“Anora,” the winner of the 2024 Palme d’Or, is a film that’s all too easy to describe as a star is born moment. The film, a madcap romance between the wealthy son of a Russian oligarch and a Brighton Beach sex worker that channels everything from the screwball comedies of Ernst Lubitsch to the intimate neo-realist dramas of Federico Fellini features a performance from Mikey Madison in the lead role that feels destined to raise the “Better Things” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” star’s profile immediately.
Beyond its leading lady, “Anora” also feels like it’s destined to be the moment where its director Sean Baker goes from indie darling to award darling. Baker, who made his directorial debut in the year 2000 with the obscure “Four Letter Words,” has slowly risen in stature for years now. After three more features — “Take Out,” “Prince of Broadway,...
Beyond its leading lady, “Anora” also feels like it’s destined to be the moment where its director Sean Baker goes from indie darling to award darling. Baker, who made his directorial debut in the year 2000 with the obscure “Four Letter Words,” has slowly risen in stature for years now. After three more features — “Take Out,” “Prince of Broadway,...
- 10/22/2024
- by Wilson Chapman
- Indiewire
Zum 14. Mal laden Bertelsmann und UFA noch bis 23. August zu den UFA Filmnächten auf die Berliner Museumsinsel ein. Der gestrige Auftakt fand vor vollem Haus statt.
Der Bertelsmann-Vorstandsvorsitzende Thomas Rabe und Schauspielerin Andrea Sawatzki, Patin der UFA Filmnächte, bei der gestrigen Eröffnung (Credit: Bertelsmann Se & Co. KGaA / Dirk Mathesius)
Vor mehr als 1.000 Zuschauern im voll besetzten Kolonnadenhof der Berliner Museumsinsel wurden gestern Abend die 14. UFA Filmnächte Carl Lamacs Komödie „Saxophon-Susi“ eröffnet. Musikalisch begleitet wurde die Aufführung der vom Deutschen Filminstitut & Filmmuseum (Dfff) rekonstruierte und digital restaurierte Fassung des Stummfilms aus dem Jahr 1928 vom Filmorchester The Sprockets.
Vor Beginn der UFA Filmnächte waren rund 300 Gäste in die Bertelsmann-Repräsentanz in Berlin eingeladen. Neben der Patin der diesjährigen UFA Filmnächte, Schauspielerin Andrea Sawatzki, begrüßte der Bertelsmann-Vorsitzende Thomas Rabe u.a. die Holocaust-Überlebende Margot Friedländer, die Regisseure Detlev Buck und Leander Haußmann sowie die Schauspieler Inka Friedrich, Ivy Quainoo, Dennenesch Zoude, Florence Kasumba, Ulrike Frank,...
Der Bertelsmann-Vorstandsvorsitzende Thomas Rabe und Schauspielerin Andrea Sawatzki, Patin der UFA Filmnächte, bei der gestrigen Eröffnung (Credit: Bertelsmann Se & Co. KGaA / Dirk Mathesius)
Vor mehr als 1.000 Zuschauern im voll besetzten Kolonnadenhof der Berliner Museumsinsel wurden gestern Abend die 14. UFA Filmnächte Carl Lamacs Komödie „Saxophon-Susi“ eröffnet. Musikalisch begleitet wurde die Aufführung der vom Deutschen Filminstitut & Filmmuseum (Dfff) rekonstruierte und digital restaurierte Fassung des Stummfilms aus dem Jahr 1928 vom Filmorchester The Sprockets.
Vor Beginn der UFA Filmnächte waren rund 300 Gäste in die Bertelsmann-Repräsentanz in Berlin eingeladen. Neben der Patin der diesjährigen UFA Filmnächte, Schauspielerin Andrea Sawatzki, begrüßte der Bertelsmann-Vorsitzende Thomas Rabe u.a. die Holocaust-Überlebende Margot Friedländer, die Regisseure Detlev Buck und Leander Haußmann sowie die Schauspieler Inka Friedrich, Ivy Quainoo, Dennenesch Zoude, Florence Kasumba, Ulrike Frank,...
- 8/22/2024
- by Jochen Müller
- Spot - Media & Film
This feature was published in Issue 5 of Notebook magazine as part of a broader exploration of the instructional form. The magazine is available via direct subscription or in select stores around the world.Lupino Lane’s acrobatic slapstick, saucer-eyed charm and comic timing made him a sensation in the music halls of his native London and on cinema screens around the world. He guaranteed his place in pop culture posterity when he first presented the sharp-elbowed strolling dance, “The Lambeth Walk,” in the 1937 hit West End musical Me and My Girl. Lane also starred in Albert de Courville’s film adaptation The Lambeth Walk in 1939, which transformed the cockney jig into a global craze. Lane was born in 1892 into the Lupino theatrical dynasty, which traced its on-stage activities back to the seventeenth century and would soon swell to include his young cousin Ida Lupino, who followed him to Hollywood. Under the moniker “Little Nipper,...
- 8/14/2024
- MUBI
Fritz Lang’s M is the greatest serial killer movie ever made. Of course, there have been dozens, even hundreds, of films on the subject with various innovations and evolutions along the way from the early days of cinema all the way to the most recent twists on the subgenre in MaXXXine and Longlegs. A few can be counted among the greatest films of all time regardless of genre, but all of them owe at least some measure of influence to M. Whether it is the best or not is a matter of opinion, but there is no real argument regarding its greatness. M is a true cinematic masterpiece, a touchstone of innovation in image, sound, performance, structure, editing, writing, and practically every other element of filmmaking. But as with most great films, audiences have been drawn to it again and again over the past ninety-plus years because of its...
- 7/30/2024
- by Brian Keiper
- bloody-disgusting.com
“Blame the Game” is a Netflix romantic comedy starring Janina Uhse, Dennis Mojen, Stephan Luca, Taneshia Abt and Edin Hasanović. It is directed by Marco Petry.
Blame the Game
“Blame the Game” is a classic comedic film on Netflix, reminiscent in style to the refined Hollywood classics of Ernst Lubitsch or Frank Capra. This refined and elegant comedy adopts a traditional farcical formula, with most of the action happening on one stage and spanning a single night.
This film, with its simple script and straightforward characters, is sure to entertain those who appreciate a retro-style comedy imbued with a modern narrative thread. Although not uproariously funny, it certainly aims to appeal more to a family audience rather than those seeking outlandish situations.
Plot Overview
The story revolves around a man named Jan who meets a woman named Pia. One night, Jan finds himself thrust into Pia’s circle of friends,...
Blame the Game
“Blame the Game” is a classic comedic film on Netflix, reminiscent in style to the refined Hollywood classics of Ernst Lubitsch or Frank Capra. This refined and elegant comedy adopts a traditional farcical formula, with most of the action happening on one stage and spanning a single night.
This film, with its simple script and straightforward characters, is sure to entertain those who appreciate a retro-style comedy imbued with a modern narrative thread. Although not uproariously funny, it certainly aims to appeal more to a family audience rather than those seeking outlandish situations.
Plot Overview
The story revolves around a man named Jan who meets a woman named Pia. One night, Jan finds himself thrust into Pia’s circle of friends,...
- 7/12/2024
- by Veronica Loop
- Martin Cid Magazine - Movies
France’s Deauville American Film Festival has announced a retrospective gathering 50 U.S. features that have challenged perceptions of the world to mark its 50th anniversary.
The selection ranges from D. W. Griffith’s 1916 silent epic Intolerance to Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, and also includes Ida Lupino’s groundbreaking 1950 rape drama Outrage as well as Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing. (see full list below)
“Cinema has always made us dream, travel, desire, fantasize, laugh, cry. But how many films have been able to shake up our certainties, question our beliefs, question our prejudices and put our own views into perspective?,” said the festival.
