Those dismayed by the cancellation of the big-budget “Coyote vs. Acme” — a high-profile casualty of the recent Hollywood trend towards pulling the plug on near-completed projects — may find consolation and then some in “Hundreds of Beavers.” That is, if they become aware of it, of course. Chances are good that they will, eventually, as this DIY delight has begun self-distributing to North American theaters following a long tour on the regional festival circuit. It’s sure to develop a significant cult following with its unique mix of silent-era slapstick, animation elements, theme-park-style critter costumes, and general air of inspired absurdity.
Well, not entirely unique: Director Mike Cheslik and star Ryland Brickson Cole Tews previously collaborated on 2018’s “Lake Michigan Monster,” a similarly nonsensical B&w comedy, albeit in a more Guy Maddin-esque pseudo-early-talkie vein, with a fantasy adventure gist in the vein of Jules Verne. But for all its enterprise,...
Well, not entirely unique: Director Mike Cheslik and star Ryland Brickson Cole Tews previously collaborated on 2018’s “Lake Michigan Monster,” a similarly nonsensical B&w comedy, albeit in a more Guy Maddin-esque pseudo-early-talkie vein, with a fantasy adventure gist in the vein of Jules Verne. But for all its enterprise,...
- 2/17/2024
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
As the famous saying goes, there are three certainties in life - death, taxes, and that if Yorgos Lanthimos is making a movie, then it will be one of the weirdest things you’ll see all year. But even by our man Lanthimos’ exceptionally strange standards, Poor Things – the oddball auteur’s upcoming Frankenstein-ian fantasy about a young woman who finds herself reanimated with a toddler’s brain – looks properly batshit. And if you don’t believe us, just take a look at the latest trailer for the film and see for yourself. Cue Emma Stone threatening to punch a baby in 3, 2, 1…
See? We told you it was weird! But it’s also, as star, producer, and :a[bona fide Lanthimos muse]{href='https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/poor-things-emma-stone-creature-unlike-anything-youve-ever-seen-yorgos-lanthimos-exclusive/' target='blank' rel='noreferrer noopener'} Emma Stone is quick to assure us in this teaser, “very, very funny.” Inspired by Scotsman Alasdair Grey’s eponymous 1992 novel,...
See? We told you it was weird! But it’s also, as star, producer, and :a[bona fide Lanthimos muse]{href='https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/poor-things-emma-stone-creature-unlike-anything-youve-ever-seen-yorgos-lanthimos-exclusive/' target='blank' rel='noreferrer noopener'} Emma Stone is quick to assure us in this teaser, “very, very funny.” Inspired by Scotsman Alasdair Grey’s eponymous 1992 novel,...
- 10/20/2023
- by Jordan King
- Empire - Movies
In the 64 years since the first Barbie dolls were introduced, Barbie has amassed a mighty impressive and expansive lore, making it impossible for any movie about the doll itself to encompass its entire history. And yet, somehow, co-writer and director Greta Gerwig struck gold with her live-action film "Barbie," delivering what Bj Colangelo described in her review for /Film as "an absolute marvel hiding within the plastic pink confines of Barbie, making it a phenomenal reflection of the iconic doll that serves as source material."
Gerwig's film and Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer," which together form the so-called Barbenheimer double feature, have already made a huge splash at the box office, and it is easy to see why. Both films are rare examples of blockbusters not based on a pre-existing film franchise, as well as movies that are not immediately trying to set up a sequel or a spin-off.
Like Nolan's...
Gerwig's film and Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer," which together form the so-called Barbenheimer double feature, have already made a huge splash at the box office, and it is easy to see why. Both films are rare examples of blockbusters not based on a pre-existing film franchise, as well as movies that are not immediately trying to set up a sequel or a spin-off.
Like Nolan's...
- 7/24/2023
- by Rafael Motamayor
- Slash Film
In Karlovy Vary Film Festival competition entry “We Have Never Been Modern,” Czech director Matej Chlupacek takes on both the dangers of Utopian bubbles and the power of unbending faith in traditional gender concepts.
The story, set in a Slovak company town built by a visionary industrialist, takes place on the eve of World War II, as a murder mystery threatens to upset the idealized community. The factory director’s wife Helena, played by Eliska Krenkova, is an aspiring doctor who is soon to give birth. But her rosy future is suddenly darkened by the discovery of the body of a newborn intersex baby in the factory’s courtyard.
All these elements might seem like a heavy burden for a young indie filmmaker who eschewed film school and whose last effort at making a feature was a decade ago, “Touchless” – made when he was a 17-year-old debut writer-director.
But Chlupacek...
The story, set in a Slovak company town built by a visionary industrialist, takes place on the eve of World War II, as a murder mystery threatens to upset the idealized community. The factory director’s wife Helena, played by Eliska Krenkova, is an aspiring doctor who is soon to give birth. But her rosy future is suddenly darkened by the discovery of the body of a newborn intersex baby in the factory’s courtyard.
