riches. Lifeless film is further evidence of director Oliver Stone’s decline. Once America’s most exciting filmmaker, Stone hasn’t delivered a film with any teeth since 1995’s Nixon. Labeouf and Mulligan generate no sparks on-screen, and the story feels forced from the protracted opening to the final, Disney-esque denouement. Only a brief cameo by Charlie Sheen,...
- 1/21/2011
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
French actor Vincent Cassel is an unlikely sex symbol. Having made his name by playing violent, intense men, he's been cast in another dark, morally dubious film role in the new ballet thriller
At first, I didn't think I knew who Vincent Cassel was, because he has one of those faces that can look completely different in every movie he makes. That's not so unusual for a character actor, but it is for a sex symbol. In his native France he's been a leading man for many years, and if there can be a pretender to the crown last held by Gérard Depardieu then it must be Cassel – but only now, at 43, is he beginning to emerge as an international movie star.
As the son of the late French actor Jean-Pierre Cassel, a close friend of Serge Gainsbourg, Cassel grew up around the Parisian theatre scene. But his career began slowly,...
At first, I didn't think I knew who Vincent Cassel was, because he has one of those faces that can look completely different in every movie he makes. That's not so unusual for a character actor, but it is for a sex symbol. In his native France he's been a leading man for many years, and if there can be a pretender to the crown last held by Gérard Depardieu then it must be Cassel – but only now, at 43, is he beginning to emerge as an international movie star.
As the son of the late French actor Jean-Pierre Cassel, a close friend of Serge Gainsbourg, Cassel grew up around the Parisian theatre scene. But his career began slowly,...
- 1/21/2011
- by Decca Aitkenhead
- The Guardian - Film News
Once I got to the end of my first viewing of Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows I realized a close analogy was to compare it to a weather forecast for a thunderstorm. If you do any research into why Criterion would release this film on Blu-ray after their 2007 DVD edition hit shelves following a complete restoration of the 1969 classic you'll find reviewers shouting from the rooftops about the film's quality. Essentially, even though this film begins as something of a mild rainstorm with hints of thunder on the horizon by the time it's over you are in for one hell of a thunder and lightning show.
Dark clouds loom as Army of Shadows opens with marching German troops in front of the Arc de Triomphe in a scene Melville continued to move back-and-forth from the beginning of the film, to the end and ultimately back to the beginning. The...
Dark clouds loom as Army of Shadows opens with marching German troops in front of the Arc de Triomphe in a scene Melville continued to move back-and-forth from the beginning of the film, to the end and ultimately back to the beginning. The...
- 1/11/2011
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
He made his name playing hoodlums and rapists, and won acclaim as Mesrine, France's most charismatic gangster. Now his latest film, Black Swan, is about ballet. Is Vincent Cassel mellowing?
It isn't a good idea to upset Vincent Cassel. This, after all, is an actor who has made his name playing a succession of complex and profoundly villainous characters. In La Haine, Cassel's breakthrough 1995 film, he was a teenage hoodlum intent on killing a policeman. In Eastern Promises, David Cronenberg's violent 2007 deconstruction of the Russian underworld in London, Cassel's character rapes a 14-year-old girl and forces her into prostitution. And in Mesrine, arguably his most acclaimed role to date, the actor portrayed one of the most notorious gangsters in French history, winning a best actor César last year for his performance.
So I am a smidgen apprehensive that an ill-judged question will send him into some sort of psychopathic meltdown.
It isn't a good idea to upset Vincent Cassel. This, after all, is an actor who has made his name playing a succession of complex and profoundly villainous characters. In La Haine, Cassel's breakthrough 1995 film, he was a teenage hoodlum intent on killing a policeman. In Eastern Promises, David Cronenberg's violent 2007 deconstruction of the Russian underworld in London, Cassel's character rapes a 14-year-old girl and forces her into prostitution. And in Mesrine, arguably his most acclaimed role to date, the actor portrayed one of the most notorious gangsters in French history, winning a best actor César last year for his performance.