“The Deauville American Film Festival wanted to highlight a selection of 50 films that have changed the way we look at the world,” it continued.
Launched in 1975, the festival unfolding in the swanky Normandy beach resort of Deauville, annually fetes Hollywood...
The selection ranges from D. W. Griffith’s 1916 silent epic Intolerance to Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, and also includes Ida Lupino’s groundbreaking 1950 rape drama Outrage as well as Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing. (see full list below)
“Cinema has always made us dream, travel, desire, fantasize, laugh, cry. But how many films have been able to shake up our certainties, question our beliefs, question our prejudices and put our own views into perspective?,” said the festival.
“The Deauville American Film Festival wanted to highlight a selection of 50 films that have changed the way we look at the world,” it continued.
Launched in 1975, the festival unfolding in the swanky Normandy beach resort of Deauville, annually fetes Hollywood...
- 7/9/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Von 21. bis 23. August laden UFA und Bertelsmann zum 14. Mal auf die Berliner Museumsinsel zu den UFA Filmnächten.
Von 21. bis 23. August finden auf der Berliner Museumsinsel zum 14. Mal die UFA Filmnächte statt.
Zum 14. Mal laden UFA und Bertelsmann von 21. bis 23. August zu den UFA Filmnächten auf die Berliner Museumsinsel. Wie Bertelsmann heute mitteilt, steht am ersten Abend die Weltpremiere der vom Deutschen Filminstitut & Filmmuseum (Dff) rekonstruierten und digital restaurierten Fassung von Carl Lamacs Komödie „Saxophon-Susi“ aus dem Jahr 1928, begleitet vom Filmorchestra The Sprockets nach einer Komposition ihres Saxofonisten Frido ter Beek auf dem Programm.
Am 22. August wird Adolf Trotz‘ Dokumentarfilm „Die Stadt der Millionen. Ein Lebensbild Berlins“ aus dem Jahr 1925 gezeigt. Die digital restaurierte Fassung des Filmmuseums Potsdam wird vor Ort von DJ Raphael Marionneau vertont.
Zum Abschluss der UFA Filmnächte werden am 23. August in einem Double Feature zwei frühe Filme von Ernst Lubitsch gezeigt, „Kohlhiesels Töchter“ (1919/20) in der mit Unterstützung...
Von 21. bis 23. August finden auf der Berliner Museumsinsel zum 14. Mal die UFA Filmnächte statt.
Zum 14. Mal laden UFA und Bertelsmann von 21. bis 23. August zu den UFA Filmnächten auf die Berliner Museumsinsel. Wie Bertelsmann heute mitteilt, steht am ersten Abend die Weltpremiere der vom Deutschen Filminstitut & Filmmuseum (Dff) rekonstruierten und digital restaurierten Fassung von Carl Lamacs Komödie „Saxophon-Susi“ aus dem Jahr 1928, begleitet vom Filmorchestra The Sprockets nach einer Komposition ihres Saxofonisten Frido ter Beek auf dem Programm.
Am 22. August wird Adolf Trotz‘ Dokumentarfilm „Die Stadt der Millionen. Ein Lebensbild Berlins“ aus dem Jahr 1925 gezeigt. Die digital restaurierte Fassung des Filmmuseums Potsdam wird vor Ort von DJ Raphael Marionneau vertont.
Zum Abschluss der UFA Filmnächte werden am 23. August in einem Double Feature zwei frühe Filme von Ernst Lubitsch gezeigt, „Kohlhiesels Töchter“ (1919/20) in der mit Unterstützung...
- 7/2/2024
- by Jochen Müller
- Spot - Media & Film
Billy Wilder was the six-time Oscar winner who left behind a series of classically quotable features from Hollywood’s Golden Age, crafting sharp witted and darkly cynical stories that blended comedy and pathos in equal measure. Let’s take a look back at 25 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.
Wilder was born to a family of Austrian Jews in 1906. After working as a journalist, he developed an interest in filmmaking and collaborated on the silent feature “People on Sunday” (1929) with fellow rookies Fred Zinnemann, Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer. With the rise of Adolph Hitler, Wilder fled to Paris, where he co-directed the feature “Mauvaise Graine” (1934). Tragically, his mother, stepfather and grandmother all died in the Holocaust.
After moving to Hollywood, Wilder enjoyed a successful career as a screenwriter, earning Oscar nominations for penning 1939’s “Ninotchka” and 1941’s “Hold Back the Dawn” and “Ball of Fire.” He...
Wilder was born to a family of Austrian Jews in 1906. After working as a journalist, he developed an interest in filmmaking and collaborated on the silent feature “People on Sunday” (1929) with fellow rookies Fred Zinnemann, Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer. With the rise of Adolph Hitler, Wilder fled to Paris, where he co-directed the feature “Mauvaise Graine” (1934). Tragically, his mother, stepfather and grandmother all died in the Holocaust.
After moving to Hollywood, Wilder enjoyed a successful career as a screenwriter, earning Oscar nominations for penning 1939’s “Ninotchka” and 1941’s “Hold Back the Dawn” and “Ball of Fire.” He...
- 6/17/2024
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Reader, you have been lied to! Film history is littered with unfairly maligned classics, whether critics were too eager to review the making of rather than the finished product, or they suffered from underwhelming ad campaigns or general disinterest. Let’s revise our takes on some of these films from wrongheaded to the correct opinion.
In 1972, Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Coppola, and William Friedkin were three of the hottest directors in Hollywood thanks to finding the sweet spot between art and box office with “The Last Picture Show,” “The Godfather,” and “The French Connection,” respectively. With their newfound clout, the young auteurs formed The Directors Company, a partnership based at Paramount, where they were given complete creative freedom to make anything they wanted as long as they worked within modest budgets. The first movie the deal yielded, “Paper Moon,” was a hit, Bogdanovich’s third in a row after “Picture Show...
In 1972, Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Coppola, and William Friedkin were three of the hottest directors in Hollywood thanks to finding the sweet spot between art and box office with “The Last Picture Show,” “The Godfather,” and “The French Connection,” respectively. With their newfound clout, the young auteurs formed The Directors Company, a partnership based at Paramount, where they were given complete creative freedom to make anything they wanted as long as they worked within modest budgets. The first movie the deal yielded, “Paper Moon,” was a hit, Bogdanovich’s third in a row after “Picture Show...
- 5/15/2024
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
From the very early days of cinema, the love triangle has been a staple of romantic comedies and heartbreaking dramas alike. In its classic form, there’s either two guys and two girls both interested in the same girl or guy, who finds themself torn between the two possibilities. Fizzy screwball comedies usually ended with the love triangle resolving in favor of the lead; see, for example, how Katharine Hepburn’s free-spirited heroine in 1938 comedy “Holiday” steals Cary Grant from under the nose of her own sister (Doris Nolan). In dramas, the ending tends to be a tad more bittersweet, leading to iconically devastating moments like Humphrey Bogart saying goodbye to Ingrid Bergman before she hops on a plane to escape to safety with her husband Victor (Paul Henreid) during the climax of “Casablanca.”
However a love triangle ends, its clear why the formula is such a repeating trope in...
However a love triangle ends, its clear why the formula is such a repeating trope in...
- 5/8/2024
- by Wilson Chapman
- Indiewire
Luca Guadagnino believes filmgoers will endorse his Zendaya movie Challengers because it delivers “a canon of Hollywood golden age comedy – seductive fun with queerness.” The movie’s “big sell” is a shot of Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor kissing one another in various configurations.