All these elements might seem like a heavy burden for a young indie filmmaker who eschewed film school and whose last effort at making a feature was a decade ago, “Touchless” – made when he was a 17-year-old debut writer-director.
But Chlupacek...
- 7/9/2023
- by Will Tizard
- Variety Film + TV
Ari Aster’s nearly-three hour journey Beau Is Afraid, described by the filmmaker himself as a “Jewish Lord of the Rings,” will arrive a bit earlier than expected. Now set to debut on April 14 in New York and LA before expanding wide the following week, including IMAX screens, we’ve received more context for what to expect thanks to a new series the director curated for Film at Lincoln Center.
Set to run April 14-20 at the NYC venue, selections include works by Alfred Hitchcock, Jiří Menzel, Guy Maddin, Albert Brooks, Nicholas Ray, Powell and Pressburger, Tsai Ming-liang, Jacques Tati, and more. “This eclectic and unexpected collection of masterworks drawn from seven decades of film history across a range of genres and production contexts sheds light on the inspirations and influences behind one of the most compelling directorial voices in Hollywood today,” notes the press release.
Aster also recently let...
Set to run April 14-20 at the NYC venue, selections include works by Alfred Hitchcock, Jiří Menzel, Guy Maddin, Albert Brooks, Nicholas Ray, Powell and Pressburger, Tsai Ming-liang, Jacques Tati, and more. “This eclectic and unexpected collection of masterworks drawn from seven decades of film history across a range of genres and production contexts sheds light on the inspirations and influences behind one of the most compelling directorial voices in Hollywood today,” notes the press release.
Aster also recently let...
- 3/30/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Terry Gilliam’s grandest, most joyful fantasy is still a marvel, a fully adult adventure that will equally spark younger imaginations. Creative tricks and eye-popping Italo designs bring us a magical, satirical world of absurd wars, sultan’s hareems and a flight of fancy to the moon. John Neville’s ideal Baron is abetted by spunky Sarah Polley and a gallery of winning characterizations, from Eric Idle, Oliver Reed, Jonathan Pryce, Uma Thurman, Jack Purvis, Robin Williams, Valentina Cortese, Sting. So what if the Baron is history’s most notorious liar: we understand his complaint when performing a technically preposterous trip through outer space: “This is Precisely the sort of thing nobody Ever believes.”
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen 4K
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1166
1988 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 126 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 3, 2023 / 49.95
Starring: John Neville, Eric Idle, Sarah Polley, Oliver Reed, Charles McKeown,...
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen 4K
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1166
1988 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 126 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 3, 2023 / 49.95
Starring: John Neville, Eric Idle, Sarah Polley, Oliver Reed, Charles McKeown,...
- 1/10/2023
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
‘Wall-e’ Director Andrew Stanton Explains How Pixar’s Sci-Fi Darling Joined the Criterion Collection
“Wall•E,” the tale of a little trash-collecting robot that voyages to the cosmos and winds up restarting humanity, is many things. It’s Pixar’s ninth animated feature, released at a time when the studio was on an unprecedented creative hot streak (it was sandwiched snugly in-between “Ratatouille” and “Up”). It’s also one of the most idiosyncratic movies in the studio’s history, featuring live-action components (some aided by visual effects house Industrial Light & Magic), cinematography inspired and advised by Roger Deakins and a largely wordless first act that calls back to the earliest days of cinema.
And while the movie was rapturously received (New York Times critic A.O. Scott put it as his #1 movie of 2008 and said: “the visual sublimity of Andrew Stanton’s latest Pixar masterpiece is matched by a depth and sweetness of feeling not seen since the heyday of Charlie Chaplin”) and continues to...
And while the movie was rapturously received (New York Times critic A.O. Scott put it as his #1 movie of 2008 and said: “the visual sublimity of Andrew Stanton’s latest Pixar masterpiece is matched by a depth and sweetness of feeling not seen since the heyday of Charlie Chaplin”) and continues to...
- 11/29/2022
- by Drew Taylor
- The Wrap
Sampo
Blu ray
Deaf Crocodile/Vinegar Syndrome
1959 / 2:35:1 / 91 Min.
Starring Anna Orochko, Andris Ošiņš, Eve Kivi
Written by Väinö Kaukonen, Viktor Vitkovich, Grigori Yagdfeld
Directed by Aleksandr Ptushko
Mosfilm’s Sampo, a Russian fantasy from 1959, and Paramount’s White Christmas, a Yuletide bauble released in 1954, were both state of the art products of a big studio system. But each were Cold War entertainments driven by very different agendas: White Christmas was a gung ho military musical prettified by candy canes, VistaVision and Technicolor. Sampo was a movie out of time—a gravely beautiful folktale set in a bone-chilling winter wasteland. In short, America ladled on the optimism while Russia served up existential dread with a little popcorn on the side.
Mosfilm, aka “Russian Hollywood”, was a monolithic entity with the combined creative juice of MGM, Universal, and Paramount under one roof—established in 1920, the studio was a dream factory...
