Oscar winner Julianne Moore (Still Alice) and Nicholas Galitzine lead the cast of Starz’s new period drama Mary & George. Episode one, “The Second Son,” premieres on April 5, 2024 at 9pm Et/Pt and finds Moore as Mary Villiers plotting how to improve her family’s standing.
The cast also includes Tony Curran (Mayflies) as King James I, Nicola Walker (The Split) as Lady Hatton, Niamh Algar (The Wonder) as Sandie, Trine Dyrholm (The Legacy) as Queen Anne, and Sean Gilder (Slow Horses) as Sir Thomas Compton. Adrian Rawlins (Living) plays Sir Edward Coke, Mark O’Halloran (The Miracle Club) is Sir Francis Bacon, Laurie Davidson (Masters of the Air) is Earl of Somerset, Samuel Blenkin (The Witcher: Blood Origin) is Prince Charles, and Jacob McCarthy (Sas: Rogue Heroes) as Kit Villiers.
“The Second Son” Plot: Mary Villiers develops a cunning plan to transform her family’s fortunes forever, but first,...
The cast also includes Tony Curran (Mayflies) as King James I, Nicola Walker (The Split) as Lady Hatton, Niamh Algar (The Wonder) as Sandie, Trine Dyrholm (The Legacy) as Queen Anne, and Sean Gilder (Slow Horses) as Sir Thomas Compton. Adrian Rawlins (Living) plays Sir Edward Coke, Mark O’Halloran (The Miracle Club) is Sir Francis Bacon, Laurie Davidson (Masters of the Air) is Earl of Somerset, Samuel Blenkin (The Witcher: Blood Origin) is Prince Charles, and Jacob McCarthy (Sas: Rogue Heroes) as Kit Villiers.
“The Second Son” Plot: Mary Villiers develops a cunning plan to transform her family’s fortunes forever, but first,...
- 4/5/2024
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
Prepare for an exhilarating showdown in the grand finale of “Mastermind” Season 21, airing on BBC Two at 6:00 Pm on Monday, April 1st, 2024. In this ultimate test of knowledge and wit, contestants will face off in a battle of intellect as they tackle a diverse range of specialist subjects.
From the Wimbledon singles championships 2000-present to the enigmatic artist Francis Bacon, viewers can expect a thrilling display of expertise and passion as contestants delve deep into their chosen fields. The ancient Greek poet Sappho, the Mercury Prize, the French revolutionary the Marquis de Lafayette, and the composer and pianist Clara Schumann also feature as challenging topics.
As the pressure mounts and the stakes soar, contestants will showcase their mastery of trivia and recall, leaving viewers on the edge of their seats. Who will emerge victorious and claim the coveted title of “Mastermind”? Tune in to BBC Two at 6:00 Pm on Monday,...
From the Wimbledon singles championships 2000-present to the enigmatic artist Francis Bacon, viewers can expect a thrilling display of expertise and passion as contestants delve deep into their chosen fields. The ancient Greek poet Sappho, the Mercury Prize, the French revolutionary the Marquis de Lafayette, and the composer and pianist Clara Schumann also feature as challenging topics.
As the pressure mounts and the stakes soar, contestants will showcase their mastery of trivia and recall, leaving viewers on the edge of their seats. Who will emerge victorious and claim the coveted title of “Mastermind”? Tune in to BBC Two at 6:00 Pm on Monday,...
- 3/26/2024
- by Posts UK
- TV Everyday
Spoilers for "True Detective: Night Country" follow.
The dark, sleepy mining town of Ennis, Alaska, which is where the events of "True Detective: Night Country" are set, conceals many dark secrets beneath the ice. When a group of researchers go missing from their base, Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and the rest of the police force have enough reasons to suspect foul play, but nothing prepares them for what they find. The researchers are found frozen together with no clothes on, their limbs tangled and protruding in various directions, with expressions of pure terror stamped on their icy faces. It is a rather ugly thing to look at, and Danvers immediately describes it as a corpsicle, which is perhaps the most inventive way of referring to this horrifying spectacle.