Challengers is establishing itself as a Gen Z “date movie,” with a 75% female audience, mostly under the age of 24. Its high-powered social media campaign triggered a $25 million opening weekend globally, defying the pre-summer box office torpor.
The movie has also been well received by Gen Z reviewers who are faithful to their lexicon of film criticism – male characters are approvingly deemed “heteroflexible,” females “polyamorous,” etc.
It was a surprise to his fans that Guadagnino, an Italian filmmaker, set out to make an American-set sports movie (he is not a sports fan) about a tennis world to which he was alien. As with his other films,...
Challengers is establishing itself as a Gen Z “date movie,” with a 75% female audience, mostly under the age of 24. Its high-powered social media campaign triggered a $25 million opening weekend globally, defying the pre-summer box office torpor.
The movie has also been well received by Gen Z reviewers who are faithful to their lexicon of film criticism – male characters are approvingly deemed “heteroflexible,” females “polyamorous,” etc.
It was a surprise to his fans that Guadagnino, an Italian filmmaker, set out to make an American-set sports movie (he is not a sports fan) about a tennis world to which he was alien. As with his other films,...
- 5/2/2024
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
“More stars than there are in heaven” was once the slogan for Hollywood’s largest studio. Larger-than-life celebrities like Judy Garland, Clark Gable, Fred Astaire, Katharine Hepburn, Jean Harlow and Gene Kelly were common fixtures at MGM. Today, MGM is an IP outpost purchased by Amazon for $8.5 billion in 2022, but in its day, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer had the biggest lot in Hollywood and produced some of the most extravagant films. Located in Culver City, MGM’s famously sprawling lot began as it grew from the 40 acres owned by Samuel Goldwyn. The legendary MGM property was 3 miles long and housed more than 45 buildings and 14 stages, in addition to numerous outdoor sets that would be built over the years.
MGM was home to countless classic films, and in 1939 alone, the studio backed the timeless fantasy The Wizard of Oz and distributed the Oscar-winning Gone With the Wind, the Ernst Lubitsch/Greta Garbo comedy Ninotchka,...
MGM was home to countless classic films, and in 1939 alone, the studio backed the timeless fantasy The Wizard of Oz and distributed the Oscar-winning Gone With the Wind, the Ernst Lubitsch/Greta Garbo comedy Ninotchka,...
- 4/29/2024
- by Chris Yogerst
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
by Christopher James
Billy Dee Williams was present at a screening of Lady Sings the Blues for a Q&a as part of a tribute to him at the TCM Film Festival.It wouldn’t be a trip to the TCM Film Festival if I didn’t catch some of the great romances of yesteryear.
In particular, the enemies to lovers romantic comedy troupe was alive and well. Ernst Lubitsch’s The Shop Around the Corner provides the foundation for this trope. Decades later, Doris Day and Rock Hudson would use this dynamic to great success in many collaborations, including the bonkers comedy Send Me No Flowers. Romance isn’t all fun and games though. The Billie Holliday biopic Lady Sings the Blues borrows less from the biopic genre and focuses more on the troubled relationship between Holliday (Diana Ross) and Louis McKay.
Did all these pairs sell us on their celluloid love?...
Billy Dee Williams was present at a screening of Lady Sings the Blues for a Q&a as part of a tribute to him at the TCM Film Festival.It wouldn’t be a trip to the TCM Film Festival if I didn’t catch some of the great romances of yesteryear.
In particular, the enemies to lovers romantic comedy troupe was alive and well. Ernst Lubitsch’s The Shop Around the Corner provides the foundation for this trope. Decades later, Doris Day and Rock Hudson would use this dynamic to great success in many collaborations, including the bonkers comedy Send Me No Flowers. Romance isn’t all fun and games though. The Billie Holliday biopic Lady Sings the Blues borrows less from the biopic genre and focuses more on the troubled relationship between Holliday (Diana Ross) and Louis McKay.
Did all these pairs sell us on their celluloid love?...
- 4/28/2024
- by Christopher James
- FilmExperience
Much has been made about the smoky sexiness of Luca Guadagnino's "Challengers," notably the brief threesome scene near the beginning of the movie. While the scene is plenty sexy, it constitutes the bulk of the on-screen physicality of "Challengers," and it is, perhaps disappointingly, relegated to about 90 seconds of tongue kissing; Guadagnino's film is not the bisexual throuple film the ad campaign would have you believe it is.
Instead, it's a soapy, recognizably classical love triangle about three bitter souls who were never able to get over that fateful make-out session. The three players involved were promising tennis champions in high school. There's Tashi (Zendaya), the hotshot celebrity that is already being courted by marketers. There's Patrick (Josh O'Connor), the rough-hewn, stubble-encrusted stud. And there's Art (Mike Faist), the talented jokester whose magic shell quickly hardens into a crunchy layer of jealousy. "Challengers" follows them, via flashbacks, through their...
Instead, it's a soapy, recognizably classical love triangle about three bitter souls who were never able to get over that fateful make-out session. The three players involved were promising tennis champions in high school. There's Tashi (Zendaya), the hotshot celebrity that is already being courted by marketers. There's Patrick (Josh O'Connor), the rough-hewn, stubble-encrusted stud. And there's Art (Mike Faist), the talented jokester whose magic shell quickly hardens into a crunchy layer of jealousy. "Challengers" follows them, via flashbacks, through their...
- 4/26/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
When prospective students of the University of Southern California visit the school, tour guides like to point out several noteworthy landmarks on campus: Heritage Hall and its multiple Heisman trophies on display, the symbolic Tommy Trojan statue and Norris Cinema Theatre, where students of all majors congregate each Thursday night to watch and discuss cinema with famed film critic Leonard Maltin.
The class, officially titled Ctcs-466: Theatrical Film Symposium, was founded by a fellow critic, Arthur Knight, in the early 1960s. He proposed filmmakers bring their latest work to campus for youthful, eager minds to absorb and discuss. Stewardship of the class passed to L.A. Times critic Charles Champlin in 1985, and eventually, the opportunity to take over one of USC’s most popular electives was presented to Maltin.
Maltin, Variety’s Educator of the Year, along with hundreds of students have since convened for 26 years in the oldest screening...
The class, officially titled Ctcs-466: Theatrical Film Symposium, was founded by a fellow critic, Arthur Knight, in the early 1960s. He proposed filmmakers bring their latest work to campus for youthful, eager minds to absorb and discuss. Stewardship of the class passed to L.A. Times critic Charles Champlin in 1985, and eventually, the opportunity to take over one of USC’s most popular electives was presented to Maltin.
Maltin, Variety’s Educator of the Year, along with hundreds of students have since convened for 26 years in the oldest screening...
- 4/24/2024
- by Sharareh Drury
- Variety Film + TV
While it was fascinating to see the results of the 2022 Sight & Sound poll, we’re just as curious to see what lies outside the established canon. As part of a comprehensive project at the essential resource They Shoot Pictures, Don’t They?, Ángel González polled nearly 839 critics on the best films that didn’t receive a single vote on the Sight & Sound poll, which they’ve now compiled into a massive Beyond the Sight & Sound Canon, which initially features 1,030 films but expands to a whopping 14,558 total films.
As a preview, we’ve collected the films that received at least 20 votes in this new poll, which is 263. It’s led by Spike Jonze’s Her, and they’ve also noted the directors that were most represented. Fritz Lang leads the pack with eight films mentioned, while François Truffaut has seven, and Anthony Mann, Clint Eastwood, Eric Rohmer, John Ford, Samuel Fuller,...