Blu ray
Deaf Crocodile/Vinegar Syndrome
1959 / 2:35:1 / 91 Min.
Starring Anna Orochko, Andris Ošiņš, Eve Kivi
Written by Väinö Kaukonen, Viktor Vitkovich, Grigori Yagdfeld
Directed by Aleksandr Ptushko
Mosfilm’s Sampo, a Russian fantasy from 1959, and Paramount’s White Christmas, a Yuletide bauble released in 1954, were both state of the art products of a big studio system. But each were Cold War entertainments driven by very different agendas: White Christmas was a gung ho military musical prettified by candy canes, VistaVision and Technicolor. Sampo was a movie out of time—a gravely beautiful folktale set in a bone-chilling winter wasteland. In short, America ladled on the optimism while Russia served up existential dread with a little popcorn on the side.
Mosfilm, aka “Russian Hollywood”, was a monolithic entity with the combined creative juice of MGM, Universal, and Paramount under one roof—established in 1920, the studio was a dream factory...
- 8/2/2022
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Angus MacLane, animation veteran and director of the new Pixar adventure Lightyear, discusses his favorite movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Taking Off (1971)
Reign of Terror (1949)
Kiss Me Deadly (1955) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s review
Lightyear (2022)
Toy Story (1995)
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s Beyond Furious series, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Innerspace (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Mars Attacks! (1996)
The ’Burbs (1989) – Ti West’s trailer commentary, ’Burbs Mania at Tfh
Alive (1993)
Star Wars (1977)
Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)
The Matrix (1999)
Alien (1979) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
Aliens (1986) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Tron (1982)
The Blues Brothers (1980) – Adam Rifkin’s trailer commentary
Howard The Duck (1986) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s review
Wall-e (2008)
Predator 2 (1990)
Alien vs. Predator...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Taking Off (1971)
Reign of Terror (1949)
Kiss Me Deadly (1955) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s review
Lightyear (2022)
Toy Story (1995)
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s Beyond Furious series, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Innerspace (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Mars Attacks! (1996)
The ’Burbs (1989) – Ti West’s trailer commentary, ’Burbs Mania at Tfh
Alive (1993)
Star Wars (1977)
Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)
The Matrix (1999)
Alien (1979) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
Aliens (1986) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Tron (1982)
The Blues Brothers (1980) – Adam Rifkin’s trailer commentary
Howard The Duck (1986) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s review
Wall-e (2008)
Predator 2 (1990)
Alien vs. Predator...
- 6/7/2022
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Filmmakers Albert Birney and Kentucker Audley discuss the movies that inspired their latest film, Strawberry Mansion.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Strawberry Mansion (2022)
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962) – Glenn Erickson’s trailer commentary
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
The Neverending Story (1984)
A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary
Pretty Woman (1990) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary
Barton Fink (1991)
Being There (1979) – Alan Spencer’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
Salesman (1969)
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
Eraserhead (1977) – Karyn Kusama’s trailer commentary
The Shining (1980) – Adam Rifkin’s trailer commentary
The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Bottle Rocket (1996)
Rushmore (1998)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Beetlejuice (1988) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s review
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) – Axelle Carolyn’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s trailer commentary
Honey I Shrunk The Kids (1989)
Re-Animator (1985) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Strawberry Mansion (2022)
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962) – Glenn Erickson’s trailer commentary
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
The Neverending Story (1984)
A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary
Pretty Woman (1990) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary
Barton Fink (1991)
Being There (1979) – Alan Spencer’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
Salesman (1969)
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
Eraserhead (1977) – Karyn Kusama’s trailer commentary
The Shining (1980) – Adam Rifkin’s trailer commentary
The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Bottle Rocket (1996)
Rushmore (1998)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Beetlejuice (1988) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s review
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) – Axelle Carolyn’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s trailer commentary
Honey I Shrunk The Kids (1989)
Re-Animator (1985) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review...
- 3/1/2022
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
If 2021 has been a calvacade of bad decisions, dashed hopes, and warning signs for cinema’s strength, the Criterion Channel’s monthly programming has at least buttressed our hopes for something like a better tomorrow. Anyway. The Channel will let us ride out distended (holi)days in the family home with an extensive Alfred Hitchcock series to bring the family together—from the established Rear Window and Vertigo to the (let’s just guess) lesser-seen Downhill and Young and Innocent—Johnnie To’s Throw Down and Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons in their Criterion editions, and some streaming premieres: Ste. Anne, Lydia Lunch: The War is Never Over, and The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love.
Special notice to Yvonne Rainer’s brain-expanding Film About a Woman Who . . .—debuting in “Female Gaze: Women Directors + Women Cinematographers,” a series that does as it says on the tin—and a Joseph Cotten retro boasting Ambersons,...
Special notice to Yvonne Rainer’s brain-expanding Film About a Woman Who . . .—debuting in “Female Gaze: Women Directors + Women Cinematographers,” a series that does as it says on the tin—and a Joseph Cotten retro boasting Ambersons,...