Writer-director Issa López chooses to linger on these bodies, zooming in on specific body parts that could possibly serve as a clue...
The dark, sleepy mining town of Ennis, Alaska, which is where the events of "True Detective: Night Country" are set, conceals many dark secrets beneath the ice. When a group of researchers go missing from their base, Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and the rest of the police force have enough reasons to suspect foul play, but nothing prepares them for what they find. The researchers are found frozen together with no clothes on, their limbs tangled and protruding in various directions, with expressions of pure terror stamped on their icy faces. It is a rather ugly thing to look at, and Danvers immediately describes it as a corpsicle, which is perhaps the most inventive way of referring to this horrifying spectacle.
Writer-director Issa López chooses to linger on these bodies, zooming in on specific body parts that could possibly serve as a clue...
- 3/17/2024
- by Debopriyaa Dutta
- Slash Film
A Poison Tree: Moller Employs Wrathful Mother in Jailhouse Revenge Drama
“A man that studied revenge keeps his own wounds green,” comes to mind in Gustav Möller’s sophomore film Sons, (Vogter) a quote credited to Francis Bacon in his essay “Of Revenge.” Like his celebrated 2018 debut, The Guilty (read review), Möller creates a pressure cooker for a psychologically isolated character, this time a prison guard played by the great Sidse Babett Knudsen who seizes an opportunity to exact vengeance on a prisoner responsible for murdering her son. The plot is effectively simple, swiftly presenting the scenario of a good hearted woman reintroduced to a trauma she clearly still nurses, unbeknownst to those around her.…...
“A man that studied revenge keeps his own wounds green,” comes to mind in Gustav Möller’s sophomore film Sons, (Vogter) a quote credited to Francis Bacon in his essay “Of Revenge.” Like his celebrated 2018 debut, The Guilty (read review), Möller creates a pressure cooker for a psychologically isolated character, this time a prison guard played by the great Sidse Babett Knudsen who seizes an opportunity to exact vengeance on a prisoner responsible for murdering her son. The plot is effectively simple, swiftly presenting the scenario of a good hearted woman reintroduced to a trauma she clearly still nurses, unbeknownst to those around her.…...
- 2/22/2024
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
English animator Robert Morgan has deservedly accrued a shelf of awards over the past quarter-century or so for shorts like “The Cat With Hands,” “The Separation” and ickily awesome “Bobby Yeah.” Their macabre, surreal nightmares are at once threatening and oddly winsome, with a sinister aesthetic equally redolent of the Brothers Quay, early David Lynch and the painter Francis Bacon — all of whom count among the director’s admitted influences.
He’s been in no hurry to adopt a longer format, and his first feature underlines the wisdom of that reluctance. Not unprecedented among his work in its mix of animated and live-action elements, “Stopmotion” demonstrates the difficulty in stretching such a singular, fantastical sensibility to suit a full-length project’s storytelling requirements.
This “Repulsion”-like tale of a fragile young woman’s descent into madness, starring “The Nightingale’s” Aisling Franciosi, arrests attention with its vivid, escalating eruptions of grotesque imagination.
He’s been in no hurry to adopt a longer format, and his first feature underlines the wisdom of that reluctance. Not unprecedented among his work in its mix of animated and live-action elements, “Stopmotion” demonstrates the difficulty in stretching such a singular, fantastical sensibility to suit a full-length project’s storytelling requirements.
This “Repulsion”-like tale of a fragile young woman’s descent into madness, starring “The Nightingale’s” Aisling Franciosi, arrests attention with its vivid, escalating eruptions of grotesque imagination.
- 2/22/2024
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
When the Art Directors Guild holds its annual awards ceremony on Feb. 10, prizes will go to talented designers who created looks ranging from the nuclear-threatened whimsy of Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City,” to the apocalyptic wasteland of “The Last of Us,” to the pink-hued fantasy of a doll choosing between plastic eternity and real-world life and death (she picked the latter).
