In just a few short years, Beanie Feldstein has become a comedic force in the business. After first making an impression in the surprisingly great sequel Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, Feldstein of course turned in an incredible supporting performance in Lady Bird. Last year, she blew us away with a central turn in Booksmart, and now, she gets a starring role all her own. How to Build a Girl, which premiered last year at the Toronto International Film Festival, is a charming movie with more glorious work from the actress. She’s going to be a huge star, that’s a given. This is just an example of her taking a good flick and elevating it to nearly a great one. The film is a coming of age story, focused on small town girl Johanna Morrigan (Feldstein). Living in Wolverhampton with her very poor family, she dreams of a life more glamorous,...
- 5/7/2020
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
It’s not a bad idea in these dark days to provide sheltering audiences with a light-hearted romp. What a shame then that the soufflé writer-director Dean Craig labors to construct in Love Wedding Repeat sinks early on and never recovers. Instead of a fresh take on Four Weddings and a Funeral, . Remember Hugh Grant, hair-tousled just so, in his star-making role as an Englishman who falls for an American beauty (a radiant Andie MacDowell) at one wedding and meets her fiancé at a second? Well, here we go again...
- 4/10/2020
- by Peter Travers
- Rollingstone.com
Caitlin Moran’s career kicked off like a power chord. At 17, the rock critic prodigy who’d grown up broke in a Wolverhampton council flat with four brothers and her parents’ illegal puppy mill was being flown to America for an all-night slumber party with Courtney Love. Two weeks after her article ran, Kurt Cobain killed himself. Moran was accused of triggering his depression by publishing Love’s quotes about shagging her ex, Smashing Pumpkins’ singer Billy Corgan. In typical fashion, she later darkly joked that she’d “killed the spokesperson for my generation. Soz!”
Coky Giedroyc’s “How to Build a Girl,” penned by Moran and based on her semi-autobiographical best-selling memoir of the same name, doesn’t even reference that story. It’s got enough material just from the year before, when the 16-year-old girl was so desperate to buy back her family’s TV that she submitted...
Coky Giedroyc’s “How to Build a Girl,” penned by Moran and based on her semi-autobiographical best-selling memoir of the same name, doesn’t even reference that story. It’s got enough material just from the year before, when the 16-year-old girl was so desperate to buy back her family’s TV that she submitted...
- 9/8/2019
- by Amy Nicholson
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Shoot underway in London on drama featuring Jonathan Rhys Meyers as frontman for The Clash, Joe Strummer.
Production is underway in the UK on London Town, the Dutch Tilt Film and Culmination Productions drama starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Match Point), Daniel Huttlestone (Into the Woods), Dougray Scott (Hitman) and Natascha McElhone (Californication).
Set in 1970’s London, the film charts the story of a 14-year-old boy whose life is changed forever after he is introduced to rock band The Clash by his estranged mother.
The Tudors star Rhys Meyers plays the late punk great and Clash frontman Joe Strummer while the production has secured rights to a number of the band’s songs.
The film is written by Kirsten Sheridan, Sonya Gildea and Matthew Brown and directed by Derrick Borte with Hubert Taczanowski serving as director of photography.
Producers are Sofia Sondervan of Dutch Tilt Film, Killer Films’ Christine Vachon and Tom Butterfield of Culmination Productions in association...
Production is underway in the UK on London Town, the Dutch Tilt Film and Culmination Productions drama starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Match Point), Daniel Huttlestone (Into the Woods), Dougray Scott (Hitman) and Natascha McElhone (Californication).
Set in 1970’s London, the film charts the story of a 14-year-old boy whose life is changed forever after he is introduced to rock band The Clash by his estranged mother.
The Tudors star Rhys Meyers plays the late punk great and Clash frontman Joe Strummer while the production has secured rights to a number of the band’s songs.
The film is written by Kirsten Sheridan, Sonya Gildea and Matthew Brown and directed by Derrick Borte with Hubert Taczanowski serving as director of photography.
Producers are Sofia Sondervan of Dutch Tilt Film, Killer Films’ Christine Vachon and Tom Butterfield of Culmination Productions in association...
- 7/8/2015
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Shoot underway in London on drama in which Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays Joe Strummer; Christine Vachon among producers
Production is underway in the UK on London Town, the Dutch Tilt Film and Culmination Productions drama starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Match Point), Daniel Huttlestone (Into the Woods), Dougray Scott (Hitman) and Natascha McElhone (Californication).
Set in 70’s London, the film charts the story of a 14-year-old boy whose life is changed forever after he is introduced to the Clash by his estranged mother.