- 11/21/2021
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Art-House Animation
If your eyes are tired of the latest cookie-cutter animation from the Hollywood mill, Criterion is featuring quite a line-up of inventive arthouse offerings in the field. With works by Marcell Jankovics, Satoshi Kon, Ari Folman, Don Hertzfeldt, Karel Zeman, and more, the series includes The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962), Belladonna of Sadness (1973), Fantastic Planet (1973), Watership Down (1978), Son of the White Mare (1981), Alice (1988), Millennium Actress (2001), Mind Game (2004), Paprika (2006), Persepolis (2007), Waltz with Bashir (2008), Mary and Max (2009), It’s Such a Beautiful Day (2012), Tower (2016), The Wolf House (2018), No. 7 Cherry Lane (2019), and more.
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Neo-Noir
One of the greatest series to arrive on the Criterion Channel thus far is this selection of neo-noir offerings, including Brian De Palma’s masterpieces Blow Out and Body Double,...
Art-House Animation
If your eyes are tired of the latest cookie-cutter animation from the Hollywood mill, Criterion is featuring quite a line-up of inventive arthouse offerings in the field. With works by Marcell Jankovics, Satoshi Kon, Ari Folman, Don Hertzfeldt, Karel Zeman, and more, the series includes The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962), Belladonna of Sadness (1973), Fantastic Planet (1973), Watership Down (1978), Son of the White Mare (1981), Alice (1988), Millennium Actress (2001), Mind Game (2004), Paprika (2006), Persepolis (2007), Waltz with Bashir (2008), Mary and Max (2009), It’s Such a Beautiful Day (2012), Tower (2016), The Wolf House (2018), No. 7 Cherry Lane (2019), and more.
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Neo-Noir
One of the greatest series to arrive on the Criterion Channel thus far is this selection of neo-noir offerings, including Brian De Palma’s masterpieces Blow Out and Body Double,...
- 7/2/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Criterion Channel’s July 2021 Lineup Includes Wong Kar Wai, Neo-Noir, Art-House Animation & More
The July lineup at The Criterion Channel has been revealed, most notably featuring the new Wong Kar Wai restorations from the recent box set release, including As Tears Go By, Days of Being Wild, Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, In the Mood for Love, 2046, and his shorts Hua yang de nian hua and The Hand.
Also among the lineup is a series on neo-noir with Body Double, Manhunter, Thief, The Last Seduction, Cutter’s Way, Brick, Night Moves, The Long Goodbye, Chinatown, and more. The channel will also feature a spotlight on art-house animation with work by Marcell Jankovics, Satoshi Kon, Ari Folman, Don Hertzfeldt, Karel Zeman, and more.
With Jodie Mack’s delightful The Grand Bizarre, the landmark doc Hoop Dreams, Orson Welles’ take on Othello, the recent Oscar entries Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time and You Will Die at Twenty, and much more,...
Also among the lineup is a series on neo-noir with Body Double, Manhunter, Thief, The Last Seduction, Cutter’s Way, Brick, Night Moves, The Long Goodbye, Chinatown, and more. The channel will also feature a spotlight on art-house animation with work by Marcell Jankovics, Satoshi Kon, Ari Folman, Don Hertzfeldt, Karel Zeman, and more.
With Jodie Mack’s delightful The Grand Bizarre, the landmark doc Hoop Dreams, Orson Welles’ take on Othello, the recent Oscar entries Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time and You Will Die at Twenty, and much more,...
- 6/24/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
“Not so much a suspension of disbelief, as a suspension of dreary naturalism.” Criterion acknowledges a great filmmaker with this wonderful trio of Karel Zeman spectaculars, truly original fantasies that showcase a blend of animation and theatrical effects concocted, confected, perfected half a century before CGI. The Czech filmmakers take us on a prehistoric safari, a cruise to an island of Jules Verne sci-fi marvels, and into a brightly imagined, magical storybook fantasy. Even the presentation is whimsical — the three features are packaged in a functioning pop-up book.
Three Fantastic Journeys by Karel Zeman
Journey to the Beginning of Time
Invention for Destruction
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1015, 1016, 1017
1955, 1958, 1962 / Color + B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 84, 81, 83 min. (248 in toto) / Cesta do praveku, Vynález zkázy, Baron Prášil / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date February 25, 2020 / 99.95
Designed and Directed by Karel Zeman
At first it seemed too good to be true,...
Three Fantastic Journeys by Karel Zeman
Journey to the Beginning of Time
Invention for Destruction
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1015, 1016, 1017
1955, 1958, 1962 / Color + B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 84, 81, 83 min. (248 in toto) / Cesta do praveku, Vynález zkázy, Baron Prášil / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date February 25, 2020 / 99.95
Designed and Directed by Karel Zeman
At first it seemed too good to be true,...