So I am a smidgen apprehensive that an ill-judged question will send him into some sort of psychopathic meltdown.
- 12/13/2010
- by Elizabeth Day
- The Guardian - Film News
It would have been easy for Vincent Cassel to become a glamorous movie star early on in life -- as the talented son of the French actor Jean-Pierre Cassel, he could have just waited for the leading man roles to come to him. "There was a path for me early on," says the 43-year-old actor. "A very clear path. I would have been these jeune premieres, these romantic leads. And I totally refused it."
Instead, the younger Cassel took a variety of darker, more diverse roles -- most notably as a young skinhead in Mathieu Kassovitz's breakthrough feature "La Haine (Hate)." In the process, he became identified with unhinged, physical, often brutish characters -- in films like Jan Kounen's "Dobermann" and Gaspar Noé's "Irreversible." (It carried over to Hollywood as well, with parts in films like "Ocean's Twelve" and "Eastern Promises.") And it could be argued that...
Instead, the younger Cassel took a variety of darker, more diverse roles -- most notably as a young skinhead in Mathieu Kassovitz's breakthrough feature "La Haine (Hate)." In the process, he became identified with unhinged, physical, often brutish characters -- in films like Jan Kounen's "Dobermann" and Gaspar Noé's "Irreversible." (It carried over to Hollywood as well, with parts in films like "Ocean's Twelve" and "Eastern Promises.") And it could be argued that...
- 8/24/2010
- by Bilge Ebiri
- ifc.com
Cassel Called On Medical Help To Lose Weight For Gangster Role
French movie star Vincent Cassel had to call on doctors to help him lose weight safely for his role in new film Mesrine as he struggled to keep the pounds from plummeting.
The Ocean's Eleven and Eastern Promises villain piled on 40 pounds (18.1 kilograms) to play infamous French gangster Jacques Mesrine in the film and then had to lose all the weight to play the thug as a young man.
Wiry Cassel called in experts when his efforts to shed the pounds became a little too easy.
He says, "I was helped by my doctors. For the first time in my life, I had bad cholesterol. I was freaking out, but by the time I finished the movie, the weight was gone and so was the bad cholesterol.
"I actually had a problem keeping the weight on. I had an assistant coming with this huge milkshake every day. When we completed the first (part of the) movie, I actually started to lose weight too fast and I had to stay on a certain kind of diet."
Cassel's efforts have already been rewarded in his native France - he picked up a Cesar award for his portrayal of Mesrine.
The film was a labour of love for the actor - he spent seven years trying to find the perfect director and raise the $50 million (£33.3 million) required to make the gritty four-hour epic.
But the wait cost him the chance to appear onscreen with his real-life father - Jean-Pierre Cassel died before the film started, so the Derailed star turned to family friend Michel Duchaussoy to play his character's dying dad.
Cassel admits the scene in which Mesrine bids his father farewell was packed with emotion.
He tells the Los Angeles Times, "The day we shot the scene it was terrible. There was a tension on the set. We shot that really fast, maybe three takes. Then I shook his hand and said, 'Ciao'."...
The Ocean's Eleven and Eastern Promises villain piled on 40 pounds (18.1 kilograms) to play infamous French gangster Jacques Mesrine in the film and then had to lose all the weight to play the thug as a young man.
Wiry Cassel called in experts when his efforts to shed the pounds became a little too easy.
He says, "I was helped by my doctors. For the first time in my life, I had bad cholesterol. I was freaking out, but by the time I finished the movie, the weight was gone and so was the bad cholesterol.
"I actually had a problem keeping the weight on. I had an assistant coming with this huge milkshake every day. When we completed the first (part of the) movie, I actually started to lose weight too fast and I had to stay on a certain kind of diet."
Cassel's efforts have already been rewarded in his native France - he picked up a Cesar award for his portrayal of Mesrine.