As a preview, we’ve collected the films that received at least 20 votes in this new poll, which is 263. It’s led by Spike Jonze’s Her, and they’ve also noted the directors that were most represented. Fritz Lang leads the pack with eight films mentioned, while François Truffaut has seven, and Anthony Mann, Clint Eastwood, Eric Rohmer, John Ford, Samuel Fuller,...
- 4/8/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Joshua Logan’s Paint Your Wagon can be viewed as one of the last gasps of a dwindling Hollywood studio system, as well as a precursor to the New Hollywood. The film, with its expansive anamorphic vistas of the American Northwest, bears some superficial similarities to Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate, which is often historicized as the end of the New Hollywood, given how it bankrupted United Artists. But in contrast to the profound sadness with which Cimino regards America’s history of violence, Logan’s musical romp takes a lighthearted approach to the process of resettlement, and it’s propelled by the contrasting personalities of Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood as bickering and tussling gold prospectors.
Paint Your Wagon straddles multiple genres at once, suggesting something like a western-inflected musical riff on Ernst Lubitsch’s Design for Living. The crux of the story concerns Ben Rumson (Marvin), a ne...
Paint Your Wagon straddles multiple genres at once, suggesting something like a western-inflected musical riff on Ernst Lubitsch’s Design for Living. The crux of the story concerns Ben Rumson (Marvin), a ne...
- 3/25/2024
- by Clayton Dillard
- Slant Magazine
Cineastes the world over know about the scandal surrounding F.W. Murnau's horror classic "Nosferatu." It's clearly an adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, "Dracula," but Murnau infamously didn't obtain the rights to adapt Stoker's book into a screenplay. He changed the names of the characters -- most notably Count Dracula was changed into Count Orlock -- but that didn't stop Stoker's estate from suing Prana Film, the production company. Every copy of "Nosferatu" was ordered to be destroyed. Thanks to shiftlessness in this task, however, several prints survived, and audiences can enjoy and be terrified by "Nosferatu" to this day. For my money, it's one of the scariest movies ever made. ("The Lighthouse" director Robert Eggers is currently remaking it.)
In Rolf Giesen's 2019 book "The Nosferatu Story: The Seminal Horror Film, Its Predecessors and Its Enduring Legacy," the premiere of "Nosferatu" is described in detail, and Prana...
In Rolf Giesen's 2019 book "The Nosferatu Story: The Seminal Horror Film, Its Predecessors and Its Enduring Legacy," the premiere of "Nosferatu" is described in detail, and Prana...
- 3/18/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
It’s fair to say that Sean Price Williams, director of last year’s “The Sweet East” and cinematographer on everything from the Safdies’ “Good Time” to Kristen Stewart’s music videos for Boygenius, has an appreciative, eclectic eye for great filmmaking. He’s honed it through his work, of course, but also through compiling a massive list of movies to watch. What initially started as a recommendation list, ever-evolving over the years and being handed out to Williams’ friends and colleagues, is now a fully-fledged book from Metrograph Editions.
To butcher an Ernst Lubitsch quote, there are a thousand “1000 Movies To Watch” type books, but now there’s really only one.
What’s interesting about the pocket-sized guide is that, unlike a lot of movie recommendation books, Williams isn’t interested in leading the reader with flowery explanations about why someone might or should love any one particular film.
To butcher an Ernst Lubitsch quote, there are a thousand “1000 Movies To Watch” type books, but now there’s really only one.
What’s interesting about the pocket-sized guide is that, unlike a lot of movie recommendation books, Williams isn’t interested in leading the reader with flowery explanations about why someone might or should love any one particular film.
- 3/15/2024
- by Sarah Shachat
- Indiewire
While David Zaslav and Bob Iger’s tax-optimization strategy of deleting films and TV shows from their streamers has triggered plenty of agita among creators, the custodians of Hollywood’s digital era have an even greater fear: wholesale decay of feature and episodic files. Behind closed doors and NDAs, the fragility of archives is a perpetual Topic A, with pros sweating the possibility that contemporary pop culture’s master files might be true goners, destined to the same fate as so many vanished silent movies, among them Alfred Hitchcock’s second feature, The Mountain Eagle, and Ernst Lubitsch’s Oscar-winning The Patriot.
It’s underscored by initiatives such as Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation. “The preservation of every art form is fundamental,” the industry icon says on a video on the organization’s web site. For the business, these are valuable studio assets — to use one example, the MGM Library...
It’s underscored by initiatives such as Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation. “The preservation of every art form is fundamental,” the industry icon says on a video on the organization’s web site. For the business, these are valuable studio assets — to use one example, the MGM Library...
- 3/15/2024
- by Gary Baum and Carolyn Giardina
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For regular updates, sign up for our weekly email newsletter and follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSDahomey.Mati Diop’s Dahomey (2024), a documentary about the repatriation of artifacts plundered by French colonists to the present-day Republic of Benin, won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale. It is only the second film from the African continent to take the festival’s top prize.The Berlinale has filed criminal charges against activists who hacked the festival’s Instagram account on Sunday to post calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, which the festival deemed “anti-Semitic.”The festival has also released a statement disavowing the acceptance speeches of award winners who used their platform to speak out against the occupation and war. Such speeches included those by Ben Russell and Guillaume Cailleau, whose Direct Action won Best Film in the Encounters section, and by Yuval Abraham,...
- 2/29/2024
- MUBI
“I’ve seen Paris, France, and Paris, Paramount Pictures,” Ernst Lubitsch said, or so they say, “and on the whole I prefer Paris, Paramount Pictures.”
The great director’s preference for the Hollywood city of lights over the French one expresses a common enough affinity for illusion over reality, but the studio in question was not chosen for alliteration alone. If gritty Warner Bros. specialized in mean streets and threadbare apartments and glitzy MGM spent big on grand hotels and emerald cities, Paramount transported moviegoers into realms of dreamy exoticism, allegedly set in Vienna, Budapest or St. Petersburg, but conjured with better-than-the-original costuming, set design, lighting and dialogue. In an age before jumbo jets, who was to quibble over verisimilitude?
A new version of Paramount looks to be a-borning: Controlling stakeholder Shari Redstone may put her company on the auction block. Whatever conglomerate or mogul buys the assets, it’ll...
The great director’s preference for the Hollywood city of lights over the French one expresses a common enough affinity for illusion over reality, but the studio in question was not chosen for alliteration alone. If gritty Warner Bros. specialized in mean streets and threadbare apartments and glitzy MGM spent big on grand hotels and emerald cities, Paramount transported moviegoers into realms of dreamy exoticism, allegedly set in Vienna, Budapest or St. Petersburg, but conjured with better-than-the-original costuming, set design, lighting and dialogue. In an age before jumbo jets, who was to quibble over verisimilitude?
A new version of Paramount looks to be a-borning: Controlling stakeholder Shari Redstone may put her company on the auction block. Whatever conglomerate or mogul buys the assets, it’ll...
- 2/29/2024
- by Thomas Doherty
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Mother and the Whore.Jean Eustache orbited the world of criticism without ever fully falling into it. His intellectual biographer, Alain Philippon, describes him as a marginal figure at Cahiers du Cinéma in the 1960s and yet actively involved in the debates unfolding in its offices.1 Though Eustache was close with future Cahiers editor-in-chief Jean-Louis Comolli and the magazine championed his films from the start, his critical output was minuscule. He started contributing to Cahiers only after completing his first short, Bad Company (1963). Even then, he wrote little, publishing a few brief pieces on some early films by Paul Vecchiali, Jean-Daniel Pollet, and Costa-Gavras. Luc Moullet would later admit that prior to Bad Company, he thought him the only person at Cahiers “that had absolutely nothing to do with the movies.”2 Indeed, Eustache was often at the offices to pick up his wife, who was employed as a secretary at the magazine.