- 2/8/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
A Cinema Retro Exclusive:
Director John Stevenson Pays Tribute To A Special Effects Genius
Stop motion animation is still the most magical of special effects techniques to me, because instinctively you know that real light is falling on a real object that is seemingly moving of its own volition. Computer Generated Imagery may be able to create more complex and fluid motion, but we instinctively know that what we are looking at does not exist in our world. There is still an arcane power in watching something you know you can touch move on its own. So films featuring stop motion animation were my great passion as a child.
Stop motion animation was the Rolls Royce of special effects techniques in the 1960s and early 1970s. If you were a young fantasy addict a new Ray Harryhausen film at the local ABC cinema was the equivalent of a new McU film dropping today.
Director John Stevenson Pays Tribute To A Special Effects Genius
Stop motion animation is still the most magical of special effects techniques to me, because instinctively you know that real light is falling on a real object that is seemingly moving of its own volition. Computer Generated Imagery may be able to create more complex and fluid motion, but we instinctively know that what we are looking at does not exist in our world. There is still an arcane power in watching something you know you can touch move on its own. So films featuring stop motion animation were my great passion as a child.
Stop motion animation was the Rolls Royce of special effects techniques in the 1960s and early 1970s. If you were a young fantasy addict a new Ray Harryhausen film at the local ABC cinema was the equivalent of a new McU film dropping today.
- 10/14/2019
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Issue #46
Highlights Of Issue #46 (2020) Include:
John Wayne and Rock Hudson are "The Undefeated"
Unpublished 1974 interview with Albert Finney
Don Siegel's "Madigan" starring Richard Widmark and Henry Fonda
Interview with writer/director Michael Armstrong
The making of the epic film "Waterloo" starring Rod Steiger and Christopher Plummer
Hammer Films Actor John Richardson interview Part II
Vietnam Before and After: "Go Tell the Spartans" and "Rolling Thunder"
Brian Keith in "The McKenzie Break"
Plus review of DVDs, soundtracks and film books.
USA/ Canada : Cinema Retro #46 USA/ Canada : Cinema Retro #46 $12.00 Usd UK : Cinema Retro Issue #46 UK : Cinema Retro Issue #46 £8.50 Gbp Europe : Cinema Retro Issue #46 Europe : Cinema Retro Issue #46 £10.50 Gbp Rest Of The World : Cinema Retro Issue #46 Rest Of The World : Cinema Retro Issue #46 £12.00 Gbp
Issue #47
Nick Anez covers "Flaming Star", the Elvis Presley drama that remains an overlooked gem.
Director John Stevenson's tribute to...
Highlights Of Issue #46 (2020) Include:
John Wayne and Rock Hudson are "The Undefeated"
Unpublished 1974 interview with Albert Finney
Don Siegel's "Madigan" starring Richard Widmark and Henry Fonda
Interview with writer/director Michael Armstrong
The making of the epic film "Waterloo" starring Rod Steiger and Christopher Plummer
Hammer Films Actor John Richardson interview Part II
Vietnam Before and After: "Go Tell the Spartans" and "Rolling Thunder"
Brian Keith in "The McKenzie Break"
Plus review of DVDs, soundtracks and film books.
USA/ Canada : Cinema Retro #46 USA/ Canada : Cinema Retro #46 $12.00 Usd UK : Cinema Retro Issue #46 UK : Cinema Retro Issue #46 £8.50 Gbp Europe : Cinema Retro Issue #46 Europe : Cinema Retro Issue #46 £10.50 Gbp Rest Of The World : Cinema Retro Issue #46 Rest Of The World : Cinema Retro Issue #46 £12.00 Gbp
Issue #47
Nick Anez covers "Flaming Star", the Elvis Presley drama that remains an overlooked gem.
Director John Stevenson's tribute to...
- 10/12/2019
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Despite being a nation with an illustrious cinema heritage, Czech Republic is not a country that is especially well served by modern distributors in the UK. Their rich history is continually mined for brilliant home entertainment releases by the likes of Second Run and Arrow - bringing the venerated likes of Jiri Menzel, Vera Chytilova, Jan Nemec, Frantisek Vlacil, and Karel Zeman to British audiences - but contemporary Czech cinema remains criminally neglected.
- 11/3/2016
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Today sees the publication of not one but two tenth issues. The new Alphaville Journal features Fiona Handyside on Sofia Coppola and Mia Hansen-Løve, Frances Smith on Amy Heckerling, Fiona Clancy on Lucrecia Martel, Ciara Barrett on Joanna Hogg and more. In desistfilm, you'll find pieces on Jonathan Demme and The Silence of the Lambs, Bernardo Bertolucci, Benjamin Nuel's Hotel and more. Also in today's roundup: Greta Gerwig on the cover of Brooklyn Magazine, ten essential films by Douglas Sirk, Rachel Kushner and James Benning in Chicago, Karel Zeman in Los Angeles, a new doc on Manoel de Oliveira, the latest on a film about Morrissey and on another featuring Elliott Gould, Jemaine Clement, Ingrid Michaelson, Bebe Neuwirth and Annie Potts. » - David Hudson...
