Michael Mayer on Beanie Feldstein as Fanny Brice in the Broadway revival of Funny Girl that he is directing: “She’s a wonderful singer and very funny and charming and warm and not Barbra Streisand.”
In the second instalment with a very engaged Single All The Way director, Michael Mayer, we discuss composer Anton Sanko (The Seagull with Nico Muhly and Mikhaël Hers’ Amanda); songs by Whitney Houston and Britney Spears; Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle and The Morning Star, and working with John Logan on the world première of Swept Away at the Berkeley Rep.
Nick (Philemon Chambers) with Peter (Michael Urie) in Michael Mayer’s Single All The Way, screenplay by Chad Hodges.
Michael is also scheduled to direct two upcoming Broadway productions - Beanie Feldstein in Funny Girl with Jane Lynch as her mother and the Neil Diamond musical - and then Jeanine Tesori's Grounded at The Metropolitan Opera,...
In the second instalment with a very engaged Single All The Way director, Michael Mayer, we discuss composer Anton Sanko (The Seagull with Nico Muhly and Mikhaël Hers’ Amanda); songs by Whitney Houston and Britney Spears; Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle and The Morning Star, and working with John Logan on the world première of Swept Away at the Berkeley Rep.
Nick (Philemon Chambers) with Peter (Michael Urie) in Michael Mayer’s Single All The Way, screenplay by Chad Hodges.
Michael is also scheduled to direct two upcoming Broadway productions - Beanie Feldstein in Funny Girl with Jane Lynch as her mother and the Neil Diamond musical - and then Jeanine Tesori's Grounded at The Metropolitan Opera,...
- 1/4/2022
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Philemon Chambers, Jennifer Coolidge and Michael Urie in Michael Mayer’s holiday treat Single All The Way (a Netflix release)
Michael Mayer’s joyous Single All The Way, screenplay by Chad Hodge, costumes by Véronique Marchessault, music by Anton Sanko, stars Michael Urie and Philemon Chambers with Kathy Najimy, Barry Bostwick, Jennifer Coolidge, Jennifer Robertson, Alexandra Beaton, Madison Brydges, Luke Macfarlane, Gryffin Hanvelt, Viggo Hanvelt, Melanie Leishman, Stefano Dimatteo, Steve Lund, and Dan Finnerty.
Michael Mayer with Anne-Katrin Titze on having Michael Urie, Jennifer Coolidge, Kathy Najimy, Barry Bostwick for Single All The Way: “It was just one fantastic delicious cast member after another.”
On the day the great Joan Didion died at the age of 87 in her Manhattan apartment, Michael Mayer and I remembered her, we discussed the many challenges of filming a feature in 2021, and the difficulty in keeping Broadway theatres open to the public during a pandemic.
Michael Mayer’s joyous Single All The Way, screenplay by Chad Hodge, costumes by Véronique Marchessault, music by Anton Sanko, stars Michael Urie and Philemon Chambers with Kathy Najimy, Barry Bostwick, Jennifer Coolidge, Jennifer Robertson, Alexandra Beaton, Madison Brydges, Luke Macfarlane, Gryffin Hanvelt, Viggo Hanvelt, Melanie Leishman, Stefano Dimatteo, Steve Lund, and Dan Finnerty.
Michael Mayer with Anne-Katrin Titze on having Michael Urie, Jennifer Coolidge, Kathy Najimy, Barry Bostwick for Single All The Way: “It was just one fantastic delicious cast member after another.”
On the day the great Joan Didion died at the age of 87 in her Manhattan apartment, Michael Mayer and I remembered her, we discussed the many challenges of filming a feature in 2021, and the difficulty in keeping Broadway theatres open to the public during a pandemic.
- 12/26/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
You can’t fault the writing-directing duo of David Charbonier and Justin Powell for reckless overreaching: Their first feature, “The Djinn”, stirred terror around just one boy in an apartment. Their second, which premiered at Fantastic Fest last fall, cautiously ups the ante to two boys and one whole house. “The Boy Behind the Door” is a more polished affair than its predecessor, with no supernatural aspect to the child endangerment this time. But . Shudder is adding the film to its streaming service July 29.
After a brief, alarming prologue, we properly meet our protagonists in a moment of calm beforehand — two 12-year-old lads playing catch in a field en route to a Little League game. When their ball rolls down an embankment, Kevin goes to retrieve it but does not return. Bobby (Lonnie Chavis from “This Is Us”) eventually goes looking for him, which doesn’t end well for him either.
After a brief, alarming prologue, we properly meet our protagonists in a moment of calm beforehand — two 12-year-old lads playing catch in a field en route to a Little League game. When their ball rolls down an embankment, Kevin goes to retrieve it but does not return. Bobby (Lonnie Chavis from “This Is Us”) eventually goes looking for him, which doesn’t end well for him either.
- 7/28/2021
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
The music branch has been notorious for high-profile disqualifications and ineligibilities in the last few years. Last week, the BAFTA Awards website released a draft of what films are eligible for the upcoming show, set to take place on April 11, with nominations being announced on March 9. The list notes a film’s eligibility during the newly revamped round one voting period, which began on Jan. 12 and will conclude on Jan. 26.
The British Academy provided a roadmap of the musical scores that are not eligible for the Academy Awards and should not be expected for the shortlist announcement of 15, scheduled for Feb. 9.
The biggest contender that will be missing is “One Night in Miami” by composer Terence Blanchard. Distributed by Amazon Studios and directed by Academy Award winner Regina King, the film was seen as a major hopeful for the veteran musician, who received his first nomination for 2018’s “BlacKkKlansman.” To be eligible for the BAFTAs,...
The British Academy provided a roadmap of the musical scores that are not eligible for the Academy Awards and should not be expected for the shortlist announcement of 15, scheduled for Feb. 9.
The biggest contender that will be missing is “One Night in Miami” by composer Terence Blanchard. Distributed by Amazon Studios and directed by Academy Award winner Regina King, the film was seen as a major hopeful for the veteran musician, who received his first nomination for 2018’s “BlacKkKlansman.” To be eligible for the BAFTAs,...
- 1/21/2021
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Every part in a Chekhov play, no matter how small, is a great part and filled with potential, and Elisabeth Moss proves that in this new screen version of “The Seagull,” which has been adapted by the playwright Stephen Karam.
Moss plays Masha, which is a small role in relation to the lead roles of the famous actress Arkadina and the ambitious ingénue Nina. At the start of “The Seagull,” Masha famously says, “I’m in mourning for my life,” but Karam cleverly begins his screenplay with the set-up of the last scene in the play and then flashes back to the beginning, when there still seems to be some hope for everyone.
Moss reads that well-known line about being in mourning for her life in a way that exactly catches the tone of Chekhov: deeply anguished yet also somehow comic. Chekhov considered “The Seagull” a comedy and called it that in his text, even though it is filled to the brim with the sadness of what can happen between people who love unrequitedly and compete with each other.
Watch Video: Saoirse Ronan, Annette Bening Row Into This Year's Oscar Race in 'The Seagull' Trailer
There have been other films of “The Seagull,” and many different contemporary stage productions. Sidney Lumet directed a movie adaptation with Vanessa Redgrave as Nina in 1968, and the 1975 Williamstown production was filmed for PBS with Blythe Danner as a very spontaneous, in-the-moment, and heartbreaking Nina. And anyone who saw Meryl Streep play Arkadina in “The Seagull” in Central Park in 2001 will remember her in it, especially the way she did an expert cartwheel on stage.
Arkadina is played by Annette Bening here, and her celebrated literary lover Trigorin is played by Corey Stoll. In the first scenes, which are presented as a flashback, Arkadina’s son Konstantin (Billy Howle, “On Chesil Beach”) has prepared an avant-garde play starring his girlfriend Nina (Saoirse Ronan), and Arkadina keeps interrupting the performance with rude remarks. Bening plays Arkadina in a much crueler way than she is usually portrayed in this scene; she is very cutting, and yet Bening is believable later when Arkadina wonders, “Why did I hurt him?”
Also Read: Annette Bening Joins Cast of Marvel Studios' 'Captain Marvel'
As played by Bening, Arkadina is a vain woman and a ruthless winner who is disgusted by her son’s weakness and pretentiousness and jealousy. In the big scene where Arkadina dresses Konstantin’s head wound after he has attempted suicide, Bening smiles at Howle more like a girlfriend than a mother. Bening’s Arkadina is a woman without a shred of maternal feeling, and this makes her very different from Streep’s Arkadina, who was angry with her son but still tied to him.
Stoll is an extremely sexy Trigorin, especially when he looks at Ronan’s Nina with bedroom eyes as he takes her on a boat ride and rows her along, but the tone of his voice sounds jaded and cruel, and this matches what we have seen and heard of Arkadina. (Never has Bening’s throaty voice sounded more deadly and more heartless than it does here.)
