British stage and screen actress Maggie Smith, the “Downton Abbey” and “Harry Potter” star who numbers two Oscars, three Emmys and countless stage awards to her credit, died Friday in London. She was 89.
“It is with great sadness we have to announce the death of Dame Maggie Smith,” her sons Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin said in a statement. “She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday 27th September. An intensely private person, she was with friends and family at the end. She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful staff at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for their care and unstinting kindness during her final days.”
In her late 70s, Smith drew an entirely new legion of fans thanks to her starring role in...
“It is with great sadness we have to announce the death of Dame Maggie Smith,” her sons Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin said in a statement. “She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday 27th September. An intensely private person, she was with friends and family at the end. She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful staff at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for their care and unstinting kindness during her final days.”
In her late 70s, Smith drew an entirely new legion of fans thanks to her starring role in...
- 9/27/2024
- by Carmel Dagan and Alex Ritman
- Variety Film + TV
Benedict Cumberbatch has crafted for himself a stellar career with captivating performances across different genres, mediums, and franchises. Currently known best for his Marvel Cinematic Universe role of the mysterious Doctor Strange, the British actor is one of the few who have landed their talents in various franchises like The Lord of the Rings prequel film trilogy, The Hobbit.
Benedict Cumberbatch | Credit: Image by Gage Skidmore, licensed under Cc By-sa 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Apart from his movie roles, that dabble with action, adventure, crime, and superheroes to Shakespeare and drama, Cumberbatch is famous for his remarkable portrayal of the brilliant fictitious detective, Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock. His success on both the big and small screen has garnered him widespread acclaim and fame.
But respect and recognition are not the only things The Imitation Game star has earned in his decades-long career, for his high-profile roles and diverse projects have led...
Benedict Cumberbatch | Credit: Image by Gage Skidmore, licensed under Cc By-sa 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Apart from his movie roles, that dabble with action, adventure, crime, and superheroes to Shakespeare and drama, Cumberbatch is famous for his remarkable portrayal of the brilliant fictitious detective, Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock. His success on both the big and small screen has garnered him widespread acclaim and fame.
But respect and recognition are not the only things The Imitation Game star has earned in his decades-long career, for his high-profile roles and diverse projects have led...
- 9/26/2024
- by Maria Sultan
- FandomWire
Talking to Variety at the Taormina Film Festival, celebrated Israeli director Amos Gitai spoke about his next feature film following his Berlinale entry “Shikun,” which has the title “Why War?”
Gitai explained: “Why people make war is the subject of my next film. It’s the dialogue between Einstein and Freud in 1931. Albert Einstein was asked by the League of Nations to choose one intellectual to put one question to. And he chose Sigmund Freud. And he asked him a question of two words, which is: ‘Why war?’ There’s an exchange of letters between the two with Einstein putting his interpretation on Freud’s answer and that’s the basis of my next project.”
According to production company Elefant Films, the script for “Why War?” was written by Marie-Josée Sanselme, and the film is produced by Alex Iordachescu. The cast includes Irène Jacob, Mathieu Amalric, Bahira Ablassi, Keren Mor,...
Gitai explained: “Why people make war is the subject of my next film. It’s the dialogue between Einstein and Freud in 1931. Albert Einstein was asked by the League of Nations to choose one intellectual to put one question to. And he chose Sigmund Freud. And he asked him a question of two words, which is: ‘Why war?’ There’s an exchange of letters between the two with Einstein putting his interpretation on Freud’s answer and that’s the basis of my next project.”
According to production company Elefant Films, the script for “Why War?” was written by Marie-Josée Sanselme, and the film is produced by Alex Iordachescu. The cast includes Irène Jacob, Mathieu Amalric, Bahira Ablassi, Keren Mor,...