- 4/26/2016
- Keyframe
Today sees the publication of not one but two tenth issues. The new Alphaville Journal features Fiona Handyside on Sofia Coppola and Mia Hansen-Løve, Frances Smith on Amy Heckerling, Fiona Clancy on Lucrecia Martel, Ciara Barrett on Joanna Hogg and more. In desistfilm, you'll find pieces on Jonathan Demme and The Silence of the Lambs, Bernardo Bertolucci, Benjamin Nuel's Hotel and more. Also in today's roundup: Greta Gerwig on the cover of Brooklyn Magazine, ten essential films by Douglas Sirk, Rachel Kushner and James Benning in Chicago, Karel Zeman in Los Angeles, a new doc on Manoel de Oliveira, the latest on a film about Morrissey and on another featuring Elliott Gould, Jemaine Clement, Ingrid Michaelson, Bebe Neuwirth and Annie Potts. » - David Hudson...
- 4/26/2016
- Fandor: Keyframe
Close-Up is a column that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Hard to Be a God is playing on Mubi in the Us through January 2.Hard to Be a GodRussian director Aleksei German spent the final 15 years of his life working on Hard To Be A God (2013), a brutal medieval epic adapted from a 1964 novel of the same name by Arkady and Boris Strutgatsky, dying just before he could complete the job in February 2013. Happily, his son and widow were able to oversee the final sound mix. The result is one of the most immersive and harrowing cinematic experiences going, three hours of being put to the sword and mired in the mud, blood and viscera of a nightmare alternate reality.Although German's characters are dressed in the clanking armour, chainmail and robes of the European Middle Ages, Hard To Be A God is in fact set on a distant planet,...
- 12/3/2015
- by Joe Sommerlad
- MUBI
Jean-Luc Godard figures rather prominently in the new issues of Senses of Cinema and Necsus, the European Journal of Media Studies. Senses also features reviews of several films by Mikio Naruse, two by Kira Muratova, three by Karel Zeman, and interviews with Albert Maysles, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Corneliu Porumboiu, Denis Côté, Hubert Sauper, Raphaël Bassan, Viviane Vagh and Jayne Amara Ross. Plus: Moritz Pfeifer on Pawel Pawlikowski's Ida and Andrey Zvyagintsev's Leviathan, Philip Cartelli on Bruno Dumont's P’tit Quinquin and the latest round of festival reports. » - David Hudson...
- 6/14/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
Jean-Luc Godard figures rather prominently in the new issues of Senses of Cinema and Necsus, the European Journal of Media Studies. Senses also features reviews of several films by Mikio Naruse, two by Kira Muratova, three by Karel Zeman, and interviews with Albert Maysles, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Corneliu Porumboiu, Denis Côté, Hubert Sauper, Raphaël Bassan, Viviane Vagh and Jayne Amara Ross. Plus: Moritz Pfeifer on Pawel Pawlikowski's Ida and Andrey Zvyagintsev's Leviathan, Philip Cartelli on Bruno Dumont's P’tit Quinquin and the latest round of festival reports. » - David Hudson...
- 6/14/2015
- Keyframe
Though the Czech New Wave of the sixties was not as addicted to anthology films as the Italians (any major Italian director could have called a film Eight and a Half, since they all directed episodes at one time or another), they did make Pearls of the Night (1966), which showcased nearly all the major graduates of the national film school, Famu (a.k.a. the Kids from Famu): Vera Chytilová, Jaromil Jires, Jirí Menzel, Jan Nemec and Evald Schorm.Three years later, Schorm was back, collaborating with new chums Jirí Brdecka and Milos Makovec on a raunchy supernatural triptych, Prague Nights. An international traveller picks up a strange woman, determined to enjoy a night of illicit passion during his Czech stopover. Driven through a green-tinted sepia night in her vintage limo, he's told three tales of murder, lust and the supernatural, and, at the end, as in any Amicus...
- 4/2/2015
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
A very happy 80th birthday to the Czech artist, filmmaker and surrealist Jan Švankmajer, a major influence on the likes of Terry Gilliam and the brothers Stephen and Timothy Quay. We take a look at some of the best appreciations of his work over the years, including Dan North on Švankmajer's first short, The Last Trick (1964), Jan Uhde on what Švankmajer shares with renowned Czech animators Karel Zeman and Jiří Trnka, and others on those who've influenced him, such as Lewis Carroll and Sigmund Freud. » - David Hudson...
- 9/4/2014
- Fandor: Keyframe
A very happy 80th birthday to the Czech artist, filmmaker and surrealist Jan Švankmajer, a major influence on the likes of Terry Gilliam and the brothers Stephen and Timothy Quay. We take a look at some of the best appreciations of his work over the years, including Dan North on Švankmajer's first short, The Last Trick (1964), Jan Uhde on what Švankmajer shares with renowned Czech animators Karel Zeman and Jiří Trnka, and others on those who've influenced him, such as Lewis Carroll and Sigmund Freud. » - David Hudson...