When Bening plays her second big scene, in which Arkadina has to do anything she can think of to hold on to Trigorin, director Michael Mayer keeps the camera steadily on her face as she flatters Trigorin out of his urge to leave her for the younger Nina. After Arkadina has won, Stoll’s Trigorin sits back and says, “I am weak and spineless…is that what women want?” This is a very funny line as delivered here, and it hits just the right tragic-comic note.
Watch Video: Saoirse Ronan Is a Confused Newlywed in the First Trailer for 'On Chesil Beach'
“The Seagull” has been “opened up” so that some scenes play outdoors, and that works well because these characters are supposed to be amidst nature on a country estate. This mobility helps keep the material fluid, as does the very hard-working score by Nico Muhly and Anton Sanko, which becomes particularly ominous before Konstantin’s attempted suicide (what sounds like a mixed male and female chorus starts to shriek on the soundtrack). But the most impressive thing about this film of “The Seagull” is that every role has been ideally cast.
Moss somehow manages to dominate the whole film and stay most in the memory in spite of limited footage, but Bening plays her last moment here extraordinarily well, and this closing scene with Arkadina generally gives actresses trouble. (Streep didn’t seem to know how to play it, as if it were a puzzle that she couldn’t figure out.)
Bening is physically fluttery throughout most of the film, which expresses Arkadina’s desperate need to never face the facts. But in our last view of this woman, Bening decides to keep very still, her eyes glassy and fixed on some distant point, and the effect is like a surprisingly bold move in an otherwise circumspect poker game. The PBS version of “The Seagull” with Blythe Danner is still the best film adaptation of this play, but this movie has much to recommend it.
Read original story ‘The Seagull’ Film Review: All-Star Cast Flourishes in Chekhov Adaptation At TheWrap...
Moss plays Masha, which is a small role in relation to the lead roles of the famous actress Arkadina and the ambitious ingénue Nina. At the start of “The Seagull,” Masha famously says, “I’m in mourning for my life,” but Karam cleverly begins his screenplay with the set-up of the last scene in the play and then flashes back to the beginning, when there still seems to be some hope for everyone.
Moss reads that well-known line about being in mourning for her life in a way that exactly catches the tone of Chekhov: deeply anguished yet also somehow comic. Chekhov considered “The Seagull” a comedy and called it that in his text, even though it is filled to the brim with the sadness of what can happen between people who love unrequitedly and compete with each other.
Watch Video: Saoirse Ronan, Annette Bening Row Into This Year's Oscar Race in 'The Seagull' Trailer
There have been other films of “The Seagull,” and many different contemporary stage productions. Sidney Lumet directed a movie adaptation with Vanessa Redgrave as Nina in 1968, and the 1975 Williamstown production was filmed for PBS with Blythe Danner as a very spontaneous, in-the-moment, and heartbreaking Nina. And anyone who saw Meryl Streep play Arkadina in “The Seagull” in Central Park in 2001 will remember her in it, especially the way she did an expert cartwheel on stage.
Arkadina is played by Annette Bening here, and her celebrated literary lover Trigorin is played by Corey Stoll. In the first scenes, which are presented as a flashback, Arkadina’s son Konstantin (Billy Howle, “On Chesil Beach”) has prepared an avant-garde play starring his girlfriend Nina (Saoirse Ronan), and Arkadina keeps interrupting the performance with rude remarks. Bening plays Arkadina in a much crueler way than she is usually portrayed in this scene; she is very cutting, and yet Bening is believable later when Arkadina wonders, “Why did I hurt him?”
Also Read: Annette Bening Joins Cast of Marvel Studios' 'Captain Marvel'
As played by Bening, Arkadina is a vain woman and a ruthless winner who is disgusted by her son’s weakness and pretentiousness and jealousy. In the big scene where Arkadina dresses Konstantin’s head wound after he has attempted suicide, Bening smiles at Howle more like a girlfriend than a mother. Bening’s Arkadina is a woman without a shred of maternal feeling, and this makes her very different from Streep’s Arkadina, who was angry with her son but still tied to him.
Stoll is an extremely sexy Trigorin, especially when he looks at Ronan’s Nina with bedroom eyes as he takes her on a boat ride and rows her along, but the tone of his voice sounds jaded and cruel, and this matches what we have seen and heard of Arkadina. (Never has Bening’s throaty voice sounded more deadly and more heartless than it does here.)
When Bening plays her second big scene, in which Arkadina has to do anything she can think of to hold on to Trigorin, director Michael Mayer keeps the camera steadily on her face as she flatters Trigorin out of his urge to leave her for the younger Nina. After Arkadina has won, Stoll’s Trigorin sits back and says, “I am weak and spineless…is that what women want?” This is a very funny line as delivered here, and it hits just the right tragic-comic note.
Watch Video: Saoirse Ronan Is a Confused Newlywed in the First Trailer for 'On Chesil Beach'
“The Seagull” has been “opened up” so that some scenes play outdoors, and that works well because these characters are supposed to be amidst nature on a country estate. This mobility helps keep the material fluid, as does the very hard-working score by Nico Muhly and Anton Sanko, which becomes particularly ominous before Konstantin’s attempted suicide (what sounds like a mixed male and female chorus starts to shriek on the soundtrack). But the most impressive thing about this film of “The Seagull” is that every role has been ideally cast.
Moss somehow manages to dominate the whole film and stay most in the memory in spite of limited footage, but Bening plays her last moment here extraordinarily well, and this closing scene with Arkadina generally gives actresses trouble. (Streep didn’t seem to know how to play it, as if it were a puzzle that she couldn’t figure out.)
Bening is physically fluttery throughout most of the film, which expresses Arkadina’s desperate need to never face the facts. But in our last view of this woman, Bening decides to keep very still, her eyes glassy and fixed on some distant point, and the effect is like a surprisingly bold move in an otherwise circumspect poker game. The PBS version of “The Seagull” with Blythe Danner is still the best film adaptation of this play, but this movie has much to recommend it.
Read original story ‘The Seagull’ Film Review: All-Star Cast Flourishes in Chekhov Adaptation At TheWrap...
- 5/10/2018
- by Dan Callahan
- The Wrap
Every so often, it’s nice to see a film that’s been on the shelf for years finally come out and actually get solid reviews. Usually, that’s the mark of a terrible flick. Here, in the case of The Seagull, we have a much happier outcome. Initially earmarked to come out a few years ago, it finally played at the recent Tribeca Film Festival, before heading into release this week. Too often, films of this ilk end up like Tulip Fever, finally released to outright pans. The Seagull, while not likely to end up being championed like Margaret, which took nearly a decade to come out but was feted upon release, still is the rare delayed title to clearly not have been shelved because of quality. The movie is an adaptation of the classic Anton Chekhov play. Here’s the synopsis from IMDb, in case you’re unfamiliar...
- 5/10/2018
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
They knew they would have to go up against a violent cult to reunite with their son, but the family had no idea how soon they would become the prey in Jackals, a new movie from Scream Factory Films. Ahead of its September 1st release, Jackals is teased in a trailer that channels the visceral violence and isolated horror of Bryan Bertino's The Strangers and Jack Ketchum's Off Season.
Press Release: In a potent blend of the horror, thriller and home-invasion genres, an estranged family attempts to save their son from a murderous cult in the terrifying psychological thriller Jackals. Opening in select theaters and On Demand September 1st, 2017 from Scream Factory Films, Jackals is a shocking and suspenseful saga from director Kevin Greutert (Saw 3D, Visions) and producer Tommy Alastra (Sunset Strip).
Directed by Kevin Greutert and written by Jared Rivet, Jackals stars Deborah Kara Unger (Crash,...
Press Release: In a potent blend of the horror, thriller and home-invasion genres, an estranged family attempts to save their son from a murderous cult in the terrifying psychological thriller Jackals. Opening in select theaters and On Demand September 1st, 2017 from Scream Factory Films, Jackals is a shocking and suspenseful saga from director Kevin Greutert (Saw 3D, Visions) and producer Tommy Alastra (Sunset Strip).
Directed by Kevin Greutert and written by Jared Rivet, Jackals stars Deborah Kara Unger (Crash,...
- 7/8/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
The independent narrative and documentary directors and composers headed for the Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound's Music and Sound Design Labs have been revealed. The Labs will take place at Skywalker Ranch in northern California. These labs offer a space for composers, directors and sound designers to collaborate on a film soundtrack, in a workshop setting under the guidance of top film composers and film music professionals as Creative Advisors. The Music and Sound Design Lab for narrative features goes down July 7 through 21, with the Lab for documentaries to follow on July 22 through 30. Creative Advisors this year include composers Jeff Beal, Todd Boekelheide, George S. Clinton, John Frizzell, Harry Gregson-Williams, Laura Karpman, and Anton Sanko; sound designers Chris Barnett, Pete Horner, Dennis Leonard, Tim Nielsen, Gary Rydstrom, Kent Sparling, and Randy Thom; Bmi Vice President, Doreen Ringer Ross; re-recording mixers Erik Foreman, Zach Martin and Brandon...