- 7/14/2024
- by John Bleasdale
- Variety Film + TV
Veteran festival director Marco Mueller was only hired to take over as the artistic director of the Taormina Film Festival in April this year. “I’m stressed out,” he told Variety, two weeks ahead of the festival opening, but he is philosophical. “The history of this island is one of people trying to conquer Sicily, but Sicily has always ended up conquering the conquerors. We are conquered not only by the beauty of the place, but also the local customs, not to mention the food and wine, of course.”
Mueller, who has previously headed the Locarno and the Venice film festivals as well as the Pingyao Film Festival more recently, has a clear vision for the direction he wishes to pursue. “From the moment I signed my contract, I knew I really wanted to go back to the formula that was used in the golden years of the festival, which for me,...
Mueller, who has previously headed the Locarno and the Venice film festivals as well as the Pingyao Film Festival more recently, has a clear vision for the direction he wishes to pursue. “From the moment I signed my contract, I knew I really wanted to go back to the formula that was used in the golden years of the festival, which for me,...
- 6/28/2024
- by John Bleasdale
- Variety Film + TV
Showtown American Pictures and Cannon Fire Productions announce Candyman (2021) actor Michael Hargrove will join actress Avaryana Rose in a Tale of Murder, Resurrection and Revenge in Bitter Souls. Directed by Tom Ryan of ‘Return To The Theatre Of Terror.’
Some of Michael Hargrove’s notable work includes the role of Sherman Fields in the hit MonkeyPaw Production’s Candyman feature. Michael has also been honored with the Black Theatre Alliance’s Sidney Poitier Award in 2002 as Best Leading Actor in a Play for his role in “Will He Bop, Will He Drop” at Chicago’s National Pastime Theater.
Michael has also appeared in such National Pastime Theater productions as “Red Dog Moon,” David Rabe’s “The Orphan,” “Yuba City,” Kafka’s “The Trial,” “Servant of the People!! The Rise and Fall of Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party,” “Possessed,” Kesey’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Shakespeare...
Some of Michael Hargrove’s notable work includes the role of Sherman Fields in the hit MonkeyPaw Production’s Candyman feature. Michael has also been honored with the Black Theatre Alliance’s Sidney Poitier Award in 2002 as Best Leading Actor in a Play for his role in “Will He Bop, Will He Drop” at Chicago’s National Pastime Theater.
Michael has also appeared in such National Pastime Theater productions as “Red Dog Moon,” David Rabe’s “The Orphan,” “Yuba City,” Kafka’s “The Trial,” “Servant of the People!! The Rise and Fall of Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party,” “Possessed,” Kesey’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Shakespeare...
- 4/27/2024
- by Michael Joy
- Horror Asylum
A loose adaptation of absurdist playwright Eugène Ionesco’s “Rhinoceros,” director Amos Gitai’s “Shikun” unfolds in a multi-use housing project, where it follows the stream-of-consciousness travails of a diverse cross-section of characters in Be’er-Sheva, Israel.
Bound by the French-language narration of Irène Jacob — a one-woman Greek chorus and de-facto liaison between sides of the fourth wall — the film embodies the struggle to reconcile learned anger with calls for peace, and it takes several steps to the left of the distant, “kumbaya” observationalism of some of Gitai’s previous work (like “Tramway in Jerusalem”). However, despite its refreshing political outlook, “Shikun” is anything but radical in execution, and it’s rarely interesting to watch.
Echoes of “Rhinoceros” remain in Gitai’s transposition from a small French town to an Israeli building and bus station. The play saw numerous characters transform into rhinoceroses while others around them remained indifferent, a...
Bound by the French-language narration of Irène Jacob — a one-woman Greek chorus and de-facto liaison between sides of the fourth wall — the film embodies the struggle to reconcile learned anger with calls for peace, and it takes several steps to the left of the distant, “kumbaya” observationalism of some of Gitai’s previous work (like “Tramway in Jerusalem”). However, despite its refreshing political outlook, “Shikun” is anything but radical in execution, and it’s rarely interesting to watch.