Tudors star Rhys Meyers plays the late punk great and Clash frontman Joe Strummer while the production has secured rights to a number of the band’s hits.
The film is written by Kirsten Sheridan, Sonya Gildea and Matthew Brown and directed by Derrick Borte with Hubert Taczanowski serving as director of photography.
Producers are Sofia Sondervan of Dutch Tilt Film, Killer Films’ Christine Vachon and Tom Butterfield of Culmination Productions in association with WeatherVane...
Production is underway in the UK on London Town, the Dutch Tilt Film and Culmination Productions drama starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Match Point), Daniel Huttlestone (Into the Woods), Dougray Scott (Hitman) and Natascha McElhone (Californication).
Set in 70’s London, the film charts the story of a 14-year-old boy whose life is changed forever after he is introduced to the Clash by his estranged mother.
Tudors star Rhys Meyers plays the late punk great and Clash frontman Joe Strummer while the production has secured rights to a number of the band’s hits.
The film is written by Kirsten Sheridan, Sonya Gildea and Matthew Brown and directed by Derrick Borte with Hubert Taczanowski serving as director of photography.
Producers are Sofia Sondervan of Dutch Tilt Film, Killer Films’ Christine Vachon and Tom Butterfield of Culmination Productions in association with WeatherVane...
- 7/8/2015
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Latido Films taking drama starring Barry Keoghan and Klaus Maria Brandauer to the Cannes Marche.
British writer Rebecca Lenckiewicz has joined Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov on drama I Want To Be Like You. It marks Lenckiewicz’s first feature co-writing Oscar-winner Ida with director Pawel Pawlikowski.
Bojanov will shoot the coming-of-age drama this July on location in and around Copenhagen, the UK’s West Midlands and Belgium.
The film has a budget of $2.2m (€2m) and is a production partnership between Toolbox Film in Copenhagen, London’s Film and Music Entertainment, Brussels-based Left Field Ventures and Bulgaria’s Multfilm.
The young cast is led by Irish actor Barry Keoghan, who featured in Yann Demmange’s ’71. He more recently appeared in Mammal by Rebecca Daly, Trespass Against Us by Adam Smith, and Norfolk, directed by Martin Radich.
Opposite him in the role of Piri is Danish actor Thure Lindhardt, best known roles in Fast and Furious 6, Angels...
British writer Rebecca Lenckiewicz has joined Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov on drama I Want To Be Like You. It marks Lenckiewicz’s first feature co-writing Oscar-winner Ida with director Pawel Pawlikowski.
Bojanov will shoot the coming-of-age drama this July on location in and around Copenhagen, the UK’s West Midlands and Belgium.
The film has a budget of $2.2m (€2m) and is a production partnership between Toolbox Film in Copenhagen, London’s Film and Music Entertainment, Brussels-based Left Field Ventures and Bulgaria’s Multfilm.
The young cast is led by Irish actor Barry Keoghan, who featured in Yann Demmange’s ’71. He more recently appeared in Mammal by Rebecca Daly, Trespass Against Us by Adam Smith, and Norfolk, directed by Martin Radich.
Opposite him in the role of Piri is Danish actor Thure Lindhardt, best known roles in Fast and Furious 6, Angels...
- 5/8/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Kit Harington, Jennifer Ehle star in feature update of hit TV series.
Spooks: The Greater Good, the feature version of hit UK TV series, is underway this week.
Kit Harington, Jennifer Ehle and Peter Firth star in the thriller about the dangerous fallout after a charismatic terrorist escapes from MI5 custody.
Tuppence Middleton, Tim McInnerny, Eleanor Matsuura and Elyes Gabel are also among the cast.
Bharat Nalluri directs the feature written by Jonathan Brackley and Sam Vincent. DoP is Hubert Taczanowski, producers are Ollie Madden, Jane Featherstone and Stephen Garrett for Kudos and Shine Pictures.
Pinewood Pictures is financing in association with Altitude Film Entertainment, BBC Drama and Creative England.
Pinewood Pictures and Altitude Film Distribution will distribute the film in the UK. Altitude Film Sales will show first footage at Cannes.
Spooks: The Greater Good, the feature version of hit UK TV series, is underway this week.
Kit Harington, Jennifer Ehle and Peter Firth star in the thriller about the dangerous fallout after a charismatic terrorist escapes from MI5 custody.
Tuppence Middleton, Tim McInnerny, Eleanor Matsuura and Elyes Gabel are also among the cast.
