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In Andrei Tarkovsky’s The Sacrifice, the distance from hope to despair is a short jump—a chasm crossed with the help of something so immediate as a television transmission. As his birthday celebration winds down on a gloomy summer evening in remote Sweden, retired intellectual Alexander (Erland Josephson) tiptoes half-drunk into his living room to find a group of friends and family bewitched by the soft blue glow of a TV set’s screen, out of which emanates an announcement of nuclear conflict.

The warning winds down, the TV is turned off, and the mood descends—first into stunned silence, then into outright hysteria, and then into a kind of sedated anxiousness from which the film never quite resurfaces. In certain contexts, this dramaturgical pivot might register a bit maudlin, but in 2018, when Twitter and cable news provide an endless gushing stream of outrages, the film’s evocation of...

Some of the most iconic prequel movies out there have been overlooked for far too long. Whether this is because of a disappointing performance at the box office or because they didn't connect with audiences as well as the original, prequels have often struggled in theaters and in terms of critical reception. It's easier for spinoffs or the best legacy movie sequels to carve out their places within the franchise, but prequels often have a more difficult time standing out. However, this also means that many prequels have been reevaluated and hailed as great works of art on their own.

The best prequel movies of all time often feel less like origin stories and more like natural continuations of the adventures of the previous films. Prequels will often strike a different tone and even break out into another genre to distinguish themselves from the movies they're based on. This ensures...

In the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Manhunt", Betazoid ambassador Lwaxana Troi (Majel Barrett) hitches a ride on the Enterprise-d, partly to visit her daughter Deanna (Marina Sirtis), but mostly to flirt with Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart). It seems that Lwaxana is going through the Betazoid equivalent of menopause, and her libido is skyrocketing. As such, she seems determined to arrive at her destination with a husband in tow, and she doesn't really care who it might be. 

Lwaxana Troi is a fun character for "Star Trek," as she is outspoken, charismatic, and tends to flout the buttoned-up formality that Starfleet officers abide by. Barrett played the role on six episodes of "Next Generation," and returned for three episodes of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." Her flippant demeanor allowed her to solve mysteries without thinking about it, and her stories tended to be personally dramatic rather than highfalutin sci-fi.

With Netflix's new take on Jane Austen's Persuasion promising to be a "modern and witty" take on the book with "color-blind" casting, we were given a first look at Dakota Johnson as Anne Elliot, along with co-star Nikki Amuka-Bird who plays Lady Russell, on the set in full costume. The images suggested that while they may be making it "modern", that clearly doesn't factor in the style or era in which the movie is set, as the attire is most certainly in keeping with Austen's time period.

Dakota Johnson is pictured filming Netflix's modern take on Jane Austen's classic book #Persuasionhttps://t.co/kF1D10OUNQpic.twitter.com/8DU8t0rP8j

— Et Canada (@ETCanada) June 14, 2021

The images were taken on Saturday as filming continued in Salisbury, England, and show Dakota Johnson wearing a period style charcoal dress and a while billowing blouse while sitting on a tree...

The Sacrifice Kino Classics from Kino Lorber – new 4K restoration Reviewed by: Harvey Karten Director: Andre Tartovsky Screenwriter: Andre Tartovsky Cinematography: Sven Nykvist Production Design: Anna Asp Costumes: Inger Pehrsson Editing: Andrei Tarkovsky, Michal Leszczylowski Cast: Erland Josephson, Susan Fleetwood, Allan Edwall, Guorún Gísladóttir, Sven Wollter, Valérie Mairesse, Filippa Franzén, Tommy Kjellqvist Screened at: […]

The post The Sacrifice Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

After a gorgeous restoration of his landmark existential sci-f film Stalker earlier this year, another Andrei Tarkovsky masterpiece has been remastered and is coming to theaters. The director’s final film, The Sacrifice, has recently undergone a 4K restoration and ahead of a screening at New York Film Festival and theatrical run starting at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, a new trailer has arrived.

Judging from the trailer, this restoration does justice to Tarkovsky’s swan song with no shortages of haunting imagery. The Sweden-shot film follows an upper-class family who learns World War III is upon them. Starring Sven Vollter, Alexander Erland Josephson, Allan Edwall, Valerie Mairesse, Gudron S Gisladottir, and Susan Fleetwood, check out the trailer and poster below.