Echoes of “Rhinoceros” remain in Gitai’s transposition from a small French town to an Israeli building and bus station. The play saw numerous characters transform into rhinoceroses while others around them remained indifferent, a...
- 2/20/2024
- by Siddhant Adlakha
- Variety Film + TV
Visit Films has acquired international sales rights to Amos Gitai’s Berlinale Special selection Shikun and will kick off talks with buyers at the EFM next month.
The Israeli film is inspired by Eugène Ionesco’s allegorical play Rhinoceros, and dramatises the emergence of intolerance and totalitarianism through a series of theatrical episodes that take place in a single Israeli building, the Shikun.
Among this diverse group of people of different origins and languages, some turn into rhinoceroses, while others resist.
The ensemble cast includes Irène Jacob (The Double Life Of Véronique), Hanna Laslo (Free Zone), Yael Abecassis (Sacred), Bahira Ablassi...
The Israeli film is inspired by Eugène Ionesco’s allegorical play Rhinoceros, and dramatises the emergence of intolerance and totalitarianism through a series of theatrical episodes that take place in a single Israeli building, the Shikun.
Among this diverse group of people of different origins and languages, some turn into rhinoceroses, while others resist.
The ensemble cast includes Irène Jacob (The Double Life Of Véronique), Hanna Laslo (Free Zone), Yael Abecassis (Sacred), Bahira Ablassi...
- 1/25/2024
- ScreenDaily
Chris Noth is speaking out about the sexual assault allegations that derailed his career.
The Sex and the City alum chatted with USA Today and denied the allegations against him.
He admitted that the only thing he did wrong was cheating on his wife, Tara Wilson.
"I strayed on my wife, and it's devastating to her and not a very pretty picture," the actor dished in a story that went live on Monday.
"What it isn't is a crime," he affirmed.
As you'll recall, the Mr. Big actor previously shut down the allegations against him when The Hollywood Reporter shared a story of two women saying he assaulted them in separate incidents.
"The accusations against me made by individuals I met years, even decades, ago are categorically false," Noth said in a statement in December 2021.
"These stories could've been from 30 years ago or 30 days ago — no always means no — that...
The Sex and the City alum chatted with USA Today and denied the allegations against him.
He admitted that the only thing he did wrong was cheating on his wife, Tara Wilson.
"I strayed on my wife, and it's devastating to her and not a very pretty picture," the actor dished in a story that went live on Monday.
"What it isn't is a crime," he affirmed.
As you'll recall, the Mr. Big actor previously shut down the allegations against him when The Hollywood Reporter shared a story of two women saying he assaulted them in separate incidents.
"The accusations against me made by individuals I met years, even decades, ago are categorically false," Noth said in a statement in December 2021.
"These stories could've been from 30 years ago or 30 days ago — no always means no — that...
- 8/8/2023
- by Paul Dailly
- TVfanatic
Nearly two years after being accused of sexual assault by multiple women, Chris Noth is speaking out about the firestorm that led to his dismissal from CBS’ The Equalizer and erasure from Max’s And Just Like That.
In an interview with USA Today, the 68-year-old TV vet once again denied the allegations, but conceded, “I strayed on my wife, and it’s devastating to her and not a very pretty picture. What it isn’t is a crime.”
More from TVLineDays of Our Lives Fires Co-ep Albert Alarr in Wake of Misconduct FirestormAnd Just Like That Recap: Are Carrie...
In an interview with USA Today, the 68-year-old TV vet once again denied the allegations, but conceded, “I strayed on my wife, and it’s devastating to her and not a very pretty picture. What it isn’t is a crime.”
More from TVLineDays of Our Lives Fires Co-ep Albert Alarr in Wake of Misconduct FirestormAnd Just Like That Recap: Are Carrie...