The film was a labour of love for the actor - he spent seven years trying to find the perfect director and raise the $50 million (£33.3 million) required to make the gritty four-hour epic.
But the wait cost him the chance to appear onscreen with his real-life father - Jean-Pierre Cassel died before the film started, so the Derailed star turned to family friend Michel Duchaussoy to play his character's dying dad.
Cassel admits the scene in which Mesrine bids his father farewell was packed with emotion.
He tells the Los Angeles Times, "The day we shot the scene it was terrible. There was a tension on the set. We shot that really fast, maybe three takes. Then I shook his hand and said, 'Ciao'."...
- 8/23/2010
- WENN
Among France's great younger actors, Vincent Cassel gained a fan base for portraying his nation's disenfranchised. Playing a rageful character living an aimless existence (the drama "La haine") or playing a literally lifelong criminal (the action film "Dobermann"), Cassel excelled at the quintessential angry young man. But those who have observed the skills underpinning his characterizations should not be surprised to learn that Cassel first trained at a circus school in France, at age 16, and that his earliest performances were as a street dancer and acrobat. Of course those skills came in handy for his role as the bendy burglar François Toulour in the "Ocean's" franchise. But Cassel's brilliant tour de force acting is now fully on view: "Mésrine: Killer Instinct" opens Aug. 27 in Los Angeles and New York after already winning Cassel a host of best-actor awards. (Part two of the saga, "Mésrine: Public Enemy No. 1," follows...
- 8/20/2010
- backstage.com
DVD Playhouse—June 2010
By
Allen Gardner
The White Ribbon (Sony) On the eve of Ww I, a small village in Germany is struck by a series of tragic, seemingly unconnected events until the townspeople, and the audience, start to connect the dots. Shot in stark, beautiful black & white, director Michael Haneke has fashioned a haunting metaphorical drama that is as coldly chilling as anything made by Ingmar Bergman, and darkly unsettling as anything from the canon of David Lynch. A rich, tough, brilliant cinematic experience you’re not likely to forget. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bd bonuses: Interviews with cast and crew; featurettes. Widescreen Dolby and DTS 5.1 surround.
Alice In Wonderland (Disney) Tim Burton’s take on the Lewis Carroll classic finds young Alice (Mia Wasikowska), a 19th century girl who finds herself in an unhappy engagement to a boorish suitor, tumbling down the rabbit hole into Wonderland, where she encounters magical cakes,...
By
Allen Gardner
The White Ribbon (Sony) On the eve of Ww I, a small village in Germany is struck by a series of tragic, seemingly unconnected events until the townspeople, and the audience, start to connect the dots. Shot in stark, beautiful black & white, director Michael Haneke has fashioned a haunting metaphorical drama that is as coldly chilling as anything made by Ingmar Bergman, and darkly unsettling as anything from the canon of David Lynch. A rich, tough, brilliant cinematic experience you’re not likely to forget. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bd bonuses: Interviews with cast and crew; featurettes. Widescreen Dolby and DTS 5.1 surround.
Alice In Wonderland (Disney) Tim Burton’s take on the Lewis Carroll classic finds young Alice (Mia Wasikowska), a 19th century girl who finds herself in an unhappy engagement to a boorish suitor, tumbling down the rabbit hole into Wonderland, where she encounters magical cakes,...
- 6/23/2010
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Jessica Hausner's drama is subtle, mysterious and brilliant, says Peter Bradshaw
"Leaving the miraculous out of life is like leaving out the lavatory or dreams or breakfast," wrote Graham Greene, but the miraculous certainly does tend to get left out of films, unless they are specifically about the life of Christ. So a contemporary movie set in Lourdes, among the believers and wheelchair-users who have come to that famous shrine in the hope of a cure, must inevitably trigger a series of expectations in the viewer: expectations of irony and disillusion, of some grotesque reversal, or maybe, in place of a cure, some violently satirical Dr Strangelove moment, a nauseous anti-miracle, like the ex-Nazi's euphoric scream of "I can walk!" in Kubrick's film at the instant when the earth's nuclear destruction is guaranteed.