See a common thread here? In addition to the gloom lurking behind these creations, other contenders provided backdrops for the implied genocide of “Killers of the Flower Moon,” the grief of a lauded composer stricken by the death of his wife in “Maestro,” the battlefield carnage of “Napoleon” and the development of an ultimate weapon that can extinguish humankind in “Oppenheimer.”
Want more? There’s AI armageddon in “The Creator” and “A Murder at the End of the World,” Frankenstein biology in “Poor Things” and a cool-headed professional assassin in “The Killer.
See a common thread here? In addition to the gloom lurking behind these creations, other contenders provided backdrops for the implied genocide of “Killers of the Flower Moon,” the grief of a lauded composer stricken by the death of his wife in “Maestro,” the battlefield carnage of “Napoleon” and the development of an ultimate weapon that can extinguish humankind in “Oppenheimer.”
Want more? There’s AI armageddon in “The Creator” and “A Murder at the End of the World,” Frankenstein biology in “Poor Things” and a cool-headed professional assassin in “The Killer.
- 2/10/2024
- by Peter Caranicas
- Variety Film + TV
For years, Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net has been about two things only – awesome art and the artists that create it. With that in mind, we thought why not take the first week of the month to showcase these awesome artists even more? Welcome to “Awesome Artist We’ve Found Around The Net.” In this column, we are focusing on one artist and the awesome art that they create, whether they be amateur, up and coming, or well established. The goal is to uncover these artists so even more people become familiar with them. We ask these artists a few questions to see their origins, influences, and more. If you are an awesome artist or know someone that should be featured, feel free to contact me at any time at theodorebond@joblo.com.This month we are very pleased to bring you the awesome art of…
Phil Shelly...
Phil Shelly...
- 2/3/2024
- by Theodore Bond
- JoBlo.com
The trailer and premiere date for the salacious new Starz series Mary & George have been revealed!
Julianne Moore and Nicholas Galitzine star as the titular characters in the limited series, which also just got a US premiere date.
If you didn’t know, the series is also premiering on Sky in the UK, Ireland, Germany and Italy.
Learn more and watch the trailer inside…
The upcoming seven-part series is “inspired by the scandalous true story of a treacherous mother and son who schemed, seduced and killed to conquer the Court of England and the bed of King James I.”
Julianne stars as “Mary Villiers, Countess of Buckingham, who in 17th century England molded her beautiful son, George, to seduce King James I and become his all-powerful lover. Through outrageous scheming, the pair rose from humble beginnings to become one of the richest, most titled and influential players the English court had ever seen,...
Julianne Moore and Nicholas Galitzine star as the titular characters in the limited series, which also just got a US premiere date.
If you didn’t know, the series is also premiering on Sky in the UK, Ireland, Germany and Italy.
Learn more and watch the trailer inside…
The upcoming seven-part series is “inspired by the scandalous true story of a treacherous mother and son who schemed, seduced and killed to conquer the Court of England and the bed of King James I.”
Julianne stars as “Mary Villiers, Countess of Buckingham, who in 17th century England molded her beautiful son, George, to seduce King James I and become his all-powerful lover. Through outrageous scheming, the pair rose from humble beginnings to become one of the richest, most titled and influential players the English court had ever seen,...
- 2/2/2024
- by Just Jared
- Just Jared
The official trailer for Starz’s Mary & George shows the scheming mother and son attempting to trap King James I into a sexual relationship as part of their plot to attain power and wealth. The seven-episode period drama will premiere on Friday, April 5, 2024 at midnight on the Starz app. It’ll debut on the Starz network on 9pm Et/Pt in the US and 10pm Et/Pt in Canada.
Oscar winner Julianne Moore (Still Alice) stars as Mary Villiers, Nicholas Galitzine plays George Villiers, and Tony Curran (Mayflies) is King James I. Nicola Walker (The Split) plays Lady Hatton, Niamh Algar (The Wonder) is Sandie, Trine Dyrholm (The Legacy) is Queen Anne, and Sean Gilder (Slow Horses) is Sir Thomas Compton.