- 8/7/2023
- by Michael Ausiello
- TVLine.com
Julian Barry, Oscar-nominated screenwriter of the 1974 Lenny Bruce biopic “Lenny” starring Dustin Hoffman, has died at the age of 92, his daughter announced to The New York Times.
Born in the Bronx and a graduate of Syracuse, Barry got his start in showbiz on Broadway as an actor and stage manager, most notably in Orson Welles’ 1955 production of Shakespeare’s “King Lear.”
In 1969, Columbia Pictures approached Barry about writing a biopic about the life of stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce, who had died of a morphine overdose three years prior. Bruce accepted, but the project fell through as Columbia fast-tracked other projects.
Not wanting to give up on the script, Barry repurposed it as a stage play and brought it to Broadway in 1971 with “Hair” director Tom O’Horgan and with Cliff Gorman as Lenny Bruce. The play “Lenny” was a success, with Gorman winning a Tony Award for for his performance.
With “Lenny” now on the map,...
Born in the Bronx and a graduate of Syracuse, Barry got his start in showbiz on Broadway as an actor and stage manager, most notably in Orson Welles’ 1955 production of Shakespeare’s “King Lear.”
In 1969, Columbia Pictures approached Barry about writing a biopic about the life of stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce, who had died of a morphine overdose three years prior. Bruce accepted, but the project fell through as Columbia fast-tracked other projects.
Not wanting to give up on the script, Barry repurposed it as a stage play and brought it to Broadway in 1971 with “Hair” director Tom O’Horgan and with Cliff Gorman as Lenny Bruce. The play “Lenny” was a success, with Gorman winning a Tony Award for for his performance.
With “Lenny” now on the map,...
- 7/27/2023
- by Jeremy Fuster
- The Wrap
Julian Barry, whose 1971 Broadway play and 1974 movie, both titled Lenny and telling the story of legendary comic Lenny Bruce, died Tuesday at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 92.
His death was reported to The New York Times by his daughter Julia Barry, who said he died in his sleep and had been under medical care for congestive heart failure and late-stage kidney disease.
Although most widely known for his highly influential Bruce projects, which earned considerable acclaim for the writer and his title stars — Cliff Gorman on stage, Dustin Hoffman on screen — Barry’s career extended to other projects that caught the public’s attention in their day. He wrote Rhinoceros, the 1974 film adaptation of Eugène Ionesco’s play starring Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel, a movie that has grown somewhat in esteem since its initial critical dismissal, and the 1978 Faye Dunaway vehicle Eyes of Laura Mars, which has not.
His death was reported to The New York Times by his daughter Julia Barry, who said he died in his sleep and had been under medical care for congestive heart failure and late-stage kidney disease.
Although most widely known for his highly influential Bruce projects, which earned considerable acclaim for the writer and his title stars — Cliff Gorman on stage, Dustin Hoffman on screen — Barry’s career extended to other projects that caught the public’s attention in their day. He wrote Rhinoceros, the 1974 film adaptation of Eugène Ionesco’s play starring Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel, a movie that has grown somewhat in esteem since its initial critical dismissal, and the 1978 Faye Dunaway vehicle Eyes of Laura Mars, which has not.
- 7/27/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Lou Cutell, who played the “Assman” on Seinfeld and the rainbow-Mohawked Amazing Larry in Pee-wee’s Big Adventure among 100-plus TV and film credits spanning five decades, has died. He was 91.
His friend Mark Furman announced the news on social media but did not provide details.
“After 91 years, and a great life, my friend Lou Cutell went home,” Furman posted Sunday (see it below). “A film, theater and character actor. Big Larry in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Ass Man in Seinfeld, Abe in Grey’s Anatomy S12,E4. He took me to Lucille Ball’s house in 1986. Rest in peace Lou.”
Cutell might be most recognizable to TV fans for his one-off Seinfeld role as Dr. Howard Cooperman in the 1995 episode “The Fusilli Jerry.” It featured Kramer (Michael Richards) picking up his new license plates at the Dmv, only to find that they are someone else’s vanity plate that reads “Assman.