Furthermore, this movie is by Jessica Hausner, the Austrian director whose name is habitually mentioned in...
"Leaving the miraculous out of life is like leaving out the lavatory or dreams or breakfast," wrote Graham Greene, but the miraculous certainly does tend to get left out of films, unless they are specifically about the life of Christ. So a contemporary movie set in Lourdes, among the believers and wheelchair-users who have come to that famous shrine in the hope of a cure, must inevitably trigger a series of expectations in the viewer: expectations of irony and disillusion, of some grotesque reversal, or maybe, in place of a cure, some violently satirical Dr Strangelove moment, a nauseous anti-miracle, like the ex-Nazi's euphoric scream of "I can walk!" in Kubrick's film at the instant when the earth's nuclear destruction is guaranteed.
Furthermore, this movie is by Jessica Hausner, the Austrian director whose name is habitually mentioned in...
- 3/25/2010
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Many might find L'armée des ombres extremely boring. In fact, for a film about the French resistance against Nazi occupation during WWII (1939-1945), the film pratically doesn't have any action scenes. However, if you're patient enough, you'll appreciate L'armée des ombres (which is adapted from a novel of Joseph Kessel) that explores the bottom of the leading protagonists' heart.
Philippe Gerbier (Lino Ventura), an engineer and a suspected resistant, is put behind bars by the French police. Afterwards, he's handed to the Gestapo's headquarters in Paris because he knows a lot of things. Philippe manages to escape and flee to Marseille in order to meet with fellow resistants. Moreover, he'll eliminate the traitor who caused his imprisonment. However, the Gestapo will try to not only arrest Philippe, but also his companions.
Let's be honest: the pace of Jean-Pierre Melville's film is really slow from the beginning to the end.
Philippe Gerbier (Lino Ventura), an engineer and a suspected resistant, is put behind bars by the French police. Afterwards, he's handed to the Gestapo's headquarters in Paris because he knows a lot of things. Philippe manages to escape and flee to Marseille in order to meet with fellow resistants. Moreover, he'll eliminate the traitor who caused his imprisonment. However, the Gestapo will try to not only arrest Philippe, but also his companions.
Let's be honest: the pace of Jean-Pierre Melville's film is really slow from the beginning to the end.
- 1/5/2010
- by [email protected] (Anh Khoi Do)
- The Cultural Post
Actor Jean-Pierre Cassel Dies
French actor, singer and dancer Jean-Pierre Cassel has died following a long illness. He was 74. The star, whose talent was discovered by Gene Kelly, died at his home in Paris yesterday. The father of actor Vincent Cassel and father-in-law of Italian actress Monica Bellucci will be best remembered for his role in late 1950s/ early 1960s comedies directed by Phillippe De Broca - but he also starred in English-language films including Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, Murder on the Orient Express and the Three Musketeers films, as well as the Oscar-winning film The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie . Cassel is survived by his three children, actors Vincent and Cécile and rapper Matthias.
- 4/23/2007
- WENN
Jean-Pierre Cassel dies at 74
PARIS -- French actor Jean-Pierre Cassel died Thursday in Paris after a long illness. He was 74.
"I honor the memory of a man who, with a subtle and ironic sophistication, left a unique imprint on the history of cinema, theater and television," Veronique Cayla, head of French national film body the CNC, said in a statement Friday.
Cassel got his break when he was discovered by Gene Kelly, who cast him in The Happy Road in 1957, and subsequently rose to fame starring in film comedies in the 1960s.
He went on to work with such major directors as Robert Altman, Luis Bunuel, Jean Renoir, Sidney Lumet, Claude Chabrol and Richard Attenborough.