- 2/26/2024
- MUBI
Film Festival
Restored classic films from Ernst Lubitsch, Stanley Kubrick and Roman Polanski are among eight older titles set to play at next month’s Hong Kong International Film Festival.
Lubitsch’s 1920 farce “Kohlhiesel’s Daughters,” will be presented with a live music accompaniment by the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble. And, despite rumors to the contrary, Kubrick’s first feature, “Fear and Desire,” has been preserved intact and will play at the festival with nine minutes of previously deleted footage. It forms an anti-war pair with Polanski’s 2000 Nazi occupation tale “The Pianist.”
Others selected include Michelangelo Antonioni‘s “Il Grido”; Manoel d’Oliveira’s “Madame Bovary” adaptation “Abraham’s Valley”; Arturo Ripstein’s director’s cut of “Deep Crimson,” restored in 4K with an additional 25 minutes of content; Jacques Rivette’s “L’Amour Fou”; and “The Dupes,” by Tewfik Saleh.
Format
Screentime New Zealand will adapt hit property format “Location,...
Restored classic films from Ernst Lubitsch, Stanley Kubrick and Roman Polanski are among eight older titles set to play at next month’s Hong Kong International Film Festival.
Lubitsch’s 1920 farce “Kohlhiesel’s Daughters,” will be presented with a live music accompaniment by the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble. And, despite rumors to the contrary, Kubrick’s first feature, “Fear and Desire,” has been preserved intact and will play at the festival with nine minutes of previously deleted footage. It forms an anti-war pair with Polanski’s 2000 Nazi occupation tale “The Pianist.”
Others selected include Michelangelo Antonioni‘s “Il Grido”; Manoel d’Oliveira’s “Madame Bovary” adaptation “Abraham’s Valley”; Arturo Ripstein’s director’s cut of “Deep Crimson,” restored in 4K with an additional 25 minutes of content; Jacques Rivette’s “L’Amour Fou”; and “The Dupes,” by Tewfik Saleh.
Format
Screentime New Zealand will adapt hit property format “Location,...
- 2/23/2024
- by Patrick Frater and Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
The Academy’s tendency to award trophies to Holocaust movies has long been whispered about — and even occasionally joked about by cheeky comedians.
In 2009, shortly after Kate Winslet won a Golden Globe for her performance as a former Auschwitz guard in “The Reader,” presenter Ricky Gervais pointed to her in the audience and deadpanned, “I told ya, do a Holocaust movie; the awards come.”
Winslet, who would go on to receive an Academy Award for her part in Stephen Daldry’s film, had several years earlier appeared on Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s HBO comedy “Extras” as an actor who stars in a film about the Holocaust in the hopes that it will earn her an Oscar.
The night of the Globes, Winslet laughed at Gervais’ ribbing, as did many in the crowd. It was a much a jab at the industry as much as it was at her.
“The spoof wasn’t entirely wrong,...
In 2009, shortly after Kate Winslet won a Golden Globe for her performance as a former Auschwitz guard in “The Reader,” presenter Ricky Gervais pointed to her in the audience and deadpanned, “I told ya, do a Holocaust movie; the awards come.”
Winslet, who would go on to receive an Academy Award for her part in Stephen Daldry’s film, had several years earlier appeared on Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s HBO comedy “Extras” as an actor who stars in a film about the Holocaust in the hopes that it will earn her an Oscar.
The night of the Globes, Winslet laughed at Gervais’ ribbing, as did many in the crowd. It was a much a jab at the industry as much as it was at her.
“The spoof wasn’t entirely wrong,...
- 2/16/2024
- by Whitney Friedlander
- Variety Film + TV
Clockwise from top left: Notting Hill (Universal Pictures), Love & Basketball (New Line Cinema), Amelie (20th Century Fox),Say Anything (Ugc-Fox Distribution)Graphic: The A.V. Club
Running through the airport to stop a lover’s flight. Making a big speech in front of a crowd of strangers. Picking the perfect song for a serenade.
Running through the airport to stop a lover’s flight. Making a big speech in front of a crowd of strangers. Picking the perfect song for a serenade.
- 2/12/2024
- by Mary Kate Carr, Gabrielle Sanchez, and Saloni Gajjar
- avclub.com
Not much is funny about those terrifying early days of Covid, when the world was cloaked in an apocalyptic doom and the president was telling us to inject bleach. But in “Stress Positions,” Theda Hammel miraculously finds the funny side of lockdown, mining the masks, Purell and social distancing that defined that unhappy era for physical comedy.
“Those gestures are like balloons, and they’re filled with the sense of danger and a sense of peril,” Hammel says of the Sundance-bound film that she directed and co-wrote. “And as soon as the urgency drains away, these behaviors seem ridiculous.”
“Stress Positions,” which follows a 30-something gay man named Terry (John Early) who is trying — and largely failing — to look after his injured Moroccan nephew Bahlul (Qaher Harhash) when the pandemic hits, also wants to use the all-too-recent past to skewer millennial mores. In Early, her friend and frequent collaborator, Hammel found the perfect muse.
“Those gestures are like balloons, and they’re filled with the sense of danger and a sense of peril,” Hammel says of the Sundance-bound film that she directed and co-wrote. “And as soon as the urgency drains away, these behaviors seem ridiculous.”
“Stress Positions,” which follows a 30-something gay man named Terry (John Early) who is trying — and largely failing — to look after his injured Moroccan nephew Bahlul (Qaher Harhash) when the pandemic hits, also wants to use the all-too-recent past to skewer millennial mores. In Early, her friend and frequent collaborator, Hammel found the perfect muse.
- 1/18/2024
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
February––particularly its third week––is all about romance. Accordingly the Criterion Channel got creative with their monthly programming and, in a few weeks, will debut Interdimensional Romance, a series of films wherein “passion conquers time and space, age and memory, and even death and the afterlife.” For every title you might’ve guessed there’s a wilder companion: Alan Rudolph’s Made In Heaven, Soderbergh’s remake, and Resnais’ Love Unto Death. Mostly I’m excited to revisit Francis Ford Coppola’s Youth Without Youth, a likely essential viewing before Megalopolis.
February also marks Black History Month, and Criterion’s series will include work by Shirley Clarke (also subject of a standalone series), Garrett Bradley, Cheryl Dunye, and Julie Dash, while movies by Sirk, Minnelli, King Vidor, and Lang play in “Gothic Noir.” Greta Gerwig gets an “Adventures in Moviegoing” and can be seen in Mary Bronstein’s Yeast,...
February also marks Black History Month, and Criterion’s series will include work by Shirley Clarke (also subject of a standalone series), Garrett Bradley, Cheryl Dunye, and Julie Dash, while movies by Sirk, Minnelli, King Vidor, and Lang play in “Gothic Noir.” Greta Gerwig gets an “Adventures in Moviegoing” and can be seen in Mary Bronstein’s Yeast,...
- 1/11/2024
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For regular updates, sign up for our weekly email newsletter and follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSSambizanga.For the past six years, the Belgian film journal Sabzian has invited a guest to deliver an annual “State of Cinema” address. This year’s speaker will be Alice Diop. She will deliver her text on Thursday, December 7, in Brussels, alongside a screening of Sarah Maldoror’s film Sambizanga (1972). Learn more on Sabzian’s website, recently sleekly redesigned for the publication’s tenth anniversary. You can also watch previous State of Cinema speeches on Sabzian’s Screening Room, including last year’s address by Wang Bing.Recommended VIEWINGOutwardly from Earth's Center.Streaming on e-flux until November 30 is Outwardly from Earth’s Center (2007), a short pseudo-documentary by filmmaker and artist Rosa Barba. The film details the experiences of the inhabitants of a fictitious offshore island as...