The ensemble also includes Adrian Rawlins (Living) as Sir Edward Coke, Mark O’Halloran (The Miracle Club) as Sir Francis Bacon, Laurie Davidson (Masters of the Air) as Earl of Somerset,...
Oscar winner Julianne Moore (Still Alice) stars as Mary Villiers, Nicholas Galitzine plays George Villiers, and Tony Curran (Mayflies) is King James I. Nicola Walker (The Split) plays Lady Hatton, Niamh Algar (The Wonder) is Sandie, Trine Dyrholm (The Legacy) is Queen Anne, and Sean Gilder (Slow Horses) is Sir Thomas Compton.
The ensemble also includes Adrian Rawlins (Living) as Sir Edward Coke, Mark O’Halloran (The Miracle Club) as Sir Francis Bacon, Laurie Davidson (Masters of the Air) as Earl of Somerset,...
- 2/1/2024
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
The Beatles‘ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band probably has the most famous album artwork ever. Despite this, one of the artists who created the cover wasn’t much of a Beatlemaniac. At the time, she was more interested in one of the singers who inspired The Beatles. She discussed what she thought of the Fab Four after spending some time with them.
An artist compared working on The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’ cover to meeting Marilyn Monroe
Jann Haworth and her then-husband Peter Blake were the artists behind the Sgt. Pepper artwork. During a 2017 interview with Good Times, Haworth revealed she wasn’t too impressed with The Beatles at the time.
“I always had a fairly detached sense with The Beatles, because my ear was American and I was interested in, you know, Bo Diddley and that area of music,” she said. “Chuck Berry and stuff was what I was tuned to.
An artist compared working on The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’ cover to meeting Marilyn Monroe
Jann Haworth and her then-husband Peter Blake were the artists behind the Sgt. Pepper artwork. During a 2017 interview with Good Times, Haworth revealed she wasn’t too impressed with The Beatles at the time.
“I always had a fairly detached sense with The Beatles, because my ear was American and I was interested in, you know, Bo Diddley and that area of music,” she said. “Chuck Berry and stuff was what I was tuned to.
- 12/20/2023
- by Matthew Trzcinski
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
In movie history, there are a rare few directors whose style has coined an adjective: Felliniesque, Hitchcockian, Chaplinesque. The modern filmmaker most likely to join that class is Yorgos Lanthimos, the Greek auteur famed for “The Lobster” and “The Favourite,” whose newest, wildest project, “Poor Things,” is his most colorful and phantasmagorical to date.
The look of the film – set in a fairy tale 19th century world unlike any you’ve ever seen – is singular, even if the moniker Lanthimosian doesn’t quite roll off the tongue.
“That’s a really hard word to say,” said cinematographer Robbie Ryan with a laugh. The Irish camera maestro earned an Oscar nomination for “The Favourite,” his previous collaboration with Lanthimos.
“Maybe Lanthimosesque is better – or is it even worse? I do totally agree, though: His filmmaking is signature, for sure. It’s inventive in a way that’s undefinable. I can describe...
The look of the film – set in a fairy tale 19th century world unlike any you’ve ever seen – is singular, even if the moniker Lanthimosian doesn’t quite roll off the tongue.
“That’s a really hard word to say,” said cinematographer Robbie Ryan with a laugh. The Irish camera maestro earned an Oscar nomination for “The Favourite,” his previous collaboration with Lanthimos.
“Maybe Lanthimosesque is better – or is it even worse? I do totally agree, though: His filmmaking is signature, for sure. It’s inventive in a way that’s undefinable. I can describe...
- 12/19/2023
- by Joe McGovern
- The Wrap
"This world is full of monsters..." Indeed it (still) is. Starz has unveiled an extra spicy first look teaser for a new British historical drama miniseries called Mary & George, set to arrive sometime in early 2024 (no date yet). Follow the story of the Countess of Buckingham who molded her son to seduce King James I and become his all-powerful lover, through intrigue, becoming richer, more titled and influential than England has ever seen. The story is based on Benjamin Woolley's non-fiction historical book The King's Assassin, about a treacherous mother and son who schemed, seduced and killed to conquer the Court of England and the bed of King James I. "If I looked like you. I'd rule the f&!king planet." Based on a scandalous true story, the 7-part limited series stars Julianne Moore as Mary Villiers, Nicholas Galitzine as George Villiers, with Tony Curran, Laurie Davidson, Nicola Walker,...