Bharat Nalluri directs the feature written by Jonathan Brackley and Sam Vincent. DoP is Hubert Taczanowski, producers are Ollie Madden, Jane Featherstone and Stephen Garrett for Kudos and Shine Pictures.
Pinewood Pictures is financing in association with Altitude Film Entertainment, BBC Drama and Creative England.
Pinewood Pictures and Altitude Film Distribution will distribute the film in the UK. Altitude Film Sales will show first footage at Cannes.
- 4/15/2014
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Love Hurts: Winterbottom’s Biopic a By-the-Numbers Look at London’s Infamous King of Soho
Michael Winterbottom continues on with his whirlwind filmography, unleashing one of his most standard projects in years, The Look of Love, a biopic on the rise of Paul Raymond, coined the King of Soho for his elevation of adult entertainment out of the gutter and into the public imagination. A trailblazer in Britain’s history as far as censorship and heterosexual nudity goes, there’s no doubt that Raymond is indeed a prolific figure and his personal life has just enough tragedy to make for a doable life and times treatment. However, once we’re given a few telling details about Raymond, his profession, and the three most important women in his personal life, it’s not hard to predict how Raymond and his ladies all eventually end up. Neither an exercise about the...
Michael Winterbottom continues on with his whirlwind filmography, unleashing one of his most standard projects in years, The Look of Love, a biopic on the rise of Paul Raymond, coined the King of Soho for his elevation of adult entertainment out of the gutter and into the public imagination. A trailblazer in Britain’s history as far as censorship and heterosexual nudity goes, there’s no doubt that Raymond is indeed a prolific figure and his personal life has just enough tragedy to make for a doable life and times treatment. However, once we’re given a few telling details about Raymond, his profession, and the three most important women in his personal life, it’s not hard to predict how Raymond and his ladies all eventually end up. Neither an exercise about the...
- 1/27/2013
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
If David Lynch and the late Patricia Highsmith ever had a child -- now there's a concept -- it probably would have looked a lot like "Buddy Boy", a darkly voyeuristic, highly stylized and immensely watchable portrait of obsession, marking the directorial debut of screenwriter Mark Hanlon.
Boasting a dedicated ensemble led by Aiden Gillen ("Queer as Folk") and the ever-colorful Susan Tyrrell, the picture also has a throwback 1970s midnight movie feel that could earn it a modest cult following, particularly when it hits video shelves.
With his unkempt clump of hair and bizarre, crescent-shaped mole on his face, Gillen's Francis bears scant resemblance to his predatory character on the acclaimed British TV series. A socially inept loner, he is a devout Catholic who lives in a remarkably dingy tenement flat with his chain-smoking, ambulatory mother Sal (a grandly grotesque Tyrrell).
When not at work developing photos at the corner one-hour store or dealing at home with Sal's drunken taunting, Francis spends his time peering through a storage room peephole, which happens to give him a panoramic view into the neighboring apartment of a young, attractive woman (Emmanuelle Seigner).
Returning home from work one night, Francis inadvertently scares off a would-be purse snatcher and discovers the intended victim is none other than the object of his observations, who offers to reward him with a dinner invitation.
At first he turns down her offer, but Gloria, for that turns out to be her name, refuses in her French accent to take non for an answer. The pair ultimately develop an odd but intriguing relationship.
But Francis continues to watch her through the peephole, and he witnesses, or thinks he witnesses, some truly bizarre goings on. Soon the issues begin to feverishly pile up. Is she not the vegan she claims to be? Is she actually some cannibalistic mass murderer? And is Sal really his mother?
Those questions and others are resolved more or less completely, in keeping with the logic of the film's very specific universe.
Members of the compact cast, which also includes Mark Boone Jr. as Vic, a gregarious plumber who comes to fix a bathtub leak and never leaves, and Harry Groener as the somewhat smarmy Father Gillespie, all deliver memorably etched characterizations.
Seigner, who is married to Roman Polanski, isn't the only link "Buddy Boy" has to the filmmaker. Hanlon's visual style respectfully echoes the creepy ambience of a "Rosemary's Baby" or a "Repulsion", mixed with a little bit of director Paul Bartel's camp humor.
Completing the effect are the contributions of cinematographer Hubert Taczanowski ("The Opposite of Sex") and production designer Robert Morris, who succeed in making squalid tenement walls pulsate with menace; while busy composer Graeme Revell's tightly wound score is equally effective at conveying an unsettling sense of questionable sanity.