- 11/29/2023
- MUBI
As the Butterscotch Stallion turns 55, we look back at his most memorable roles, from a courageous navy officer to a cute sports car to a doltish male model
This was a late-period Peter Bogdanovich film, a screwball spin on Ernst Lubitsch, that had Imogen Poots as the golden-hearted sex worker trying to break into show business. She walks into an audition in front of a big-shot Broadway director and realises he is the man to whose Manhattan hotel room she had gone the night before. And that director is played by Owen Wilson, with that good-natured, halting Texas drawl which was to feature to some degree in all of his performances. He is a pretty bland nice guy here – a default mode he sometimes goes into a bit too easily.
This was a late-period Peter Bogdanovich film, a screwball spin on Ernst Lubitsch, that had Imogen Poots as the golden-hearted sex worker trying to break into show business. She walks into an audition in front of a big-shot Broadway director and realises he is the man to whose Manhattan hotel room she had gone the night before. And that director is played by Owen Wilson, with that good-natured, halting Texas drawl which was to feature to some degree in all of his performances. He is a pretty bland nice guy here – a default mode he sometimes goes into a bit too easily.
- 11/16/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
In the new Netflix documentary “Sly,” Sylvester Stallone reflects on a time in his career when he felt he lost his way — basically, a rare period during which he wasn’t making “Rocky” or “Rambo” movies. To hear Stallone tell it, taking a break from his two signature roles was misguided folly, corrected only when he wrote and directed “Rocky Balboa” in 2006 and followed it up with a new “Rambo” two years later.
“Sly” director Thom Zimny seems to more or less accept this version of film history, and if one’s only measure of value is box office grosses the idea has some validity; there’s no arguing with the fact that whenever Stallone strayed too far from his franchises (after “Rocky” and “Rambo” he managed to find one more with the “Expendables” series), audiences tended to stay away. Zimny doesn’t even need to spend much time on...
“Sly” director Thom Zimny seems to more or less accept this version of film history, and if one’s only measure of value is box office grosses the idea has some validity; there’s no arguing with the fact that whenever Stallone strayed too far from his franchises (after “Rocky” and “Rambo” he managed to find one more with the “Expendables” series), audiences tended to stay away. Zimny doesn’t even need to spend much time on...
- 11/5/2023
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
Among the myriad reasons we could call the Criterion Channel the single greatest streaming service is its leveling of cinematic snobbery. Where a new World Cinema Project restoration plays, so too does Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight. I think about this looking at November’s lineup and being happiest about two new additions: a nine-film Robert Bresson retro including L’argent and The Devil, Probably; and a one-film Hype Williams retro including Belly and only Belly, but bringing as a bonus the direct-to-video Belly 2: Millionaire Boyz Club. Until recently such curation seemed impossible.
November will also feature a 20-film noir series boasting the obvious and the not. Maybe the single tightest collection is “Women of the West,” with Johnny Guitar and The Beguiled and Rancho Notorious and The Furies only half of it. Lynch/Oz, Irradiated, and My Two Voices make streaming premieres; Drylongso gets a Criterion Edition; and joining...
November will also feature a 20-film noir series boasting the obvious and the not. Maybe the single tightest collection is “Women of the West,” with Johnny Guitar and The Beguiled and Rancho Notorious and The Furies only half of it. Lynch/Oz, Irradiated, and My Two Voices make streaming premieres; Drylongso gets a Criterion Edition; and joining...
- 10/24/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Seven takes on the hits and misses of the 80th Venice International Film Festival, from the reviewers at THR Roma, The Hollywood Reporter‘s first European-language edition, on the hottest Venice titles so far.
Dogman, by Luc Besson Caleb Landry Jones in ‘Dogman’
“A bizarre and powerful work that has the stigmata of the best Besson, the one that allows us to glimpse the force, total and invincible, behind a helpless, placid and fragile appearance. Dogman is kitschy and moving as that Caleb Landry Jones who tears you apart when he wears, in his playful and necessary disguises, the most difficult mask: himself.
“Dogman is Besson’s cinema reclaiming its space after losing it for 20 years, it is the desire to excel and excel without the excuse and fear of showing itself in all its talent. Because measure and subtraction are sometimes just an alibi.”
— Boris Sollazzo
El Conde, by...
Dogman, by Luc Besson Caleb Landry Jones in ‘Dogman’
“A bizarre and powerful work that has the stigmata of the best Besson, the one that allows us to glimpse the force, total and invincible, behind a helpless, placid and fragile appearance. Dogman is kitschy and moving as that Caleb Landry Jones who tears you apart when he wears, in his playful and necessary disguises, the most difficult mask: himself.
“Dogman is Besson’s cinema reclaiming its space after losing it for 20 years, it is the desire to excel and excel without the excuse and fear of showing itself in all its talent. Because measure and subtraction are sometimes just an alibi.”
— Boris Sollazzo
El Conde, by...
- 9/3/2023
- by Boris Sollazzo, Manuela Santacatterina, Alberto Crespi and Fabio Ferzetti
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
For an admirer of his work, writing about a new movie by Roman Polanski is like facing a minefield of unsolvable questions: Can this film be judged like the others given the director’s criminal record and tarnished reputation? Is it possible to praise a work of art if certain parts of an artist’s life are reprehensible, or should the two be separated? Should Polanski still be allowed to make movies? Should this movie even be written about?
Those questions would be harder to answer if Polanski, who’s now 90, made something on the level of say, Chinatown or Rosemary’s Baby. Or even something like The Tenant or Frantic or Repulsion or his debut feature, Knife in the Water, which came out over 60 years ago and earned him his first Oscar nomination.
But the director’s latest, The Palace, leaves little room for ambiguity. It’s the worst thing...
Those questions would be harder to answer if Polanski, who’s now 90, made something on the level of say, Chinatown or Rosemary’s Baby. Or even something like The Tenant or Frantic or Repulsion or his debut feature, Knife in the Water, which came out over 60 years ago and earned him his first Oscar nomination.
But the director’s latest, The Palace, leaves little room for ambiguity. It’s the worst thing...
- 9/2/2023
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
It was more than a little heartening to see Roger Corman paid tribute by Quentin Tarantino at Cannes’ closing night. By now the director-producer-mogul’s imprint on cinema is understood to eclipse, rough estimate, 99.5% of anybody who’s touched the medium, but on a night for celebrating what’s new, trend-following, and manicured it could’ve hardly been more necessary. Thus I’m further heartened seeing the Criterion Channel will host a retrospective of Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe adaptations running eight films and aptly titled “Grindhouse Gothic,” though I might save the selections for October.
Centerpiece, though, is a hip hop series including Bill Duke’s superb Deep Cover, Ghost Dog, and numerous documentaries––among them Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest, making Michael Rapaport a Criterion-approved auteur. Ten films starring Kay Francis and 21 Eurothrillers round out series; streaming premieres include the Dardenne brothers’ Tori and Lokita,...
Centerpiece, though, is a hip hop series including Bill Duke’s superb Deep Cover, Ghost Dog, and numerous documentaries––among them Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest, making Michael Rapaport a Criterion-approved auteur. Ten films starring Kay Francis and 21 Eurothrillers round out series; streaming premieres include the Dardenne brothers’ Tori and Lokita,...