- 6/30/2015
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Thompson on Hollywood
Our weekly feature in which a writer answers the question: if you could force your friends at gunpoint to watch one movie or TV show, what would it be? There is a scene about midway through "Rabbit Hole" that gets grieving exactly right. It takes place between Becca Corbett (Nicole Kidman) and her mother Nat (Dianne Wiest), both of whom have tragically lost their sons: Nat to the horrors of drug addiction eleven years before and Becca to a car in the street eight months ago. As they are placing boxes of four-year-old Danny's things in the basement of the home Becca shares with her husband Howie (Aaron Eckhart), Nat sums up her feelings on loss with an elegant metaphor. Becca: Does it ever go away? Nat: No, I don't think it does. Not for me, it hasn't, and it's going on eleven years. It changes though. Becca: How? Nat: I don't know.
- 5/12/2015
- by Chris Eggertsen
- Hitfix
Laine would do anything to get one more chance to talk with Debbie. But her best friend is dead, and it looks like they will never communicate again… until Laine finds the Ouija board in Debbie’s room. From Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, Ouija stars Bates Motel’s Olivia Cooke and hits home media on February 3rd, and we’ve been provided with two Blu-ray copies to give away.
“After Debbie (Shelley Hennig, “Teen Wolf”) suddenly dies, her best friend Laine (Olivia Cooke, “Bates Motel,”) attempts to contact her using an antique Ouija board she finds in Debbie’s room. When the curious teen begins asking the board questions and stumbles upon the mystery of her friend’s death, Laine discovers a resident spirit calling itself Dz, and eerie, inexplicable events begin to follow her. The group of friends digs deeper into the history of Debbie’s house and are...
“After Debbie (Shelley Hennig, “Teen Wolf”) suddenly dies, her best friend Laine (Olivia Cooke, “Bates Motel,”) attempts to contact her using an antique Ouija board she finds in Debbie’s room. When the curious teen begins asking the board questions and stumbles upon the mystery of her friend’s death, Laine discovers a resident spirit calling itself Dz, and eerie, inexplicable events begin to follow her. The group of friends digs deeper into the history of Debbie’s house and are...
- 1/28/2015
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Three hundred twenty-three feature films are eligible for the 2014 Academy Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today.
To be eligible for 87th Academy Awards consideration, feature films must open in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County by midnight, December 31, and begin a minimum run of seven consecutive days.
Under Academy rules, a feature-length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes and must have been exhibited theatrically on 35mm or 70mm film, or in a qualifying digital format.
Feature films that receive their first public exhibition or distribution in any manner other than as a theatrical motion picture release are not eligible for Academy Awards in any category. The “Reminder List of Productions Eligible for the 87th Academy Awards” is available at http://www.oscars.org/oscars/rules-eligibility.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also announced that 114 scores...
To be eligible for 87th Academy Awards consideration, feature films must open in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County by midnight, December 31, and begin a minimum run of seven consecutive days.
Under Academy rules, a feature-length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes and must have been exhibited theatrically on 35mm or 70mm film, or in a qualifying digital format.
Feature films that receive their first public exhibition or distribution in any manner other than as a theatrical motion picture release are not eligible for Academy Awards in any category. The “Reminder List of Productions Eligible for the 87th Academy Awards” is available at http://www.oscars.org/oscars/rules-eligibility.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also announced that 114 scores...
- 12/13/2014
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Original scores from The Boxtrolls, Divergent, Exodus: Gods And Kings and The Grand Budapest Hotel are among 114 scores eligible for nominations in the Original Score category for the 87th Oscars. The noms will be announced on January 15. The eligible scores along with their composers are listed below, in alphabetical order by film title:
“American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs,” Vivek Maddala, composer
“Anita,” Lili Haydn, composer
“Annabelle,” Joseph Bishara, composer
“At Middleton,” Arturo Sandoval, composer
“Atlas Shrugged: Who Is John Galt?,” Elia Cmiral, composer
“Bears,” George Fenton, composer
“Belle,” Rachel Portman, composer
“Big Eyes,” Danny Elfman, composer
“Big Hero 6,” Henry Jackman, composer
“The Book of Life,” Gustavo Santaolalla and Tim Davies, composers
“The Boxtrolls,” Dario Marianelli, composer
“Brick Mansions,” Trevor Morris, composer
“Cake,” Christophe Beck, composer
“Calvary,” Patrick Cassidy, composer
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” Henry Jackman, composer
“The Case against 8,” Blake Neely, composer
“Cheatin’,” Nicole Renaud,...
“American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs,” Vivek Maddala, composer
“Anita,” Lili Haydn, composer
“Annabelle,” Joseph Bishara, composer
“At Middleton,” Arturo Sandoval, composer
“Atlas Shrugged: Who Is John Galt?,” Elia Cmiral, composer
“Bears,” George Fenton, composer
“Belle,” Rachel Portman, composer
“Big Eyes,” Danny Elfman, composer
“Big Hero 6,” Henry Jackman, composer
“The Book of Life,” Gustavo Santaolalla and Tim Davies, composers
“The Boxtrolls,” Dario Marianelli, composer
“Brick Mansions,” Trevor Morris, composer
“Cake,” Christophe Beck, composer
“Calvary,” Patrick Cassidy, composer
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” Henry Jackman, composer
“The Case against 8,” Blake Neely, composer
“Cheatin’,” Nicole Renaud,...
- 12/13/2014
- by The Deadline Team
- Deadline
Ever since Nurse Ratched terrorized Chief Bromden and Randle McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, nurses have been slotted into two categories by Hollywood writers. There’s the battle axe, like Ratched and Sister Jude in American Horror Story: Asylum (to give a more recent example), and the naughty nurse, like Dakota Block in Planet Terror, Elle Driver in Kill Bill and any number of adult actresses. To my knowledge, however, no film has ever combined the two with such nutty results as Nurse 3D.
Paz de la Huerta proves an inspired choice to play Abby Russell, a devoted nurse by day who stalks through clubs at night, murdering men she seduces into cheating on their wives. When Abby goes out drinking one night with new nurse Danni (Katrina Bowden) and finds herself intensely attracted to the young woman, she spends the night with her and begins to pursue her romantically.
Paz de la Huerta proves an inspired choice to play Abby Russell, a devoted nurse by day who stalks through clubs at night, murdering men she seduces into cheating on their wives. When Abby goes out drinking one night with new nurse Danni (Katrina Bowden) and finds herself intensely attracted to the young woman, she spends the night with her and begins to pursue her romantically.
- 4/9/2014
- by Isaac Feldberg
- We Got This Covered
Now that the full WonderCon 2013 schedule has been released, we know what other genre projects will be joining the already announced Evil Dead and "Under the Dome." It looks like a very busy weekend for horror fans!
Below you'll find a majority of the WonderCon 2013 horror highlights (and a few fringy panels that we thought might have crossover appeal). For all the latest updates visit the official WonderCon website.
Friday, March 29
3:00pm - Exclusive Warner Bros. Television Screenings of "Revolution," "Arrow," and "The Following" (more info here) - Arena
6:30pm - Netflix's "Hemlock Grove" - Room 300De
From executive producer Eli Roth (Cabin Fever) and based on Brian McGreevy's novel of the same name, Netflix's Hemlock Grove is a riveting one-hour murder mystery series that revolves around the residents of a former Pennsylvania steel town. When 17-year-old Brooke Bluebell is brutally murdered, any of Hemlock's peculiar inhabitants-or killer creatures-could be suspects.
Below you'll find a majority of the WonderCon 2013 horror highlights (and a few fringy panels that we thought might have crossover appeal). For all the latest updates visit the official WonderCon website.
Friday, March 29
3:00pm - Exclusive Warner Bros. Television Screenings of "Revolution," "Arrow," and "The Following" (more info here) - Arena
6:30pm - Netflix's "Hemlock Grove" - Room 300De
From executive producer Eli Roth (Cabin Fever) and based on Brian McGreevy's novel of the same name, Netflix's Hemlock Grove is a riveting one-hour murder mystery series that revolves around the residents of a former Pennsylvania steel town. When 17-year-old Brooke Bluebell is brutally murdered, any of Hemlock's peculiar inhabitants-or killer creatures-could be suspects.
- 3/17/2013
- by The Woman In Black
- DreadCentral.com
Image via: ACGArt
A few of us here from GeekTyrant will be hitting up WonderCon 2013, which takes place from Friday, March 29th to Sunday, March 31th at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. We went for the first time last year, and we had a great time, so we're all excited to be going back for more geek goodness!