His friend Mark Furman announced the news on social media but did not provide details.
“After 91 years, and a great life, my friend Lou Cutell went home,” Furman posted Sunday (see it below). “A film, theater and character actor. Big Larry in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Ass Man in Seinfeld, Abe in Grey’s Anatomy S12,E4. He took me to Lucille Ball’s house in 1986. Rest in peace Lou.”
Cutell might be most recognizable to TV fans for his one-off Seinfeld role as Dr. Howard Cooperman in the 1995 episode “The Fusilli Jerry.” It featured Kramer (Michael Richards) picking up his new license plates at the Dmv, only to find that they are someone else’s vanity plate that reads “Assman.
- 11/23/2021
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
The Pisf has subsidised eight minority co-productions in its first slate of funding for 2020. The Polish Film Institute (Pisf) has vowed to make a decision on financial grants, despite the Covid-19 crisis, and while the commissions assessing Polish projects are still debating, the one for minority co-productions has already given its verdict. Eight international projects have therefore received a generous subsidy amounting to Pln 5.5 million (€1.28 million), which is around Pln 1.5 million more than the sum handed out in the previous funding slate. The biggest amount of money – Pln 2 million – will serve to bolster the budget of the upcoming Jonathan Glazer project The Zone of Interest, co-produced on the Polish side by Extreme Emotions Bis. Meanwhile, Oleg Sencow’s Nosorożec (Rhino) can count on Pln 1 million. The Ukrainian director is once again teaming up with Warsaw-based Apple Film Production. Film Produkcja,...
Harvey Sabinson, one of Broadway’s legendary press agents and a former long-time executive director of The Broadway League, died on April 18 of natural causes at his residence in Sarasota, Florida. He was 94 years old. Sabinson capped a 50-year career in the theater when he was honored with a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1995. That year he stepped down as executive director of the League of American Theatres and Producers, (now known as the Broadway League) a national trade association of theatrical producers, presenters and theatre operators. Sabinson joined the organization early in 1976, when it was known as the League of New York Theatres and Producers, as director of special projects. Prior to this appointment, he spent 30 years as a theatrical publicist, beginning shortly after his discharge from Army service during World War II, during which time he received a Purple Heart. He became executive director in 1982. In...
- 4/21/2019
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
As we bid farewell this week to the mighty Gene Wilder, find out how many of his movie roles you can recognise
Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx
Bonnie and Clyde
The Producers
Young Frankenstein
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)
Rhinoceros
The Woman in Red
Silver Streak
The Frisco Kid
Haunted Honeymoon
Blazing Saddles
Stir Crazy
Blazing Saddles
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother
Start the Revolution Without Me
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx
The Woman in Red
The World's Greatest Lover
Silver Streak
Stir Crazy
See No Evil, Hear No Evil
Hanky Panky
Another You
Silver Streak
Sunday Lovers
Bonnie and Clyde
Blazing Saddles
The Little Prince
Young Frankenstein
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother
Rhinoceros
See No Evil, Hear No Evil
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother...
Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx
Bonnie and Clyde
The Producers
Young Frankenstein
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)
Rhinoceros
The Woman in Red
Silver Streak
The Frisco Kid
Haunted Honeymoon
Blazing Saddles
Stir Crazy
Blazing Saddles
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother
Start the Revolution Without Me
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx
The Woman in Red
The World's Greatest Lover
Silver Streak
Stir Crazy
See No Evil, Hear No Evil
Hanky Panky
Another You
Silver Streak
Sunday Lovers
Bonnie and Clyde
Blazing Saddles
The Little Prince
Young Frankenstein
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother
Rhinoceros
See No Evil, Hear No Evil
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother...