- 9/4/2014
- Keyframe
Strange Lands: International Sci-Fi, the week-long series opening today at New York's Film Society of Lincoln Center, "is an artfully eclectic journey across psychic terrain as well as geopolitical boundaries," finds the Kristin M. Jones in the Wall Street Journal. In the New York Times, Eric Hynes notes that the series "runs the gamut from space-age sex farce to dystopian nightmare and travels to such lost worlds as Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union." We've gathered previews of Gottfried Kolditz’s In the Dust of Stars (1976), Herrmann Zscoche’s Eolomea (1972), Aleksandr Sokurov's Days of Eclipse (1988), Karel Zeman's The Fabulous World of Jules Verne (1958) and more. » - David Hudson...
- 8/22/2014
- Fandor: Keyframe
Strange Lands: International Sci-Fi, the week-long series opening today at New York's Film Society of Lincoln Center, "is an artfully eclectic journey across psychic terrain as well as geopolitical boundaries," finds the Kristin M. Jones in the Wall Street Journal. In the New York Times, Eric Hynes notes that the series "runs the gamut from space-age sex farce to dystopian nightmare and travels to such lost worlds as Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union." We've gathered previews of Gottfried Kolditz’s In the Dust of Stars (1976), Herrmann Zscoche’s Eolomea (1972), Aleksandr Sokurov's Days of Eclipse (1988), Karel Zeman's The Fabulous World of Jules Verne (1958) and more. » - David Hudson...
- 8/22/2014
- Keyframe
Picture-book wonders parade throughout this don't-miss 1958 live action — meets-animation Czech lulu: Relish the airships, shipwrecks, shark attacks, seahorses, undersea bicycles, and gentleman balloonists of director Karel Zeman's adaptation/mash-up of Jules Verne novels. The handmade dazzlements still dazzle today, especially the jellyfish, each a shimmering nightgown, the agitated octopus, and the way the mad grinding of gears and pistons in a submarine are intercut with the piratical crew sharpening its knives. The film often succeeds in its ambition to bring to life the illustrations in an old Verne hardcover — a beguilingly stiff illustration of men in some impossible conveyance will cut to actors done up just like the illo, on a set that looks as if it's inked ...
- 8/20/2014
- Village Voice
Box Office Busts! week continues at Trailers from Hell with screenwriter Josh Olson introducing Terry Gilliam's wonderfully wacky "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen," starring John Neville, Eric Idle, Uma Thurman, Robin Williams and a very young Sarah Polley.Cinematically, notorious 18th century liar Munchausen’s tall tales date back to 1911, but received their most spectacular treatment in Terry Gilliam’s big budget boxoffice fiasco, which followed an elaborate Nazi-era adaptation and Karel Zeman’s brilliant 1961 combo of animation and live action. Intentionally buried by its Gilliam-averse Us distributor, it’s a technical marvel that fared very well critically, but not with audiences.
- 8/21/2013
- by Trailers From Hell
- Thompson on Hollywood
Above: Japanese poster for Zero Dark Thirty (Kathryn Bigelow, USA, 2012); Designer: unknown.
Since I’ve now been running the Movie Poster of the Day Tumblr for a year and a half I thought it was high time I did another six month round-up of the most popular posters on the blog.
For some reason this Japanese poster for Zero Dark Thirty—an even more striking version of the American teaser—which I posted three months ago recently went semi-viral, racking up over 1,400 “notes” to date, making it by far the most popular (in as far as likes and reblogs really gauge popularity) in the history of the blog which now has, according to Tumblr, over 198,000 followers.
I’m especially pleased with the popularity of the second and third ranked posters: a couple of quite eccentric pieces of Eastern European illustration for lesser known films. It’s probably no surprise that...
Since I’ve now been running the Movie Poster of the Day Tumblr for a year and a half I thought it was high time I did another six month round-up of the most popular posters on the blog.
For some reason this Japanese poster for Zero Dark Thirty—an even more striking version of the American teaser—which I posted three months ago recently went semi-viral, racking up over 1,400 “notes” to date, making it by far the most popular (in as far as likes and reblogs really gauge popularity) in the history of the blog which now has, according to Tumblr, over 198,000 followers.
I’m especially pleased with the popularity of the second and third ranked posters: a couple of quite eccentric pieces of Eastern European illustration for lesser known films. It’s probably no surprise that...
- 6/7/2013
- by Adrian Curry
- MUBI
Special effects king Ray Harryhausen revolutionised cinema with skeletal armies and man-eating dinosaurs
Ownership of films is usually the preserve of directors and actors. You will hear of the new Paul Thomas Anderson movie, or the new Tom Cruise vehicle. But such films as The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, (1958), Jason and the Argonauts (1963)and Clash of the Titans (1981) are Ray Harryhausen films, regardless of who directed and acted in them. One Million Years BC, a film for which, unusually in his career, he was brought in as a hired hand, (1966) isn't even regarded as a Hammer or Raquel Welch movie. No other technician or artist working in film can make such a claim.