WonderCon has released the full three-day schedule! There's a ton of great stuff to check out this year! Enough cool stuff to keep you more than busy! Check out the schedule and start planning out your trip! If you're going and you see us around make sure to say hi! We can talk about geek stuff! See ya there!
March 29 • Friday
12:30Pm – 1:30Pm
1
35th Anniversary: BattlestarRoom 300De
Host Richard Hatch (Capt. Apollo, Tom Zarek), Kevin Grazier (science advisor, Battlestar, Caprica, Defiance),Michael Taylor (writer/producer, Battlestar, Defiance, Caprica...
A few of us here from GeekTyrant will be hitting up WonderCon 2013, which takes place from Friday, March 29th to Sunday, March 31th at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. We went for the first time last year, and we had a great time, so we're all excited to be going back for more geek goodness!
WonderCon has released the full three-day schedule! There's a ton of great stuff to check out this year! Enough cool stuff to keep you more than busy! Check out the schedule and start planning out your trip! If you're going and you see us around make sure to say hi! We can talk about geek stuff! See ya there!
March 29 • Friday
12:30Pm – 1:30Pm
1
35th Anniversary: BattlestarRoom 300De
Host Richard Hatch (Capt. Apollo, Tom Zarek), Kevin Grazier (science advisor, Battlestar, Caprica, Defiance),Michael Taylor (writer/producer, Battlestar, Defiance, Caprica...
- 3/16/2013
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
The Oscars are a little over two months away, and with so many fantastic films released throughout this year, the anticipation surrounding the announcement of the nominations next month is running on high.
So far, we’ve had the shortlists for the Best Animated Feature, the Best Visual Effects, and the Best Documentary categories.
Now the Academy has announced the list of 104 films that are eligible in the Best Original Score category, and it’s going to be very interesting to see what makes the final cut come nominations time next month.
I think Hans Zimmer’s score for The Dark Knight Rises is, hopefully, a lock, because it is amazing. I also loved James Horner’s score for The Amazing Spider-Man, but can’t decide whether or not I think it will earn a nomination.
Alexandre Desplat has three films in the running this year, with Argo, Rise of the Guardians,...
So far, we’ve had the shortlists for the Best Animated Feature, the Best Visual Effects, and the Best Documentary categories.
Now the Academy has announced the list of 104 films that are eligible in the Best Original Score category, and it’s going to be very interesting to see what makes the final cut come nominations time next month.
I think Hans Zimmer’s score for The Dark Knight Rises is, hopefully, a lock, because it is amazing. I also loved James Horner’s score for The Amazing Spider-Man, but can’t decide whether or not I think it will earn a nomination.
Alexandre Desplat has three films in the running this year, with Argo, Rise of the Guardians,...
- 12/11/2012
- by Kenji Lloyd
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Indian composer A.R. Rahman is in the Oscar race once again for the original score at the 85thAcademy Awards. His composition for the film “”People Like Us” has found place in the long list of 104 composers vying for the nominations.
Rahman composed for the Alex Kurtzman directed “People Like Us” starring Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks, Olivia Wilde, Jon Favreau and Michelle Pfeiffer.
Rahman won two Academy Awards for Best Original Music Score and Best Original Song at the 81st Academy Awards in 2009 for “Slumdog Millionaire”.
104 scores from eligible feature-length motion pictures released in 2012 are in contention for nominations in the Original Score category.
The 85th Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 10, 2013.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on February 24, 2013. The eligible scores along with their composers are listed below in alphabetical order by film title:
“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” Henry Jackman, composer “After the Wizard,...
Rahman composed for the Alex Kurtzman directed “People Like Us” starring Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks, Olivia Wilde, Jon Favreau and Michelle Pfeiffer.
Rahman won two Academy Awards for Best Original Music Score and Best Original Song at the 81st Academy Awards in 2009 for “Slumdog Millionaire”.
104 scores from eligible feature-length motion pictures released in 2012 are in contention for nominations in the Original Score category.
The 85th Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 10, 2013.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on February 24, 2013. The eligible scores along with their composers are listed below in alphabetical order by film title:
“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” Henry Jackman, composer “After the Wizard,...
- 12/11/2012
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
One hundred four scores from eligible feature-length motion pictures released in 2012 are in contention for nominations in the Original Score category for the 85th Academy Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today. As noted by various online Oscar pundits, most noticeably missing is Moonrise Kingdom. A Reminder List of works submitted in the Original Score category will be made available with a nominations ballot to all members of the Music Branch, who shall vote in the order of their preference for not more than five achievements. The five achievements receiving the highest number of votes will become the nominations for final voting for the award. Click Here for the complete rules.
In February, Ludovic Bource won the Oscar for Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) for The Artist at the 84th Academy Awards.
The eligible scores along with their composers are listed below...
In February, Ludovic Bource won the Oscar for Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) for The Artist at the 84th Academy Awards.
The eligible scores along with their composers are listed below...
- 12/11/2012
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
As far as I'm concerned, the two most memorable scores of the year belong to Cloud Atlas and Beasts of the Southern Wild. That said, I made an egregious and unforgivable mistake when filling out my Critics' Choice nominations and forgot to include not one of them, but Both of them! Shame. I feel it. Now I have to hope my fellow Bfca members came through where I failed. However, we will discuss Critics' Choice nominations more on the upcoming episodes of the RopeofSilicon podcast, for now we're talking Oscar as the Academy has released a complete list of all 104 original scores competing for Best Original Score at the 2013 Oscars. I have not yet posted my predictions for Best Original Score and while I am making a fuss above concerning Cloud Atlas and Beasts of the Southern Wild, I think both of those stand a very strong chance at a nomination this year.
- 12/10/2012
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
The Jewish Exorcist: Bornedal Dips Back into English Language for Derivative Genre Effort
Danish master Ole Bornedal already has a finicky history with the Us film industry, having the distinction of directing the remake of his own successful first film, Nightwatch (1994) to disappointing effect in 1997. Since then, he has made several unique titles in his native language, including the excellent 2007 film, Just Another Love Story. After a 2009 Straw Dogs-ish effort, Deliver Us From Evil, Bornedal announced plans for a couple English speaking projects, the first being a collaboration with Sam Raimi as producer, which ended up being The Possession. Unfortunately, Bornedal’s final product is derivative, predictable and unforgivably mediocre, despite a concerted effort that heroically strong-arms us into going along with it until devolving quickly into utter ridiculousness.
Opening with the now yawn inducing and cynically expected title cards announcing the “true” nature of this story that documents a...
Danish master Ole Bornedal already has a finicky history with the Us film industry, having the distinction of directing the remake of his own successful first film, Nightwatch (1994) to disappointing effect in 1997. Since then, he has made several unique titles in his native language, including the excellent 2007 film, Just Another Love Story. After a 2009 Straw Dogs-ish effort, Deliver Us From Evil, Bornedal announced plans for a couple English speaking projects, the first being a collaboration with Sam Raimi as producer, which ended up being The Possession. Unfortunately, Bornedal’s final product is derivative, predictable and unforgivably mediocre, despite a concerted effort that heroically strong-arms us into going along with it until devolving quickly into utter ridiculousness.
Opening with the now yawn inducing and cynically expected title cards announcing the “true” nature of this story that documents a...
- 9/5/2012
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
It’s tough not to like a movie where the exorcist tasked with saving you is Matisyahu.
Wait a minute, what? Yes, it’s true, the Jewish reggae music superstar does make an appearance as a young rabbi-in-training, who comes to the aid of Jeffrey Dean Morgan, when his little girl is possessed by a demon. But I’m getting ahead of myself. We’ll get to that later.
The horror genre ain’t what it used to be. Usually when we get horror from big budget studios, money is poured into visual effects which no matter how realistic they are, can never function as a substitute for a good story. Love them or hate them, the reason such recent smaller fare like Paranormal Activity or Saw became big money making franchises is because budgetary limitations forced those behind those films to focus on story and use the less-is-more approach...
Wait a minute, what? Yes, it’s true, the Jewish reggae music superstar does make an appearance as a young rabbi-in-training, who comes to the aid of Jeffrey Dean Morgan, when his little girl is possessed by a demon. But I’m getting ahead of myself. We’ll get to that later.
The horror genre ain’t what it used to be. Usually when we get horror from big budget studios, money is poured into visual effects which no matter how realistic they are, can never function as a substitute for a good story. Love them or hate them, the reason such recent smaller fare like Paranormal Activity or Saw became big money making franchises is because budgetary limitations forced those behind those films to focus on story and use the less-is-more approach...
- 8/31/2012
- by Ron Henriques
- LRMonline.com
At midnight on October 18, 2011, author and journalist Harold Goldberg launched a unique Web experience and experiment: Playing with Fire, a horror-based script collaboration with three brilliant Oscar- and Emmy-nominated craftsmen. Read on for all the details of how you can participate.