- 9/2/2016
- by Aidan Mac Guill
- The Guardian - Film News
The sad news for fans of film comedy spread like wildfire earlier this week. Here’s the opening paragraph facts from the New York Times:
Gene Wilder, who established himself as one of America’s foremost comic actors with his delightfully neurotic performances in three films directed by Mel Brooks; his eccentric star turn in the family classic “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”; and his winning chemistry with Richard Pryor in the box-office smash “Stir Crazy,” died early Monday morning at his home in Stamford, Conn. He was 83.
A nephew, the filmmaker Jordan Walker-Pearlman, confirmed his death in a statement, saying the cause was complications of Alzheimer’s disease.
Mr. Wilder’s rule for comedy was simple: Don’t try to make it funny; try to make it real. “I’m an actor, not a clown,” he said more than once.
And what an actor. That’s from the...
Gene Wilder, who established himself as one of America’s foremost comic actors with his delightfully neurotic performances in three films directed by Mel Brooks; his eccentric star turn in the family classic “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”; and his winning chemistry with Richard Pryor in the box-office smash “Stir Crazy,” died early Monday morning at his home in Stamford, Conn. He was 83.
A nephew, the filmmaker Jordan Walker-Pearlman, confirmed his death in a statement, saying the cause was complications of Alzheimer’s disease.
Mr. Wilder’s rule for comedy was simple: Don’t try to make it funny; try to make it real. “I’m an actor, not a clown,” he said more than once.
And what an actor. That’s from the...
- 8/31/2016
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Crossing the halfway point of this brilliant second season, we reach what could be considered a transitional episode. It's filled with cliffhangers and unanswered questions, but amplified with enough tension to also entertain. "Rhinoceros" is the most functional episode of the season, often playing out in actual time as if it were 24 — which is a crossover I would totally watch. "This is a true story. Events take place in real time, ya know.""Rhinoceros," named after the Eugène Ionesco's play about groupthink and conformity, picks up minutes after the end of episode five. Lou (Patrick Wilson) and Hank (Ted Danson) have arrived at the Blumquist home, where they take Ed (Jesse Plemons) into custody, much to the protestation of Peggy (Kirsten Dunst). "You're not gonna prove my Ed did anything wrong! It's un-provable!" she yells. It's not that he didn't do anything wrong, though. They just can't prove it.
- 11/17/2015
- by Brian Tallerico
- Vulture
Iconic stage and screen star Eli Wallach, known for performances in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and The Magnificent Seven, died Tuesday. He was 98.
Eli Wallach Dies
Wallach’s death was confirmed by a family member to CNN.
Over the course of his storied career, Wallach accumulated more that 150 film credits. In addition to 60s Westerns The Magnificent Seven and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, he starred in The Misfits, Lord Jim, Tour Guys, The Two Jakes, The Godfather: Part III and The Holiday. His last major motion picture was 2013’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.
Among the Hollywood elite Wallach starred alongside were Clint Eastwood, Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Kirk Douglas, Jack Nicholson and Kate Winslet.
Though film paid the bills, Wallach’s passion was the theatre. “For actors, movies are a means to an end," Wallach told The New York Times in 1973. "I go...
Eli Wallach Dies
Wallach’s death was confirmed by a family member to CNN.
Over the course of his storied career, Wallach accumulated more that 150 film credits. In addition to 60s Westerns The Magnificent Seven and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, he starred in The Misfits, Lord Jim, Tour Guys, The Two Jakes, The Godfather: Part III and The Holiday. His last major motion picture was 2013’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.
Among the Hollywood elite Wallach starred alongside were Clint Eastwood, Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Kirk Douglas, Jack Nicholson and Kate Winslet.
Though film paid the bills, Wallach’s passion was the theatre. “For actors, movies are a means to an end," Wallach told The New York Times in 1973. "I go...