"Everyone has their own right way of doing things," explains Harryhausen, now aged 92. "I'd probably call myself a film-maker rather than just a special effects man. I'd often come up with the story, advise on the script,...
Ownership of films is usually the preserve of directors and actors. You will hear of the new Paul Thomas Anderson movie, or the new Tom Cruise vehicle. But such films as The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, (1958), Jason and the Argonauts (1963)and Clash of the Titans (1981) are Ray Harryhausen films, regardless of who directed and acted in them. One Million Years BC, a film for which, unusually in his career, he was brought in as a hired hand, (1966) isn't even regarded as a Hammer or Raquel Welch movie. No other technician or artist working in film can make such a claim.
"Everyone has their own right way of doing things," explains Harryhausen, now aged 92. "I'd probably call myself a film-maker rather than just a special effects man. I'd often come up with the story, advise on the script,...
- 11/2/2012
- by Phelim O'Neill
- The Guardian - Film News
Trembles is taking us on a trip back to the 1960's today with his Motion Picture Purgatory review of The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (aka Baron Prásil), a Czechoslovakian film directed by Karel Zeman and starring Milos Kopecky as the Baron.
Synopsis:
The outrageous Baron Munchausen tells of his many adventures, from meeting the Man in the Moon to defeating a Turkish army all by himself.
A feast for fabulation fanatics!
Discuss Motion Picture Purgatory in the comments section below!
Synopsis:
The outrageous Baron Munchausen tells of his many adventures, from meeting the Man in the Moon to defeating a Turkish army all by himself.
A feast for fabulation fanatics!
Discuss Motion Picture Purgatory in the comments section below!
- 8/26/2011
- by The Woman In Black
- DreadCentral.com
Czech cinema that which isn't closely connected to the New Wave often seems to inhabit a hermetically sealed bubble adrift from real-world concerns, devoted to stylistic excess for its own sake, pleasing to the eye and ear but starving the mind: a result, no doubt, of stringent state censorship. Many filmmakers chose to escape the problem of having every promising subject matter or approach barred to them by fleeing into the past, and into fantasy, with the result that the Czech's, following the example of former animator Karel Zeman, led the world in adaptations of Jules Verne novels nobody else could be bothered filming.
So to Oldrich Lipský's The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians (1981), a handsomely-mounted, occasionally amusing, visually inventive and completely pointless film, which at least partially overcomes its state-enforced toothlessness by sheer invention.
So to Oldrich Lipský's The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians (1981), a handsomely-mounted, occasionally amusing, visually inventive and completely pointless film, which at least partially overcomes its state-enforced toothlessness by sheer invention.
- 2/2/2011
- MUBI
From Film New Europe: Is Central Europe poised to regain its position as a leading force in the field of animation? Judging from the recent upsurge in production, and a new emphasis on feature length animation, this could be the region to watch. Se Ma For It's a form that has a long and honored tradition. From Lithuania's Ladislaw Starewicz (who brings a Polish pedigree), creator of puppet animation, to Czechoslovakia's imaginative successor to Georges Melies, Karel Zeman - the subject of a year-long tribute by the Zlin festival of films for children and youth (http://www.zlin-fest.cz) - the region has…...
- 6/14/2010
- Sydney's Buzz
Certain cinema always seems to get the spotlight in the States, be it French or Polish or whatever is in vogue at the moment. At the same time, a lot of other national cinema gets overlooked. During this month and in November, Czech cinema will no longer seem overlooked. Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, there are several film programs that highlight Czech cinema. The New York Czech Center (321 East 73rd St.) held an event in celebration of The Jubilee -- the 50th International Film Festival for Children and Youth in Zlín -- and the 100th anniversary of the birth of Czech director Karel Zeman earlier this month. A photo exhibition entitled Film Magician Karel Zeman is on display until end of October which outlines his productions and includes a film projection of Zeman's film,...
- 10/26/2009
- by Brad Balfour
- Huffington Post
SEOUL -- While most film festivals in South Korea are constantly pursuing growth, the sixth annual Jeonju International Film Festival -- which runs April 28 to May 6 -- is taking the road less traveled by reducing the number of films it will screen this year. But organizers emphasized at a press conference Monday that the reduction to 170 films this year (from 284 last year) is a positive, done to focus on JIFF's strengths of independent and digital movies. To that end, JIFF will open once again with a movie it has specially commissioned, a triptych of short digital films made by three leading Asian directors -- Japan's Shinya Tsukamoto, South Korea's Son Il-gon and Thailand's Apichatpong Weerasethakul. The closing film will be the world premiere of Antarctic Journal, an $8 million adventure-thriller set in the South Pole that stars two of Korea's top stars, Song Kang-ho and Yu Ji-tae. In addition to the usual programs dedicated to both short and feature-length digital films JIFF will also feature special sections on North African cinema, Japanese filmmaker Shinji Somai and Czech animator Karel Zeman.
- 3/29/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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