The Goldberg-penned fright script features a bored, disaffected group of kids who come of age as they play a strange, seemingly anthropomorphic fighting video game. Creepiness ensues as the teens try to unravel the terror-filled mystery behind the game.
Those who go to the Playing with Fire website will have the chance to interact with it beyond the features that will be launched each day. Fans can submit their own drawings and trailers -- and suggestions for the script as well. Those who submit are eligible for prizes, everything from cash to video games to Goldberg’s best-selling book All Your Base Are Belong to Us to an eerie dinner with Goldberg.
The Goldberg-penned fright script features a bored, disaffected group of kids who come of age as they play a strange, seemingly anthropomorphic fighting video game. Creepiness ensues as the teens try to unravel the terror-filled mystery behind the game.
Those who go to the Playing with Fire website will have the chance to interact with it beyond the features that will be launched each day. Fans can submit their own drawings and trailers -- and suggestions for the script as well. Those who submit are eligible for prizes, everything from cash to video games to Goldberg’s best-selling book All Your Base Are Belong to Us to an eerie dinner with Goldberg.
- 10/18/2011
- by The Woman In Black
- DreadCentral.com
Anton Sanko has signed on to score next year’s horror thriller The Possession. The movie directed by Ole Bornedal (Nightwatch, I Am Dina) stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan as a recently divorced father whose youngest daughter becomes strangely connected to an antique wooden box she purchased at a yard sale. As the daughter’s behavior becomes more erratic, the father senses a dark presence building until he discovers that the box was built to contain a dibbuk – a dislocated spirit that inhabits and ultimately devours its human host. Kyra Sedgwick, Grant Show and Madison Davenport are co-starring in the film which was originally entitled Dibbuk Box. Sam Raimi and Bob Tapert are producing via Ghost House Pictures. Juliet Snowden and Stiles White (Knowing, Boogeyman) wrote the project’s screenplay. The Possession marks Sanko’s first major feature scoring assignment since last year’s drama Rabbit Hole which earned Nicole Kidman...
- 8/4/2011
- by filmmusicreporter
- Film Music Reporter
By Sean O’Connell
Hollywoodnews.com: The “Rabbit Hole” DVD sat atop my pile of For Your Consideration screeners for longer than I care to admit. Danny Boyle’s “127 Hours” moved ahead of it on the list of required viewing. So did Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan,” the Coen Brothers’ “True Grit,” and a repeat screening of “The Social Network.”
After all, I’m not an outdoorsman, so what chance do I have of getting pinned beneath a boulder? For that matter, I’m no ballerina, cowboy, or computer genius. Watching those films brought no fear.
But I am a parent. And so the idea of watching a film about a couple mourning the loss of their little boy was terrifying. Imagine my surprise, then, when I finally watched John Cameron Mitchell’s tender adaptation of David Lindsay-Abaire’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, only to realize it was the best film I’d seen this year.
Hollywoodnews.com: The “Rabbit Hole” DVD sat atop my pile of For Your Consideration screeners for longer than I care to admit. Danny Boyle’s “127 Hours” moved ahead of it on the list of required viewing. So did Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan,” the Coen Brothers’ “True Grit,” and a repeat screening of “The Social Network.”
After all, I’m not an outdoorsman, so what chance do I have of getting pinned beneath a boulder? For that matter, I’m no ballerina, cowboy, or computer genius. Watching those films brought no fear.
But I am a parent. And so the idea of watching a film about a couple mourning the loss of their little boy was terrifying. Imagine my surprise, then, when I finally watched John Cameron Mitchell’s tender adaptation of David Lindsay-Abaire’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, only to realize it was the best film I’d seen this year.
- 12/28/2010
- by Sean O'Connell
- Hollywoodnews.com
The real hell of the human condition is not our capacity to suffer but our ability to survive that suffering, to keep living every day in a world that feels like it should have ended. The dark side of loss is resilience, and it's this shattering truth about the nature of trauma that director John Cameron Mitchell deftly explores in Rabbit Hole, an explosive, wrenching, brilliantly observed story about a husband and wife wrestling with the memory of their dead child. Their grief and shock is only the beginning; the film finds them dealing with the loss eight months after the fact, and the screenplay from David Lindsay-Abaire (based on his play) is packed with breathtaking moments in which the characters are confronted all over again with the random cruelty of the world and the fact that, despite their best attempts and truest wishes, they have to go on living in it.
- 12/23/2010
- by Daniel Carlson
While most films seem to have revolving door on director’s chairs or cast members, it looks like John Cameron Mitchell’s Rabbit Hole is having a revolving door of composers.
According to Film Music Reporter (via The Playlist), A Single Man composer Abel Korzeniowski has been replaced by composer Anton Sanko, best known for his work on the hit HBO series Big Love. This comes after Korzeniowski himself replaced Owen Pallet, a.k.a. the indie darling Final Fantasy, who left due to scheduling conflicts. More information follows, after the jump.
Read more on Rabbit Hole finds a new composer…...
According to Film Music Reporter (via The Playlist), A Single Man composer Abel Korzeniowski has been replaced by composer Anton Sanko, best known for his work on the hit HBO series Big Love. This comes after Korzeniowski himself replaced Owen Pallet, a.k.a. the indie darling Final Fantasy, who left due to scheduling conflicts. More information follows, after the jump.
Read more on Rabbit Hole finds a new composer…...
- 8/11/2010
- by Joshua Brunsting
- GordonandtheWhale
Thrill-seekers spend their lives in pursuit of the biggest wave to surf or the highest mountain to climb, and for the past few decades, documentary filmmakers have celebrated their exploits.
In Steep, writer-director Mark Obenhaus travels across the globe with a bunch of skiers who eschew popular resorts in favor of far more harrowing runs down rugged mountains that were never meant to accommodate a pair of ski poles. According to this vivid documentary, the sport of extreme, big-mountain skiing took hold in Jackson Hole, Wyo., in the 1960s, when Bill Briggs decided to try skiing mountains in the Grand Tetons that no one had ever imagined navigating. Not long afterward, European skiers tried the same treacherous gambit in the French Alps. Legends were born, and other daredevils decided to follow suit.
The film is dedicated to newsman Peter Jennings, whom Obenhaus and his producers worked for at ABC News, where they proposed a documentary on extreme skiing before Jennings died. They traveled to Europe, British Columbia, Alaska and Iceland to capture some of the most dangerous and awesome runs. The film will find an appreciative audience among all fans of extreme sports, but it is a specialty item unlikely to break through to general audiences.
The film's main asset is the cinematography of Erich Roland. Some of the footage here is archival, taken from previous ski movies. But most of it is new material, which must have been almost as perilous to capture as the ski jumps were to execute. Helicopters take us astonishingly close to the skiers as they climb up dizzying peaks, then race down 90-degree cliffs and sometimes jump off precipices with parachutes to bring them back to Earth.
Several skiers are interviewed, and while the men -- and one woman -- are engaging, the film fails to probe what it is that drives them to pursue these death-defying runs. A few of them offer explanations, like the idea that a brush with death makes life more exhilarating. But these comments rarely go beyond cliche. It might be that a documentary is not the best format for psychological investigation, though Werner Herzog managed it in Grizzly Man, another film about a man irresistibly drawn to danger.
Watching Steep, one longs for deeper insights. Although the film ends with the death of one of the skiers, this lacks impact because we haven't been brought close to any of the athletes.
Perhaps the sports fans who are the movie's likeliest audience would not want to see their heroes put under a psychological microscope, but the film misses an opportunity to become more than a snowbound Endless Summer. Steep might have been called Endless Winter, because as one skier says, "There is no such thing as too much snow."
The editing is excellent, and the haunting music by Anton Sanko makes a perfect counterpoint to the unearthly images.
STEEP
Sony Pictures Classics
The Documentary Group, High Ground Prods.
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Mark Obenhaus
Producers: Jordan Kronick, Gabrielle Tenenbaum
Executive producers: Tom Yellin, Mark Obenhaus, J. Stuart Horsfall
Director of photography: Erich Roland
Music: Anton Sanko
Co-producer: William A. Kerig
Editor: Peter R. Livingston Jr.
Narrator: Peter Krause
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
In Steep, writer-director Mark Obenhaus travels across the globe with a bunch of skiers who eschew popular resorts in favor of far more harrowing runs down rugged mountains that were never meant to accommodate a pair of ski poles. According to this vivid documentary, the sport of extreme, big-mountain skiing took hold in Jackson Hole, Wyo., in the 1960s, when Bill Briggs decided to try skiing mountains in the Grand Tetons that no one had ever imagined navigating. Not long afterward, European skiers tried the same treacherous gambit in the French Alps. Legends were born, and other daredevils decided to follow suit.