- 6/25/2014
- Uinterview
Actor with a talent for conveying her characters' rich and troubled inner lives
The New Hollywood movement was primarily a male, auteur-led phenomenon. But the contribution of performers as adventurous and vital as Karen Black, who has died aged 74 from complications from cancer, should not be overlooked. Black was electrified as well as electrifying: her tornado of hair, her fearless physicality and those indelible feline eyes combined to create a woozy and unapologetic sexual energy. She looked offbeat, and she knew how to use that. "I couldn't have been an actress in the 1930s," she said, reflecting on her role as a movie extra in The Day of the Locust (1975). "My face moves around too much."
It was in the late 1960s and 70s that she became one of the great character actors of Us cinema in a series of performances in key New Hollywood works. Partly it was that...
The New Hollywood movement was primarily a male, auteur-led phenomenon. But the contribution of performers as adventurous and vital as Karen Black, who has died aged 74 from complications from cancer, should not be overlooked. Black was electrified as well as electrifying: her tornado of hair, her fearless physicality and those indelible feline eyes combined to create a woozy and unapologetic sexual energy. She looked offbeat, and she knew how to use that. "I couldn't have been an actress in the 1930s," she said, reflecting on her role as a movie extra in The Day of the Locust (1975). "My face moves around too much."
It was in the late 1960s and 70s that she became one of the great character actors of Us cinema in a series of performances in key New Hollywood works. Partly it was that...
- 8/9/2013
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
The Ann Arbor Film Festival, having survived their half-a-century blowout in 2012, is back with another rip-roarin’ 51st edition in 2013, which will run from March 19-24, screening a mind-boggling amount of experimental short films and a few features.
Highlights of the fest include:
Special presentations by this year’s jurors, including Marcin Gizycki round-up of Polish animation from the 1950s to the present; Laida Lertxundi’s selection of some of her films as well as her biggest influences; and Kevin Jerome Everson’s mini-retrospective of his own films.
There’s also special tributes to Pat O’Neill, including a retrospective of his short films from the ’70s to the present as well as a screening of his 1989 35mm experimental epic Water and Power; Suzan Pitt, with selections of short films from her career; and a screening of Ken Burns’ latest doc The Central Park Five, co-directed with his daughter Sarah Burns and son-in-law David McMahon,...
Highlights of the fest include:
Special presentations by this year’s jurors, including Marcin Gizycki round-up of Polish animation from the 1950s to the present; Laida Lertxundi’s selection of some of her films as well as her biggest influences; and Kevin Jerome Everson’s mini-retrospective of his own films.
There’s also special tributes to Pat O’Neill, including a retrospective of his short films from the ’70s to the present as well as a screening of his 1989 35mm experimental epic Water and Power; Suzan Pitt, with selections of short films from her career; and a screening of Ken Burns’ latest doc The Central Park Five, co-directed with his daughter Sarah Burns and son-in-law David McMahon,...
- 3/19/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Low-budget, Canadian and sneaky as hell, Bruce McDonald's "Pontypool" is a movie that restores your faith in the ability of genre movies to rabbit-punch your limbic system and your frontal lobe at the same time. Just grabbing the ingenious premise with two hands is a moviehead thrill: the setting is the local radio station for a tiny Ontario town, so small that it occupies not its own building but the basement of a church. The protagonist is Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie), a grizzled, boozy, pretentious shock jock whose downward career spiral has landed him in the provincial wilderness, where his indulgent ramblings are largely unwelcome and where he's only supposed to deliver weather and traffic news. His foils are the patient station manager (Lisa Houle) and a young intern (Georgina Reilly). Amidst the morning-drive drudgery, reports begin to trickle in, of crowds forming and riots beginning and people being chased and torn apart.
- 1/26/2010
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
Kudos to Kino: the video company has released a boxed set of the acclaimed Aft feature films. Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
By Raymond Benson
.