- 7/19/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
The Daughters of Fire.Three square images, placed side by side on the screen. The full frame is as wide as CinemaScope, which Fritz Lang famously said was only suitable for snakes and funerals. On the left, a woman stares forward as she stalks, like a Jacques Tourneur character, toward no certain destination; as she does so—singing, half her face shrouded in shadow—she passes through a seemingly endless corridor of ash, an ever-rotating carousel of clay streaked with wisps of fire. In the center frame, another woman lies prone, bent over on the shores of a volcanic beach. The sea laps in apocalyptic, dusky light behind her, the horizon stretches out to the limits of vision; uncertainly, she heaves her body upright to sit as she sings. In the far-right frame, another woman peers out from around a doorframe, staring into the camera, also singing in direct counterpoint with the other two women,...
- 6/14/2023
- MUBI
The films of Maïwenn, like Maïwenn herself, tend to be divisive.
When they’re good, such as in the writer-director-actress’ breakthrough second feature, Polisse, they’re filled with hotblooded ensemble performances that channel the kinetic energy of John Cassavetes. When they’re not, such as in her last effort, DNA, they feel like overblown arthouse selfies where Maïwenn is the only star.
Either way, they hardly leave you indifferent, which is why the director’s biggest project yet, a $22.4 million biopic of the legendary 18th century French courtesan Jeanne du Barry, can seem so surprising. Sumptuously made and with enough jaw-dropping costumes — several of them courtesy of Chanel, one of the film’s sponsors — to warrant a separate runway show, Maïwenn’s lavish feature is also, well, kind of bland.
It has a great setting, with many scenes shot in and around the real Palace of Versailles, and a great setup,...
When they’re good, such as in the writer-director-actress’ breakthrough second feature, Polisse, they’re filled with hotblooded ensemble performances that channel the kinetic energy of John Cassavetes. When they’re not, such as in her last effort, DNA, they feel like overblown arthouse selfies where Maïwenn is the only star.
Either way, they hardly leave you indifferent, which is why the director’s biggest project yet, a $22.4 million biopic of the legendary 18th century French courtesan Jeanne du Barry, can seem so surprising. Sumptuously made and with enough jaw-dropping costumes — several of them courtesy of Chanel, one of the film’s sponsors — to warrant a separate runway show, Maïwenn’s lavish feature is also, well, kind of bland.
It has a great setting, with many scenes shot in and around the real Palace of Versailles, and a great setup,...
- 5/16/2023
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
When Twa Flight 3, a twin-engine DC-3 concluding its cross-country route from Indiana to Burbank, California, slammed into Potosi Mountain just outside of Las Vegas in the early evening of January 16, 1942, the movies lost its greatest screwball comedienne.
Carole Lombard was 33 years old, and had just weathered a run of tepidly received dramas to reclaim her stature as one of Hollywood's most dependably hilarious performers via Alfred Hitchcock's "Mr. and Mrs. Smith." She was about to receive another round of critical acclaim for her turn as the Polish theater diva Maria Tura in Ernst Lubitsch's masterful "To Be or Not to Be." She was married to Rhett Butler himself, Clark Gable, and had committed herself to the war effort (she'd been in her home state of Indiana to host a war bond rally). Lombard was as beloved and consequential an actor as there was in the industry, and, just like that,...
Carole Lombard was 33 years old, and had just weathered a run of tepidly received dramas to reclaim her stature as one of Hollywood's most dependably hilarious performers via Alfred Hitchcock's "Mr. and Mrs. Smith." She was about to receive another round of critical acclaim for her turn as the Polish theater diva Maria Tura in Ernst Lubitsch's masterful "To Be or Not to Be." She was married to Rhett Butler himself, Clark Gable, and had committed herself to the war effort (she'd been in her home state of Indiana to host a war bond rally). Lombard was as beloved and consequential an actor as there was in the industry, and, just like that,...
- 5/13/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Sam Heughan, Priyanka Chopra Jonas in Love Again Image: Screen Gems There are a number of positive things that can be said about Love Again. It is always in focus. Bucking the current trend toward cinematic bloat, it manages to keep its running time below an hour and 45 minutes (albeit...
- 5/5/2023
- by Andy Klein
- avclub.com
Sam Heughan, Priyanka Chopra Jonas in Love AgainImage: Screen Gems
There are a number of positive things that can be said about Love Again. It is always in focus. Bucking the current trend toward cinematic bloat, it manages to keep its running time below an hour and 45 minutes (albeit just...
There are a number of positive things that can be said about Love Again. It is always in focus. Bucking the current trend toward cinematic bloat, it manages to keep its running time below an hour and 45 minutes (albeit just...
- 5/5/2023
- by Andy Klein
- avclub.com
Michael Keaton in Batman Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures In a special series, The A.V. Club looks at the legacy of Warner Bros. 100 years after the studio was founded.Los Angeles had already established itself as the movie-making capital of the world by 1923. Construction had just finished on the Hollywood sign,...
- 4/8/2023
- by Cindy White
- avclub.com
Romantic comedies have been around since the beginning of the film industry, but they’ve had a bit of an up-and-down run over the years. From their heyday in the 1990s to Netflix’s recent efforts to bring them back into mainstream popularity, we thought it was time to take stock and make a list of the ten best romantic comedies ever.
Related: 10 Best Comedies of All Time, Ranked by Viewers
We compiled a top 10 list and crunched numbers until we arrived at our ultimate list. As you’ll see below, this is an eclectic mix that includes everything from black-and-white classics to modern blockbusters. Each one fits the American Film Institute’s definition—a genre in which “the development of a romance leads to comic situations”—but more importantly, they’re all funny movies with romantic happy endings.
10 Highest-Rated Romantic Comedies on IMDb The Artist (2011) – 7.9 The Shop Around the Corner...
Related: 10 Best Comedies of All Time, Ranked by Viewers
We compiled a top 10 list and crunched numbers until we arrived at our ultimate list. As you’ll see below, this is an eclectic mix that includes everything from black-and-white classics to modern blockbusters. Each one fits the American Film Institute’s definition—a genre in which “the development of a romance leads to comic situations”—but more importantly, they’re all funny movies with romantic happy endings.
10 Highest-Rated Romantic Comedies on IMDb The Artist (2011) – 7.9 The Shop Around the Corner...
- 3/29/2023
- by Buddy TV
- buddytv.com
Well folks, it's that time yet again. With March coming to an end, that means that streamers like Netflix, Amazon Prime and HBO Max are shuffling their catalog around for April. HBO Max is consistently bringing great new things to the platform each month — and fan favorite series like "Succession," "A Black Lady Sketch Show," and "Titans," will make their return too — but I've always been more concerned with the films and shows that depart. The streamer's monthly cull with be an especially extensive one this moth; quite a few must-sees are leaving the platform in April. Landmark romantic comedies like "Bringing Up Baby," seminal classics like "Citizen Kane" and dystopian dramas like "The Book of Eli" will all be headed away this month. As ever, we do still have some time before some of these go bye-bye, so make sure to check out these titles before they're phased out.
- 3/24/2023
- by Lyvie Scott
- Slash Film
One of the most time-consuming aspects of being a cinephile is worrying about the health and longevity of TCM. The venerable broadcast television channel dedicated to classic Hollywood cinema has grown since its 1994 launch into a kind of preservationist and enthusiast's empire that includes an annual film festival, an original film distribution arm, a releasing imprint, and a slew of diverse programming initiatives (not to mention a wine club). TCM certainly seems to be in better health than most entities dedicated segments of the film ecosystem that are -- by virtue of not being focused on the biggest, brightest, latest thing -- not exactly profit drivers. It has survived both a massive merger between AT&T and its parent company, Time Warner, and a subsequent divestment of AT&T and acquisition by Discovery in all but five years, after all.