The actor starred in more than 110 movies during his career and earned the onscreen affections of Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, Stephane Audran and Marie Dubois among others. Cassel, who once cited Fred Astaire as a source of inspiration, was famous for his role as the ungainly King Louis XIII in Richard Lester's pair of early 1970s films The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers.
His latest roles include Julian Schnabel's "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," In Competition at May's Festival de Cannes, in addition to the soon-to-be-released animated movie Asterix at the Olympic Games.
Cassel is survived by his three children, including son Vincent, who also has made a big name for himself stateside with roles in the recent Ocean's Twelve and Derailed.
Father and son were set to star in Jean-Francois Richet's two-film project about infamous gangster Jacques Mesrine -- Death Instinct and Public Enemy No. 1...
"I honor the memory of a man who, with a subtle and ironic sophistication, left a unique imprint on the history of cinema, theater and television," Veronique Cayla, head of French national film body the CNC, said in a statement Friday.
Cassel got his break when he was discovered by Gene Kelly, who cast him in The Happy Road in 1957, and subsequently rose to fame starring in film comedies in the 1960s.
He went on to work with such major directors as Robert Altman, Luis Bunuel, Jean Renoir, Sidney Lumet, Claude Chabrol and Richard Attenborough.
The actor starred in more than 110 movies during his career and earned the onscreen affections of Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, Stephane Audran and Marie Dubois among others. Cassel, who once cited Fred Astaire as a source of inspiration, was famous for his role as the ungainly King Louis XIII in Richard Lester's pair of early 1970s films The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers.
His latest roles include Julian Schnabel's "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," In Competition at May's Festival de Cannes, in addition to the soon-to-be-released animated movie Asterix at the Olympic Games.
Cassel is survived by his three children, including son Vincent, who also has made a big name for himself stateside with roles in the recent Ocean's Twelve and Derailed.
Father and son were set to star in Jean-Francois Richet's two-film project about infamous gangster Jacques Mesrine -- Death Instinct and Public Enemy No. 1...
- 4/21/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Depardieu to play 'Instinct' gangster
Gerard Depardieu will add his famous face to the first installment of Jean-Francois Richet's two-film project about infamous gangster Jacques Mesrine, known in France as "the man with 1,000 faces."
L'Instinct de Mort (Death Instinct) and L'Ennemi Public no.1 (Public Enemy No. 1), penned by Abdel Raouf Dafri and produced by Thomas Langmann's production company La Petite Reine, will highlight the murders and mysteries surrounding Mesrine, played by Vincent Cassel.
Depardieu will play Mesrine's fellow gangster and mentor in Instinct, and familiar faces Marion Cotillard and Eva Green also are rumored to be attached to the 35 million-40 million ($46.2 million-$52.8 million) budget venture.
The confirmed cast for Enemy includes Samuel Le Bihan, Olivier Gourmet, Jean-Pierre Cassel and Gilles Lellouche.
The project came close to being made four years ago with Barbet Schroeder at the helm and financing provided by UGC, but Cassel pulled out and the films were put on hold until Langmann took over and opted to produce under his La Petite Reine production banner.
L'Instinct de Mort (Death Instinct) and L'Ennemi Public no.1 (Public Enemy No. 1), penned by Abdel Raouf Dafri and produced by Thomas Langmann's production company La Petite Reine, will highlight the murders and mysteries surrounding Mesrine, played by Vincent Cassel.
Depardieu will play Mesrine's fellow gangster and mentor in Instinct, and familiar faces Marion Cotillard and Eva Green also are rumored to be attached to the 35 million-40 million ($46.2 million-$52.8 million) budget venture.
The confirmed cast for Enemy includes Samuel Le Bihan, Olivier Gourmet, Jean-Pierre Cassel and Gilles Lellouche.
The project came close to being made four years ago with Barbet Schroeder at the helm and financing provided by UGC, but Cassel pulled out and the films were put on hold until Langmann took over and opted to produce under his La Petite Reine production banner.
- 3/14/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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