The sacrifice in Andrei Tarkovsky’s final film, completed only months before his death from cancer at the age of 54, is performed by Alexander, an aging professor who...

When he passed away at the age of 54, Andrei Tarkovsky left a tremendous cinematic legacy with only seven feature films to his name. And his final film, “The Sacrifice,” completed just months before he would succumb to cancer, was his final masterpiece. Now, it has been newly restored and its headed back to the big screen where it deserves to be experienced.

Starring Sven Vollter, Erland Josephson, Allan Edwall, Valerie Mairesse, Gudron S Gisladottir, and Susan Fleetwood, and gorgeously shot by cinematographer Sven Nykvist, the film takes viewers to the anxious edge of World War III, where one family faces the looming horror.

Continue reading ‘The Sacrifice’ Trailer: Andrei Tarkovsky’s Newly Restored Final Masterpiece Returns [Exclusive] at The Playlist.

"If it gets too boring, I'll run away." Cohen Media Group has debuted an official trailer for the upcoming re-release of the classic romantic adventure Heat and Dust, directed by James Ivory, that was originally released in 1983. Set in India in the 1920s, the story looks back at the life of an English woman named Olivia who becomes fascinated by India and enamored by the local ruler, a nawab who combines British distinction with Indian pomp and ruthlessness. The film's international cast stars Greta Scacchi, Shashi Kapoor, Julie Christie, Christopher Cazenove, Julian Glover, Susan Fleetwood, Patrick Godfrey, and Jennifer Kendal. This is a brand new, 4K restoration meaning it will look and sound better than ever. I have not seen this film myself, but I have heard it's certainly worth watching. For now, check out the trailer. Here's the new re-release trailer (+ poster) for James Ivory's Heat and Dust,...

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To celebrate the release of The Englishman’s Castle, Chandler and Co., A Picture of Katherine Mansfield, The Locksmith and Lazarus & Dingwall on DVD, we are giving 1 lucky WhatCulture reader the chance to win a bundle containing all five!

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An Englishman’s Castle (1978) starring Kenneth More (Father Brown), Isla Blair (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) and Anthony Bate (Tinker, Tailor, Solider Spy), is set in an alternate 1970s on an Earth where Germany won the Second World War and is now occupying England. Peter Ingram (More) is the lead writer of a popular soap opera set in Blitz-era London, and knowingly turns a blind eye to the local Nazi rule, opting for the easy life. But when faced with the stark reality of the situation Peter has a difficult decision to make.

Available to own on DVD from 5th October 2015.

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Chandler and Co.

Rank the week of July 5th’s Blu-ray and DVD new releases against the best films of all-time: New Releases Hobo With A Shotgun

(DVD and Blu-Ray | Nr | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #3839

Times Ranked: 1526

Win Percentage: 47%

Top-20 Rankings: 7

Directed By: Jason Eisener

Starring: Rutger Hauer • Gregory Smith • Molly Dunsworth • Brian Downey • Nick Bateman

Genres: Action • Adventure • Crime • Crime Thriller • Thriller

Rank This Movie

Wake Wood

(DVD and Blu-Ray | Nr | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #15374

Times Ranked: 35

Win Percentage: 32%

Top-20 Rankings: 0

Directed By: David Keating

Starring: Eva Birthistle • Ella Connolly • Amelia Crowley • Aidan Gillen • Timothy Spall

Genres: Drama • Horror

Rank This Movie

13 Assassins

(DVD and Blu-Ray | Nr | 2010)

Flickchart Ranking: #2732

Times Ranked: 1084

Win Percentage: 59%

Top-20 Rankings: 8

Directed By: Takashi Miike

Starring: Koji Yakusho • Takayuki Yamada • Yusuke Iseya • Gorô Inagaki • Masachika Ichimura

Genres: Action • Ensemble Film • Period Film • Samurai Film

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Bloodrayne: The Third Reich

(DVD and Blu-ray | R | 2010)

Flickchart Ranking: #17903

Times Ranked: 30

Win Percentage: 42%

Top-...