BUDDY BOY
Independent Pictures
Producers:Cary Woods, Gina Mingacci
Director-screenwriter:Mark Hanlon
Executive producer:Elliot Lewis Rosenblatt
Director of photography:Hubert Taczanowski
Production designer:Robert Morris
Editor:Hughes Winborne
Music:Graeme Revell
Color/stereo
Cast:
Francis:Aidan Gillen
Gloria:Emmanuelle Seigner
Sal:Susan Tyrrell
Vic:Mark Boone Jr.
Father Gillespie:Harry Groener
Running time -- 103 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Boasting a dedicated ensemble led by Aiden Gillen ("Queer as Folk") and the ever-colorful Susan Tyrrell, the picture also has a throwback 1970s midnight movie feel that could earn it a modest cult following, particularly when it hits video shelves.
With his unkempt clump of hair and bizarre, crescent-shaped mole on his face, Gillen's Francis bears scant resemblance to his predatory character on the acclaimed British TV series. A socially inept loner, he is a devout Catholic who lives in a remarkably dingy tenement flat with his chain-smoking, ambulatory mother Sal (a grandly grotesque Tyrrell).
When not at work developing photos at the corner one-hour store or dealing at home with Sal's drunken taunting, Francis spends his time peering through a storage room peephole, which happens to give him a panoramic view into the neighboring apartment of a young, attractive woman (Emmanuelle Seigner).
Returning home from work one night, Francis inadvertently scares off a would-be purse snatcher and discovers the intended victim is none other than the object of his observations, who offers to reward him with a dinner invitation.
At first he turns down her offer, but Gloria, for that turns out to be her name, refuses in her French accent to take non for an answer. The pair ultimately develop an odd but intriguing relationship.
But Francis continues to watch her through the peephole, and he witnesses, or thinks he witnesses, some truly bizarre goings on. Soon the issues begin to feverishly pile up. Is she not the vegan she claims to be? Is she actually some cannibalistic mass murderer? And is Sal really his mother?
Those questions and others are resolved more or less completely, in keeping with the logic of the film's very specific universe.
Members of the compact cast, which also includes Mark Boone Jr. as Vic, a gregarious plumber who comes to fix a bathtub leak and never leaves, and Harry Groener as the somewhat smarmy Father Gillespie, all deliver memorably etched characterizations.
Seigner, who is married to Roman Polanski, isn't the only link "Buddy Boy" has to the filmmaker. Hanlon's visual style respectfully echoes the creepy ambience of a "Rosemary's Baby" or a "Repulsion", mixed with a little bit of director Paul Bartel's camp humor.
Completing the effect are the contributions of cinematographer Hubert Taczanowski ("The Opposite of Sex") and production designer Robert Morris, who succeed in making squalid tenement walls pulsate with menace; while busy composer Graeme Revell's tightly wound score is equally effective at conveying an unsettling sense of questionable sanity.
BUDDY BOY
Independent Pictures
Producers:Cary Woods, Gina Mingacci
Director-screenwriter:Mark Hanlon
Executive producer:Elliot Lewis Rosenblatt
Director of photography:Hubert Taczanowski
Production designer:Robert Morris
Editor:Hughes Winborne
Music:Graeme Revell
Color/stereo
Cast:
Francis:Aidan Gillen
Gloria:Emmanuelle Seigner
Sal:Susan Tyrrell
Vic:Mark Boone Jr.
Father Gillespie:Harry Groener
Running time -- 103 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 3/30/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In the "Bleacher Bums" tradition, "Chicago Cab" is a scrappy and unsettling glimpse of a cross-section of Chicagoans.
Adapted from "Hellcab", a long-running play here, this indie film follows the scattered route of one Chicago cabbie on a 14-hour stretch during the Christmas holidays. It's alternately frightening, sad, funny and crazy -- like the cross-section of passengers that hop into the back seat of a cab. A popular player at the Chicago International Film Festival, "Chicago Cab" is the kind of quirky oddity that will travel far on the film-festival circuit.
This filmic odyssey transports us from the Gold Coast of North Michigan Avenue to the most ravaged sections of the South Side, as an independent cabbie (Paul Dillon) scrapes together the fares that make up his daily nonroutine. It's both a chilly and a chilling ride as the cabbie lugs the always unpredictable assortment of characters to their varied destinations.
To say the least, they're a wide assortment of types: a rape victim, a buppie lawyer, a druggie, a wacko, Bears fans, Christmas shoppers and a dipsy senior are among the personalities that crawl into his backseat.
Seemingly, it's true that people say or do anything in front of, or rather, in back of a cab driver -- as if he's not there. Nearly every type of human behavior and transaction (including sexual) is carried out in the vehicle's sticky back seat. Not surprisingly, this cabbie's slant on humanity is based on a wider range of types than, say, a Harvard sociologist's prismed perspective.