But the brand's new overlord, Warner Bros. Discovery, shelving completed films...
But the brand's new overlord, Warner Bros. Discovery, shelving completed films...
- 3/23/2023
- by Ryan Coleman
- Slash Film
One thing most cinephiles can agree on is that Tilda Swinton is a mystifying gift to the film industry. In addition to delivering consistently excellent performances in almost every movie and cast she joins, the Oscar-winning actress has long been a champion of the sort of unique films that without her involvement might otherwise never get made.
From her repeat collaborations with auteurs like Wes Anderson and Bong Joon-ho to her risky roles in experimental projects like “The Souvenir” series, Swinton is an extremely familiar face for fans of arthouse cinema. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Tony Gilroy’s “Michael Clayton”: a crowd-pleasing George Clooney legal thriller from 2007. And yes, she scared the hell out of millennials as the White Witch in Disney’s “The Chronicles of Narnia.” Hell, she’s in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
But it’s Swinton’s...
From her repeat collaborations with auteurs like Wes Anderson and Bong Joon-ho to her risky roles in experimental projects like “The Souvenir” series, Swinton is an extremely familiar face for fans of arthouse cinema. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Tony Gilroy’s “Michael Clayton”: a crowd-pleasing George Clooney legal thriller from 2007. And yes, she scared the hell out of millennials as the White Witch in Disney’s “The Chronicles of Narnia.” Hell, she’s in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
But it’s Swinton’s...
- 3/21/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Nancy Meyers is still searching for a new home for her film after parting ways with Netflix over budget concerns. But in the meantime, the director of rom-com classics like 2006’s The Holiday and Something’s Gotta Give has dropped some hints on Instagram, revealing details about her movie, confirming the title, and sharing its origin.
Deadline reported that Scarlett Johansson, Owen Wilson, Penelope Cruz and Michael Fassbender were in talks to star, but that the proposed Netflix budget — which sources say was coming in around $130 million — was causing issues. Sources say that while the studio was fine with $130 million, Meyers was fighting for $150 million, with $80 million of that going to above-the-line costs.
The film is titled Paris Paramount, which we were first to tell you about in April 2022. It tells the story of an above-the-line filmmaking duo who reunite (begrudgingly) on set after falling in and out of love with each other.
Deadline reported that Scarlett Johansson, Owen Wilson, Penelope Cruz and Michael Fassbender were in talks to star, but that the proposed Netflix budget — which sources say was coming in around $130 million — was causing issues. Sources say that while the studio was fine with $130 million, Meyers was fighting for $150 million, with $80 million of that going to above-the-line costs.
The film is titled Paris Paramount, which we were first to tell you about in April 2022. It tells the story of an above-the-line filmmaking duo who reunite (begrudgingly) on set after falling in and out of love with each other.
- 3/19/2023
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Film industry observers have been captivated in recent weeks by the ongoing negotiations surrounding Nancy Meyers’ upcoming romantic comedy “Paris Paramount.” The film, which is set to star Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz, Owen Wilson, and Michael Fassbender, was originally set up at Netflix with a reported budget of $130 million. But disagreements about the film’s final budget (Meyers and her team were reportedly seeking an additional $20 million) eventually led Netflix to scrap the project.
Now “Paris Paramount” is being shopped to other studios, with Warner Bros. reportedly in the mix. And if nothing else, the negotiations have attracted plenty of additional attention for the film. Meyers has been a reliable hitmaker for decades, directing smart romantic comedies like “What Women Want,” “It’s Complicated,” and “Something’s Gotta Give.” But if “Paris Paramount” is ever completed, it will likely be her highest profile project in quite some time.
Meyers took to her...
Now “Paris Paramount” is being shopped to other studios, with Warner Bros. reportedly in the mix. And if nothing else, the negotiations have attracted plenty of additional attention for the film. Meyers has been a reliable hitmaker for decades, directing smart romantic comedies like “What Women Want,” “It’s Complicated,” and “Something’s Gotta Give.” But if “Paris Paramount” is ever completed, it will likely be her highest profile project in quite some time.
Meyers took to her...
- 3/18/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Critics can debate just how diverse the 2023 Oscars really were. Alongside a record number of winners of ethnically Chinese and Indian decent — including Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, director-screenwriter Daniel Kwan and producer Jonathan Wang for Everything Everywhere All At Once, and a best song trophy for “Naatu Naatu” composer M.M. Keeravaani and lyricist Chandrabose — the 95th Academy Awards includes just a single Black winner, costume designer Ruth Carter, who picked up her second Oscar for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and just one Oscar for a Latino filmmaker, going to Mexican director Guillermo del Toro for his animated feature Pinocchio.
On one measure, however, the 2023 Oscars get top marks. This year’s event was one of the most globally diverse in the event’s history.
Winners in 13 of 24 Oscar categories hailed from outside the U.S. — 15 if you include Ke Huy Quan, (who was born in Vietnam and immigrated...
On one measure, however, the 2023 Oscars get top marks. This year’s event was one of the most globally diverse in the event’s history.
Winners in 13 of 24 Oscar categories hailed from outside the U.S. — 15 if you include Ke Huy Quan, (who was born in Vietnam and immigrated...
- 3/17/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
For all the theatre connoisseurs waiting with bated breath for a dramatic yet light-hearted delight, you can now look forward to ‘Baaghi Albele’ now in its second run produced by Aadyam Theatre for its 6th season. The Hindi-Punjabi play is a farce directed by the acclaimed theatre director Atul Kumar.
Set in Ludhiana, Punjab, in North India, Baaghi Albele showcases its narrative through a satirical comedy. The play explores the struggle of artists and intellectuals in a time of government repression and reflects on the relevance of art and artists in contemporary times. It follows the journey of husband and wife actors Johny and Minnie Makhija as they find themselves at the centre of a dangerous situation when a soldier from an underground rebel organisation seeks their help. With the threat of prosecution and death looming, the couple, along with their troupe of actors, must use their wit and theatrical...
Set in Ludhiana, Punjab, in North India, Baaghi Albele showcases its narrative through a satirical comedy. The play explores the struggle of artists and intellectuals in a time of government repression and reflects on the relevance of art and artists in contemporary times. It follows the journey of husband and wife actors Johny and Minnie Makhija as they find themselves at the centre of a dangerous situation when a soldier from an underground rebel organisation seeks their help. With the threat of prosecution and death looming, the couple, along with their troupe of actors, must use their wit and theatrical...
- 3/6/2023
- by Glamsham Editorial
- GlamSham
It is my experience that one gets a far richer, stranger cinema education in pursuing the careers of actors, that group defined first by (assuming luck shines upon them) two or three era-defining films and then so much that dictates their industry—pet projects, contractual obligations, called-in favors alimony payments, auteur one-offs, and on and on. Few embody that deluge of circumstance better than Michelle Yeoh and Isabelle Huppert, both of whom are receiving spotlights in March. The former’s is a who’s-who of Hong Kong talent, new favorites (The Heroic Trio), items we can at least say are of interest (Trio‘s not-great sequel Executioners), etc.
Huppert’s series runs longer, and notwithstanding certain standards that have long sat on the channel it adds some heavy hitters: Hong’s In Another Country, Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate, Breillat’s Abuse of Weakness, Hansen-Løve’s Things to Come. And, of course,...
Huppert’s series runs longer, and notwithstanding certain standards that have long sat on the channel it adds some heavy hitters: Hong’s In Another Country, Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate, Breillat’s Abuse of Weakness, Hansen-Løve’s Things to Come. And, of course,...
- 2/22/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
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