The film is dedicated to newsman Peter Jennings, whom Obenhaus and his producers worked for at ABC News, where they proposed a documentary on extreme skiing before Jennings died. They traveled to Europe, British Columbia, Alaska and Iceland to capture some of the most dangerous and awesome runs. The film will find an appreciative audience among all fans of extreme sports, but it is a specialty item unlikely to break through to general audiences.
The film's main asset is the cinematography of Erich Roland. Some of the footage here is archival, taken from previous ski movies. But most of it is new material, which must have been almost as perilous to capture as the ski jumps were to execute. Helicopters take us astonishingly close to the skiers as they climb up dizzying peaks, then race down 90-degree cliffs and sometimes jump off precipices with parachutes to bring them back to Earth.
Several skiers are interviewed, and while the men -- and one woman -- are engaging, the film fails to probe what it is that drives them to pursue these death-defying runs. A few of them offer explanations, like the idea that a brush with death makes life more exhilarating. But these comments rarely go beyond cliche. It might be that a documentary is not the best format for psychological investigation, though Werner Herzog managed it in Grizzly Man, another film about a man irresistibly drawn to danger.
Watching Steep, one longs for deeper insights. Although the film ends with the death of one of the skiers, this lacks impact because we haven't been brought close to any of the athletes.
Perhaps the sports fans who are the movie's likeliest audience would not want to see their heroes put under a psychological microscope, but the film misses an opportunity to become more than a snowbound Endless Summer. Steep might have been called Endless Winter, because as one skier says, "There is no such thing as too much snow."
The editing is excellent, and the haunting music by Anton Sanko makes a perfect counterpoint to the unearthly images.
STEEP
Sony Pictures Classics
The Documentary Group, High Ground Prods.
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Mark Obenhaus
Producers: Jordan Kronick, Gabrielle Tenenbaum
Executive producers: Tom Yellin, Mark Obenhaus, J. Stuart Horsfall
Director of photography: Erich Roland
Music: Anton Sanko
Co-producer: William A. Kerig
Editor: Peter R. Livingston Jr.
Narrator: Peter Krause
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 12/18/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This review was written for the festival screening of "Delirious".PARK CITY -- "Delirious" is not the first film to lampoon the absurdity of and obsession with celebrity culture, but writer/director Tom DiCillo's smart, funny and ultimately over-the-top spoof is more often than not, spot on. His latest effort would have been more satisfying if it had the subtlety and restraint of "Living in Oblivion", whose sly sophistication helped make Dicillo a cult hero to indie filmmakers.
Given that DiCillo has a loyal following and that a solid, well-written comedy is a hot commodity, "Delirious" should have strong art house potential and appeal to a young, hip audience.
DiCillo wrote the lead for Steve Buscemi, at his pale and haggard best here. He plays Les, a sour, frustrated paparazzi, who lives in a dump of an apartment in New York. Into his life waltzes Toby (Michael Pitt), a homeless aspiring actor, whom Les tutors in the tricks of his trade and allows to crash at his pad, which is decorated by sorry examples of taxidermy mounted on the peeling walls.
Les takes himself way too seriously -- more self-appointed philosopher than photographer -- and is bereft of self-knowledge. This set-up works best when it's played for laughs with Pitt as straight man. The film falters when the budding friendship turns melodramatic and comes in for some amateur psychological analysis. Buscemi is forced to overact in a shrill role that requires him to carp and harangue far too often. It's grating and soon the pair sounds like a bickering married couple.
Toby begins an unlikely romance with a Paris Hilton/Britney Spears wannabe, K'harma (Alison Lohman), a talent-free girlish sexpot who is famous for being famous. When not singing and dancing in her underwear in a music video, she sits in her hotel wearing that underwear and shades. DiCillo has a lot of fun with this character and the romance -- Elvis Costello shows up as one of K'harma's party guests -- and Toby is showered in rose petals as he stands outside her hotel. Then he's compelled to hug the doorman. When Les finds out about the affair, he reacts like a jilted lover.
With obvious relish, DiCillo sends up dueling publicists, sycophants of all stripes including the fawning, entertainment press and those bottom feeders, the paparazzi. The reality show that stars a homeless serial killer, where Toby gets his big break, is priceless.
Frank G. DeMarco's edgy cinematography conjures the grungy urban wilderness of NYC as well as the glitzy fantasy world of the rich and famous. Teresa Mastropierro's production design nails the squalor of lower class city life and the sterile luxury of the newly moneyed.
DiCillo and his composer, Anton Sanko, make terrific use of music to drive and cut between scenes. The score rocks the movie.
DELIRIOUS
Peace Arch Films Ltd, Peace Arch Entertainment Group
Credits:
Director: Tom DiCillo
Writer: Tom DiCillo
Producer: Bob Salerno
Executive producer: Mark Balsam, Jimmy de Brabant, Michael Dounaev, John Flock, Gary Howsam, Jennifer Levine, Kami Nagudi, Barry Zemel, Lewin Webb
Director of photography: Frank G. DeMarco
Production designer: Teresa Mastropierro
Music: Anton Sanko
Co-producer: Kristi Lake, Jamie H. Zelermyer
Costume designer: Victoria Farrell
Editor: Paul Zucker
Cast:
Les: Steve Buscemi
Toby: Michael Pitt
Kharma: Alison Lohman
Manager: Gina Gershon
Running time -- 107 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Given that DiCillo has a loyal following and that a solid, well-written comedy is a hot commodity, "Delirious" should have strong art house potential and appeal to a young, hip audience.
DiCillo wrote the lead for Steve Buscemi, at his pale and haggard best here. He plays Les, a sour, frustrated paparazzi, who lives in a dump of an apartment in New York. Into his life waltzes Toby (Michael Pitt), a homeless aspiring actor, whom Les tutors in the tricks of his trade and allows to crash at his pad, which is decorated by sorry examples of taxidermy mounted on the peeling walls.
Les takes himself way too seriously -- more self-appointed philosopher than photographer -- and is bereft of self-knowledge. This set-up works best when it's played for laughs with Pitt as straight man. The film falters when the budding friendship turns melodramatic and comes in for some amateur psychological analysis. Buscemi is forced to overact in a shrill role that requires him to carp and harangue far too often. It's grating and soon the pair sounds like a bickering married couple.
Toby begins an unlikely romance with a Paris Hilton/Britney Spears wannabe, K'harma (Alison Lohman), a talent-free girlish sexpot who is famous for being famous. When not singing and dancing in her underwear in a music video, she sits in her hotel wearing that underwear and shades. DiCillo has a lot of fun with this character and the romance -- Elvis Costello shows up as one of K'harma's party guests -- and Toby is showered in rose petals as he stands outside her hotel. Then he's compelled to hug the doorman. When Les finds out about the affair, he reacts like a jilted lover.
With obvious relish, DiCillo sends up dueling publicists, sycophants of all stripes including the fawning, entertainment press and those bottom feeders, the paparazzi. The reality show that stars a homeless serial killer, where Toby gets his big break, is priceless.
Frank G. DeMarco's edgy cinematography conjures the grungy urban wilderness of NYC as well as the glitzy fantasy world of the rich and famous. Teresa Mastropierro's production design nails the squalor of lower class city life and the sterile luxury of the newly moneyed.
DiCillo and his composer, Anton Sanko, make terrific use of music to drive and cut between scenes. The score rocks the movie.
DELIRIOUS
Peace Arch Films Ltd, Peace Arch Entertainment Group
Credits:
Director: Tom DiCillo
Writer: Tom DiCillo
Producer: Bob Salerno
Executive producer: Mark Balsam, Jimmy de Brabant, Michael Dounaev, John Flock, Gary Howsam, Jennifer Levine, Kami Nagudi, Barry Zemel, Lewin Webb
Director of photography: Frank G. DeMarco
Production designer: Teresa Mastropierro
Music: Anton Sanko
Co-producer: Kristi Lake, Jamie H. Zelermyer
Costume designer: Victoria Farrell
Editor: Paul Zucker
Cast:
Les: Steve Buscemi
Toby: Michael Pitt
Kharma: Alison Lohman
Manager: Gina Gershon
Running time -- 107 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 1/20/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARK CITY -- Delirious is not the first film to lampoon the absurdity of and obsession with celebrity culture, but writer/director Tom DiCillo's smart, funny and ultimately over-the-top spoof is more often than not, spot on. His latest effort would have been more satisfying if it had the subtlety and restraint of Living in Oblivion, whose sly sophistication helped make Dicillo a cult hero to indie filmmakers.
Given that DiCillo has a loyal following and that a solid, well-written comedy is a hot commodity, Delirious should have strong art house potential and appeal to a young, hip audience.
DiCillo wrote the lead for Steve Buscemi, at his pale and haggard best here. He plays Les, a sour, frustrated paparazzi, who lives in a dump of an apartment in New York. Into his life waltzes Toby (Michael Pitt), a homeless aspiring actor, whom Les tutors in the tricks of his trade and allows to crash at his pad, which is decorated by sorry examples of taxidermy mounted on the peeling walls.