The Sacrifice (1986) Direction & Screenplay: Andrei Tarkovsky Cast: Erland Josephson, Susan Fleetwood, Tommy Kjellqvist, Allan Edwall, Gudún S. Gísladóttir, Sven Wollter, Valérie Mairesse By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica: Watching Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky’s final work, Offret / The Sacrifice (1986), is an exercise in cinema appreciation. That’s not because The Sacrifice is a great film, but because it has great moments interspersed with moments of sheer boredom. In fact, The Sacrifice is one of those rare films that goes to the antipodes of what is good and bad in that art form. Overall, it’s worth seeing; but it is in no way, shape, or [...]...

Published posthumously, Jane Austen s novel Persuasion was written as the author s health deteriorated in 1815-16. She died a year later at 42, unmarried and still a virgin, with many interpreting the book as semiautobiographical. It rates as the most problematic Austen work to adapt into a feature, with a largely passive heroine and subtle story line about the participants in a courtship that ended badly meeting years later.

It s not hard to see why there was only one other significant attempt to film the book, in 1971 by Granada Television. But to one s complete delight, this latest English production of Persuasion, directed by Roger Michellcq ( The Buddha of Suburbia ) is spectacularly successful in every way. With more Austen adaptations due soon, Persuasion sets the standard and may be hard to beat artistically.

Perfectly cast and paced swiftly, and yet remarkably faithful to Austen, the Sony Pictures Classics release is one of the season s best offerings. A crowded marketplace and lack of stars means the word must get out via word-of-mouth and reviews, both of which should be smashing.

Although this is Amanda Root's first lead role in a feature, she is outstanding as Anne Elliot, the quiet, intelligent, but often overlooked daughter of proud but financially and socially shaky Sir Walter Elliot (Corin Redgrave), a widower forced to rent out the family estate. With few lines of dialogue in the film's first half, the fantastically expressive Root draws one into the poignant and delicately mannered drama.

As the film progresses and Anne comes closer to her true love, naval hero Capt. Frederick Wentworth (Ciaran Hinds), it's wonderful watching her character transform from a pale, defeated spinster-in-the-making to a passionately aroused, assertive woman able to determine her own fate.

Years before the film's 1814 setting in post-Battle-of-Trafalgar England, Anne broke off her engagement to Wentworth under the ``persuasion'' of the family's cautious adviser, Lady Russell (Susan Fleetwood). But she never recovered from the disappointment; he sought escape in the navy.

Playwright Nick Dear's screenplay thrusts one into the narrative quickly, and introduces the many characters with relative ease. From Anne's younger married sister Mary (Sophie Thompson) and gossipy friend Mrs. Smith (Helen Schlesinger) to the worldly couple Mrs. Croft (Fiona Shaw) and her husband (John Woodvine), the admiral who inadvertently brings Wentworth back into Anne's life, it's a lively mix of personalities that navigate the story's deceptively choppy narrative.

One of the most pleasing aspects of the film is the unglamorous approach to the characters, with little makeup for the women and a leading man who is not a lantern-jawed poster boy. Indeed, Hinds (``Circle of Friends'') is compelling as Root, excellently conveying the jilted suitor's simmering desire to rekindle romance and genuine anguish when it looks as if Anne's scheming cousin (Samuel West) might have the upper hand.

The re-creation of the times is worth the price of admission, including Alexander Byrne's lived-in costumes and the many sets and locations used by production designers William Dudley and Brian Sykes. Cinematographer John Daly's roving camera is well-suited to the film's energetic approach, which helps bring Austen's brilliant, timeless story to life in a fashion one previously could only dream was possible.

PERSUASION

Sony Pictures Classics

BBC Films, WGBH/Mobil Masterpiece Theatre,

Millesime Prods. present

Director: Roger Michell

Producer: Fiona Finlay

Screenplay: Nick Dear

Based on the novel by: Jane Austen

Exec producers: George Faber, Rebecca Eaton

Director of photography: John Daly

Editor: Kate Evans

Music: Jeremy Sams

Production designers: William Dudley,

Brian SykesCostume designer: Alexandra Byrne

Associate producer: Margot Hayhoe

Color/stereo

Cast:

Anne Elliot: Amanda Root

Capt. Wentworth: Ciaran Hinds

Lady Russell: Susan Fleetwood

Sir Walter Elliot: Corin Redgrave

Mrs. Croft: Fiona Shaw

Adm. Croft: John Woodvine

Mary Musgrove: Sophie Thompson

Running time -- 107 minutes

MPAA Rating: PG

(c) The Hollywood Reporter...