While screenwriter Will Kern has served up a varied and entertaining cast of back-seat characters, "Chicago Cab" is no mere novelty parade of oddballs and stereotypes. It's smartly oiled with some keen social insights and imbued with an emotional integrity that lifts this entertainment beyond a goon show.
In particular, we get to know the driver and we see how his job affects him. Overall, he is a kind if somewhat clumsy fellow who ultimately tends to take too much responsibility for his passengers' well-being. And we see that he is a lonely and solitary man, eking out his living in this last resort of a job in a strange city.
Although the lensing reflects a low-budget indie approach, credit co-directors Mary Cybulski and John Tintori for capturing the essentials of the many human dramas that unfold in this cinematic trek. Throughout, they delicately clue us to the cabbie's isolation, particularly with some deft, contrapuntal Christmas music.
Highest praise goes to Paul Dillon for his sharp portrayal of the cab driver whose well-intentioned actions mask his own inner loneliness. The fares are an overall hoot, particularly John Cusack as a shifty and sinister back-seater.
CHICAGO CAB
Greenlight Film & TV
A Child's Will production
Producers Paul Dillon, Jamie Gordon, Suzanne DeWalt
Directors Mary Cybulski, John Tintori
Screenwriter Will Kern,
based on his play "Hellcab"
Director of photography Hubert Taczanowski
Editors John Tintori, Mary Cybulski
Music Joe Henry, Page Hamilton
Color/stereo
Cast:
Cabbie Paul Dillon
Passengers Gillian Anderson,
John Cusack, Michael Ironside, Laurie Metcalf, Julianne Moore
Running time -- 93 minutes...
Adapted from "Hellcab", a long-running play here, this indie film follows the scattered route of one Chicago cabbie on a 14-hour stretch during the Christmas holidays. It's alternately frightening, sad, funny and crazy -- like the cross-section of passengers that hop into the back seat of a cab. A popular player at the Chicago International Film Festival, "Chicago Cab" is the kind of quirky oddity that will travel far on the film-festival circuit.
This filmic odyssey transports us from the Gold Coast of North Michigan Avenue to the most ravaged sections of the South Side, as an independent cabbie (Paul Dillon) scrapes together the fares that make up his daily nonroutine. It's both a chilly and a chilling ride as the cabbie lugs the always unpredictable assortment of characters to their varied destinations.
To say the least, they're a wide assortment of types: a rape victim, a buppie lawyer, a druggie, a wacko, Bears fans, Christmas shoppers and a dipsy senior are among the personalities that crawl into his backseat.
Seemingly, it's true that people say or do anything in front of, or rather, in back of a cab driver -- as if he's not there. Nearly every type of human behavior and transaction (including sexual) is carried out in the vehicle's sticky back seat. Not surprisingly, this cabbie's slant on humanity is based on a wider range of types than, say, a Harvard sociologist's prismed perspective.
While screenwriter Will Kern has served up a varied and entertaining cast of back-seat characters, "Chicago Cab" is no mere novelty parade of oddballs and stereotypes. It's smartly oiled with some keen social insights and imbued with an emotional integrity that lifts this entertainment beyond a goon show.
In particular, we get to know the driver and we see how his job affects him. Overall, he is a kind if somewhat clumsy fellow who ultimately tends to take too much responsibility for his passengers' well-being. And we see that he is a lonely and solitary man, eking out his living in this last resort of a job in a strange city.
Although the lensing reflects a low-budget indie approach, credit co-directors Mary Cybulski and John Tintori for capturing the essentials of the many human dramas that unfold in this cinematic trek. Throughout, they delicately clue us to the cabbie's isolation, particularly with some deft, contrapuntal Christmas music.
Highest praise goes to Paul Dillon for his sharp portrayal of the cab driver whose well-intentioned actions mask his own inner loneliness. The fares are an overall hoot, particularly John Cusack as a shifty and sinister back-seater.
CHICAGO CAB
Greenlight Film & TV
A Child's Will production
Producers Paul Dillon, Jamie Gordon, Suzanne DeWalt
Directors Mary Cybulski, John Tintori
Screenwriter Will Kern,
based on his play "Hellcab"
Director of photography Hubert Taczanowski
Editors John Tintori, Mary Cybulski
Music Joe Henry, Page Hamilton
Color/stereo
Cast:
Cabbie Paul Dillon
Passengers Gillian Anderson,
John Cusack, Michael Ironside, Laurie Metcalf, Julianne Moore
Running time -- 93 minutes...
- 10/20/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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