Les takes himself way too seriously -- more self-appointed philosopher than photographer -- and is bereft of self-knowledge. This set-up works best when it's played for laughs with Pitt as straight man. The film falters when the budding friendship turns melodramatic and comes in for some amateur psychological analysis. Buscemi is forced to overact in a shrill role that requires him to carp and harangue far too often. It's grating and soon the pair sounds like a bickering married couple.
Toby begins an unlikely romance with a Paris Hilton/Britney Spears wannabe, K'harma (Alison Lohman), a talent-free girlish sexpot who is famous for being famous. When not singing and dancing in her underwear in a music video, she sits in her hotel wearing that underwear and shades. DiCillo has a lot of fun with this character and the romance -- Elvis Costello shows up as one of K'harma's party guests -- and Toby is showered in rose petals as he stands outside her hotel. Then he's compelled to hug the doorman. When Les finds out about the affair, he reacts like a jilted lover.
With obvious relish, DiCillo sends up dueling publicists, sycophants of all stripes including the fawning, entertainment press and those bottom feeders, the paparazzi. The reality show that stars a homeless serial killer, where Toby gets his big break, is priceless.
Frank G. DeMarco's edgy cinematography conjures the grungy urban wilderness of NYC as well as the glitzy fantasy world of the rich and famous. Teresa Mastropierro's production design nails the squalor of lower class city life and the sterile luxury of the newly moneyed.
DiCillo and his composer, Anton Sanko, make terrific use of music to drive and cut between scenes. The score rocks the movie.
Delirious
Peace Arch Films Ltd, Peace Arch Entertainment Group
Credits: Director: Tom DiCillo; Writer: Tom DiCillo; Producer: Bob Salerno; Executive producer: Mark Balsam, Jimmy de Brabant, Michael Dounaev, John Flock, Gary Howsam, Jennifer Levine, Kami Nagudi, Barry Zemel, Lewin Webb; Director of photography: Frank G. DeMarco Production designer: Teresa Mastropierro; Music: Anton Sanko; Co-producer: Kristi Lake, Jamie H. Zelermyer; Costume designer: Victoria Farrell; Editor: Paul Zucker;
Cast: Les: Steve Buscemi; Toby: Michael Pitt; Kharma: Alison Lohman; Manager: Gina Gershon.
No MPAA rating; running time: 102 minutes.
Given that DiCillo has a loyal following and that a solid, well-written comedy is a hot commodity, Delirious should have strong art house potential and appeal to a young, hip audience.
DiCillo wrote the lead for Steve Buscemi, at his pale and haggard best here. He plays Les, a sour, frustrated paparazzi, who lives in a dump of an apartment in New York. Into his life waltzes Toby (Michael Pitt), a homeless aspiring actor, whom Les tutors in the tricks of his trade and allows to crash at his pad, which is decorated by sorry examples of taxidermy mounted on the peeling walls.
Les takes himself way too seriously -- more self-appointed philosopher than photographer -- and is bereft of self-knowledge. This set-up works best when it's played for laughs with Pitt as straight man. The film falters when the budding friendship turns melodramatic and comes in for some amateur psychological analysis. Buscemi is forced to overact in a shrill role that requires him to carp and harangue far too often. It's grating and soon the pair sounds like a bickering married couple.
Toby begins an unlikely romance with a Paris Hilton/Britney Spears wannabe, K'harma (Alison Lohman), a talent-free girlish sexpot who is famous for being famous. When not singing and dancing in her underwear in a music video, she sits in her hotel wearing that underwear and shades. DiCillo has a lot of fun with this character and the romance -- Elvis Costello shows up as one of K'harma's party guests -- and Toby is showered in rose petals as he stands outside her hotel. Then he's compelled to hug the doorman. When Les finds out about the affair, he reacts like a jilted lover.
With obvious relish, DiCillo sends up dueling publicists, sycophants of all stripes including the fawning, entertainment press and those bottom feeders, the paparazzi. The reality show that stars a homeless serial killer, where Toby gets his big break, is priceless.
Frank G. DeMarco's edgy cinematography conjures the grungy urban wilderness of NYC as well as the glitzy fantasy world of the rich and famous. Teresa Mastropierro's production design nails the squalor of lower class city life and the sterile luxury of the newly moneyed.
DiCillo and his composer, Anton Sanko, make terrific use of music to drive and cut between scenes. The score rocks the movie.
Delirious
Peace Arch Films Ltd, Peace Arch Entertainment Group
Credits: Director: Tom DiCillo; Writer: Tom DiCillo; Producer: Bob Salerno; Executive producer: Mark Balsam, Jimmy de Brabant, Michael Dounaev, John Flock, Gary Howsam, Jennifer Levine, Kami Nagudi, Barry Zemel, Lewin Webb; Director of photography: Frank G. DeMarco Production designer: Teresa Mastropierro; Music: Anton Sanko; Co-producer: Kristi Lake, Jamie H. Zelermyer; Costume designer: Victoria Farrell; Editor: Paul Zucker;
Cast: Les: Steve Buscemi; Toby: Michael Pitt; Kharma: Alison Lohman; Manager: Gina Gershon.
No MPAA rating; running time: 102 minutes.
- 1/20/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- Donovan, Terence Blanchard, Ron Sexsmith, Jill Sobule and Simon Townshend are some of the artists bringing music to next month's Sundance Film Festival, where organizers will hold a series of concerts and related panels.
Film directors Justin Theroux (Dedication), Tom DiCillo (Delirious), Andrew Wagner (Starting Out in the Evening) and Mike Chaill (King of California) will participate in a round-table discussion Jan. 24 with such composers as Blanchard, Peter Golub, Adam Hollander, Dave Robbins and Anton Sanko on the creative process of film scoring.
Later that day, Victor Krauss, Keb Mo, Michael Penn and Blanchard will perform in a special music showcase.
The special music events, sponsored by Sundance Institute's Film Music Program and music publisher BMI, also will include the "Sundance Celebrates Music and Film" and Film2Music, exploring the cinematic and music mediums.
In what has become a Sundance tradition, the fest's Music Cafe will host afternoon performances programmed by ASCAP, featuring such artists as Sobule with Julia Sweeney, A Fine Frenzy, Sexsmith, Donovan and Townshend throughout the festival.
Film directors Justin Theroux (Dedication), Tom DiCillo (Delirious), Andrew Wagner (Starting Out in the Evening) and Mike Chaill (King of California) will participate in a round-table discussion Jan. 24 with such composers as Blanchard, Peter Golub, Adam Hollander, Dave Robbins and Anton Sanko on the creative process of film scoring.
Later that day, Victor Krauss, Keb Mo, Michael Penn and Blanchard will perform in a special music showcase.
The special music events, sponsored by Sundance Institute's Film Music Program and music publisher BMI, also will include the "Sundance Celebrates Music and Film" and Film2Music, exploring the cinematic and music mediums.
In what has become a Sundance tradition, the fest's Music Cafe will host afternoon performances programmed by ASCAP, featuring such artists as Sobule with Julia Sweeney, A Fine Frenzy, Sexsmith, Donovan and Townshend throughout the festival.
- 12/22/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- Donovan, Terence Blanchard, Ron Sexsmith, Jill Sobule and Simon Townshend are some of the artists bringing music to next month's Sundance Film Festival, where organizers will hold a series of concerts and related panels.
Film directors Justin Theroux (Dedication), Tom DiCillo (Delirious), Andrew Wagner (Starting Out in the Evening) and Mike Chaill (King of California) will participate in a round-table discussion Jan. 24 with such composers as Blanchard, Peter Golub, Adam Hollander, Dave Robbins and Anton Sanko on the creative process of film scoring.
Later that day, Victor Krauss, Keb Mo, Michael Penn and Blanchard will perform in a special music showcase.
The special music events, sponsored by Sundance Institute's Film Music Program and music publisher BMI, also will include the "Sundance Celebrates Music and Film" and Film2Music, exploring the cinematic and music mediums.
In what has become a Sundance tradition, the fest's Music Cafe will host afternoon performances by such artists as Sobule with Julia Sweeney, A Fine Frenzy, Sexsmith, Donovan and Townshend throughout the festival.
Film directors Justin Theroux (Dedication), Tom DiCillo (Delirious), Andrew Wagner (Starting Out in the Evening) and Mike Chaill (King of California) will participate in a round-table discussion Jan. 24 with such composers as Blanchard, Peter Golub, Adam Hollander, Dave Robbins and Anton Sanko on the creative process of film scoring.
Later that day, Victor Krauss, Keb Mo, Michael Penn and Blanchard will perform in a special music showcase.
The special music events, sponsored by Sundance Institute's Film Music Program and music publisher BMI, also will include the "Sundance Celebrates Music and Film" and Film2Music, exploring the cinematic and music mediums.