Want to go see a Broadway or West End stage play—but at the local cinema? No, it’s not a filmed stage production. It’s a play translated to the film medium, but with complete faithfulness to the original play script. Not only that, it stars big name actors and is directed by a top-notch director. To complete the conceit, you get handed a playbill (program) when you enter the theater. There might even be an intermission—or two! And you have only four showtimes at which you can view the picture before it disappears, and you have to buy your ticket in advance with a subscription for a whole “season” of these filmed plays, or staged films, or whatever you want to call them.
By Raymond Benson
.
Want to go see a Broadway or West End stage play—but at the local cinema? No, it’s not a filmed stage production. It’s a play translated to the film medium, but with complete faithfulness to the original play script. Not only that, it stars big name actors and is directed by a top-notch director. To complete the conceit, you get handed a playbill (program) when you enter the theater. There might even be an intermission—or two! And you have only four showtimes at which you can view the picture before it disappears, and you have to buy your ticket in advance with a subscription for a whole “season” of these filmed plays, or staged films, or whatever you want to call them.
- 4/16/2009
- by [email protected] (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Zombie Strippers
Triumph Films
The acting is pretty bad, the dialogue is worse and the production quality as a whole bears that unmistakable ultralow-budget, direct-to-DVD sheen, but Zombie Strippers, which bows April 18, could never be accused of failing to live up to its title.
Starring adult entertainment industry queen Jenna Jameson and loosely inspired by Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros, Jay Lee's grotesque little horror film makes up for in audacity what it might lack in finesse.
Set at the start of George W. Bush's fourth consecutive term in office, the cautionary tale finds the U.S. military, fighting wars on several fronts, seeking to replenish its dwindling numbers with a chemo-virus that instantly reanimates the corpses of its fallen soldiers.
But the virus ends up finding its way out of the lab and into Rhino's, a small-town Nebraska underground strip club presided over by the obnoxious Ian Essko (Robert Englund). There, it infects its star attraction, the Nietzsche-reading Kat (Jameson), and turns her into a writhing, flesh-eating sensation.
Stripping away all the lame political satire and cutting to the chase, there's admittedly something perversely effective about Jameson and company strutting their undead stuff against the appropriate death metal soundtrack.
It all serves as a warm-up to the main event -- a garish silicone and latex-charged zombie-stripper smackdown that can best be described as George Romero-meets-Russ Meyer with a nod to the 1972 Herschell Gordon Lewis cult classic The Gore Gore Girls.
In the process, writer-director-cinematographer Lee (The Slaughter) just might have stumbled onto something bankable.
Call it strip-quease.
The acting is pretty bad, the dialogue is worse and the production quality as a whole bears that unmistakable ultralow-budget, direct-to-DVD sheen, but Zombie Strippers, which bows April 18, could never be accused of failing to live up to its title.
Starring adult entertainment industry queen Jenna Jameson and loosely inspired by Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros, Jay Lee's grotesque little horror film makes up for in audacity what it might lack in finesse.
Set at the start of George W. Bush's fourth consecutive term in office, the cautionary tale finds the U.S. military, fighting wars on several fronts, seeking to replenish its dwindling numbers with a chemo-virus that instantly reanimates the corpses of its fallen soldiers.
But the virus ends up finding its way out of the lab and into Rhino's, a small-town Nebraska underground strip club presided over by the obnoxious Ian Essko (Robert Englund). There, it infects its star attraction, the Nietzsche-reading Kat (Jameson), and turns her into a writhing, flesh-eating sensation.
Stripping away all the lame political satire and cutting to the chase, there's admittedly something perversely effective about Jameson and company strutting their undead stuff against the appropriate death metal soundtrack.
It all serves as a warm-up to the main event -- a garish silicone and latex-charged zombie-stripper smackdown that can best be described as George Romero-meets-Russ Meyer with a nod to the 1972 Herschell Gordon Lewis cult classic The Gore Gore Girls.
In the process, writer-director-cinematographer Lee (The Slaughter) just might have stumbled onto something bankable.
Call it strip-quease.
- 4/18/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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