In what has become a Sundance tradition, the fest's Music Cafe will host afternoon performances by such artists as Sobule with Julia Sweeney, A Fine Frenzy, Sexsmith, Donovan and Townshend throughout the festival.
- 12/21/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Fast Shakespeare is what you might call it -- this wacky transpsition of "Macbeth" to the junk-food wilds of 1970s Pennsylvania. Eliciting whoops, chuckles and, forsooth, even ripples of fulsome belly laughs, "Scotland, Pa". hath swiftly moved from Prospector Wood to Deer Valley Ridge in conquering Park City's cell-poned crowds of black-suited festivalgoers.
Strutting and hippety-hopping its way across the cinema stage, it doth resemble in certain peculiar ways a Troma film gone royal. With its tongue in its cheek and its disposition cast to the wilds of merriment ad disreputable froth, this competition entrant -- while not of the somber disposition that strokes kindly the elite chords of jury acclaim -- might conquer greater worldly honors: the Sundance Audience Award.
There are heaps of bubbles, boils, foils and rouble in this wickedly funny offering. While masquerading for at least part of its opening credits as highbrow, this decidedly lowbrow romp is centered not on the internecine wars of inaccessible foreigners -- such as British royalty -- but more happily n the royalty of the new land and times: the local and yokel burger dispensers of late 20th-century America.
To put it in familiar Cliff Notes style for the industry dealmakers who have perhaps heard of Shakespeare -- and may even have been informed by teir assistants that "Macbeth" is often referred to as the "Scottish play" -- "Scotland, Pa". is a dastardly tale of ambition gone murderous. Befitting its cultural times, the tale revolves around Pat (Maura Tierney), a woman of great ambition diminished t slogging away her hours behind a burger counter in a country burg. Pat is the type of go-getter the women's magazines might honor as "inspired." Her big idea is to get her slothful husband, Joe "Mac" (James LeGros), to move up in the burger kingdom by dong in the present proprietor (James Rebhorn) and, thus, transcend their dead-end existence. But getting "Mac" packed with the necessary resolve is a most dispiriting goal, for he is a slacker of deep 1970s dimension, content to guzzle brews, grease fries nd pooh-pooh his higher destiny.
Although a merry sendup of classic dramaturgy, "Scotland, Pa". is also a daffy satire of American culture. It's a brainy cauldron of witches' brew (if witches had a sense of humor), and it's stirred roundly with some of te silliest fixings of U.S. pop culture. Bedecked in the nutty finery of the age -- sideburns, bell-bottoms, polyester -- "Scotland, Pa". is generally fleet of foot, nimble enough to keep ahead of its more "groan-erous" humors even when it blunders into soe thorny patches of precious joke jousting.
There's not much to protest about this lark, considering its inspired lunacy and court-jester personality. What's consistently most merry is the film's look, including some crazed arches for the burger joint an the glazed stuffings of indoor kitsch culture. A bevy of trumpet blasts for writer-director Billy Morrissette for the deliriously funny inspirations. Credit also to his trustworthy technical minions for their uproarious contributions. Special plaudits tocinematographer Wally Pfister for the zany slantings and to producers Richard Shepard and Jonathan Stern for the fixings. Court composer Anton Sanko gooses the story with the most wonderfully odd swells and silly soundings.
The cast is a hoot, topped offby Christopher Walken's wiggy performance as the intrepid justice monger, Lt. Ernie McDuff. Walken's jaunty character flourishes are high hilarity throughout. The other players are similarly well assembled, most prominently Tierney as the ambitious lady o the joint and LeGros as her beleaguered hubby. Rebhorn is a wonderful knave as the fast-food owner, while in the loftiest lowbrow tradition of iambic idiocy, the "Three Hippies" -- Amy Smart, Timothy Speed Levitch and Andy Dick -- are a scrumptious pack.
SCOTLAND, PA.
Abandon Pictures in association with Veto Chip Prods. and Paddy Wagon Prods.
Producers: Richard Shepard, Jonathan Stern
Director-screenwriter: Billy Morrissette
Executive producers: Karen Lauder, Marcus Ticotin
Director of photography: Wall Pfister
Production designer: Jennifer Stewart
Editor: Adam Lichtenstein
Music: Anton Sanko
Music supervisor: Tracy McKnight
Costume designer: David Robinson
Casting: Avy Kaufman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Joe "Mac": James LeGros
Pat: Maura Tierney
Three Hippies Amy Smart, Timothy Speed Levitch, Andy Dick
Norm Duncan: James Rebhorn
Malcolm: Tom Guiry
Donald: Geoff Dunsworth
Lt. Ernic McDuff: Christopher Walken
Anthony "Banko" Banconi: Kevin Corrigan
Running time -- 95 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Strutting and hippety-hopping its way across the cinema stage, it doth resemble in certain peculiar ways a Troma film gone royal. With its tongue in its cheek and its disposition cast to the wilds of merriment ad disreputable froth, this competition entrant -- while not of the somber disposition that strokes kindly the elite chords of jury acclaim -- might conquer greater worldly honors: the Sundance Audience Award.
There are heaps of bubbles, boils, foils and rouble in this wickedly funny offering. While masquerading for at least part of its opening credits as highbrow, this decidedly lowbrow romp is centered not on the internecine wars of inaccessible foreigners -- such as British royalty -- but more happily n the royalty of the new land and times: the local and yokel burger dispensers of late 20th-century America.
To put it in familiar Cliff Notes style for the industry dealmakers who have perhaps heard of Shakespeare -- and may even have been informed by teir assistants that "Macbeth" is often referred to as the "Scottish play" -- "Scotland, Pa". is a dastardly tale of ambition gone murderous. Befitting its cultural times, the tale revolves around Pat (Maura Tierney), a woman of great ambition diminished t slogging away her hours behind a burger counter in a country burg. Pat is the type of go-getter the women's magazines might honor as "inspired." Her big idea is to get her slothful husband, Joe "Mac" (James LeGros), to move up in the burger kingdom by dong in the present proprietor (James Rebhorn) and, thus, transcend their dead-end existence. But getting "Mac" packed with the necessary resolve is a most dispiriting goal, for he is a slacker of deep 1970s dimension, content to guzzle brews, grease fries nd pooh-pooh his higher destiny.
Although a merry sendup of classic dramaturgy, "Scotland, Pa". is also a daffy satire of American culture. It's a brainy cauldron of witches' brew (if witches had a sense of humor), and it's stirred roundly with some of te silliest fixings of U.S. pop culture. Bedecked in the nutty finery of the age -- sideburns, bell-bottoms, polyester -- "Scotland, Pa". is generally fleet of foot, nimble enough to keep ahead of its more "groan-erous" humors even when it blunders into soe thorny patches of precious joke jousting.
There's not much to protest about this lark, considering its inspired lunacy and court-jester personality. What's consistently most merry is the film's look, including some crazed arches for the burger joint an the glazed stuffings of indoor kitsch culture. A bevy of trumpet blasts for writer-director Billy Morrissette for the deliriously funny inspirations. Credit also to his trustworthy technical minions for their uproarious contributions. Special plaudits tocinematographer Wally Pfister for the zany slantings and to producers Richard Shepard and Jonathan Stern for the fixings. Court composer Anton Sanko gooses the story with the most wonderfully odd swells and silly soundings.
The cast is a hoot, topped offby Christopher Walken's wiggy performance as the intrepid justice monger, Lt. Ernie McDuff. Walken's jaunty character flourishes are high hilarity throughout. The other players are similarly well assembled, most prominently Tierney as the ambitious lady o the joint and LeGros as her beleaguered hubby. Rebhorn is a wonderful knave as the fast-food owner, while in the loftiest lowbrow tradition of iambic idiocy, the "Three Hippies" -- Amy Smart, Timothy Speed Levitch and Andy Dick -- are a scrumptious pack.
SCOTLAND, PA.
Abandon Pictures in association with Veto Chip Prods. and Paddy Wagon Prods.
Producers: Richard Shepard, Jonathan Stern
Director-screenwriter: Billy Morrissette
Executive producers: Karen Lauder, Marcus Ticotin
Director of photography: Wall Pfister
Production designer: Jennifer Stewart
Editor: Adam Lichtenstein
Music: Anton Sanko
Music supervisor: Tracy McKnight
Costume designer: David Robinson
Casting: Avy Kaufman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Joe "Mac": James LeGros
Pat: Maura Tierney
Three Hippies Amy Smart, Timothy Speed Levitch, Andy Dick
Norm Duncan: James Rebhorn
Malcolm: Tom Guiry
Donald: Geoff Dunsworth
Lt. Ernic McDuff: Christopher Walken
Anthony "Banko" Banconi: Kevin Corrigan
Running time -- 95 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 1/25/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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