- 11/16/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
This year’s awards-contending films offer a treasure trove of crafts that includes transformations, exquisite sets, lavish costumes, memorable scores and songs and immersive cinematography. The contenders range from newcomers to legends — Variety breaks down the categories below.
Makeup And Hair
Prosthetic makeup designer Kazu Hiro could very well walk away with his third Oscar for his work on Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro.” Transforming Cooper into the legendary composer Leonard Bernstein consisted of five different stages to gradually age the actor. And the guild as well as the Academy love a transformation.
Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” could be a contender in this area, following in the footsteps of the first two films that landed guild nominations. The sheer volume of prosthetics and wigs went into building the characters such as the humanimals, the hybrid of humanoid and animal, and the villain, the High Evolutionary, played by Chukwudi Iwuji.
Makeup And Hair
Prosthetic makeup designer Kazu Hiro could very well walk away with his third Oscar for his work on Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro.” Transforming Cooper into the legendary composer Leonard Bernstein consisted of five different stages to gradually age the actor. And the guild as well as the Academy love a transformation.
Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” could be a contender in this area, following in the footsteps of the first two films that landed guild nominations. The sheer volume of prosthetics and wigs went into building the characters such as the humanimals, the hybrid of humanoid and animal, and the villain, the High Evolutionary, played by Chukwudi Iwuji.
- 11/10/2023
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
London – A psychedelic eye mosaic commissioned by John Lennon for the swimming pool at his Kenwood home in Surrey in 1965 leads Bonhams’ Rock, Pop & Film sale on Wednesday 29 November at Knightsbridge, London.
Claire Tole-Moir, Bonhams Head of Popular Culture in London, commented: “This monumental mosaic, commissioned by John Lennon is a striking example of the Beatle’s artistic vision and influences. Lennon’s Kenwood home in the English countryside was a place of respite from all the public attention he experienced during the height of The Beatles’ popularity. It’s said Lennon would spend idle hours near the swimming pool and that the mosaic could even be seen from his favoured ‘sunroom’ at the top of the house. With Kenwood still under private ownership, it is very rare to see anything from when John Lennon lived there, making the ‘Psychedelic Eye’ mosaic an incredibly important artefact of Beatles history.”
Consisting of approximately 17,000 tiles,...
Claire Tole-Moir, Bonhams Head of Popular Culture in London, commented: “This monumental mosaic, commissioned by John Lennon is a striking example of the Beatle’s artistic vision and influences. Lennon’s Kenwood home in the English countryside was a place of respite from all the public attention he experienced during the height of The Beatles’ popularity. It’s said Lennon would spend idle hours near the swimming pool and that the mosaic could even be seen from his favoured ‘sunroom’ at the top of the house. With Kenwood still under private ownership, it is very rare to see anything from when John Lennon lived there, making the ‘Psychedelic Eye’ mosaic an incredibly important artefact of Beatles history.”
Consisting of approximately 17,000 tiles,...
- 11/8/2023
- by Music Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid Music
In the article series Sound and Vision we take a look at music videos from notable directors. This week we take a look at two music videos by John Maybury. John Maybury is an actor's director. He might have started out as an avant-garde filmmaker and peer of Derek Jarman, his strongest feat as a director is the performance he gets out of his actors. Take for instance his film, Love is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon, about the painter Francis Bacon. It's a film that is full of painterly mise and scene, off kilter camera angles and strong editing choices, but the core is a harrowing performance of Daniel Craig in a star making turn, and a never-better Derek...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 10/30/2023
- Screen Anarchy
Nominations voting is from January 11–16, 2024, with official Oscar nominations announced on January 23, 2024. Final voting is February 22–27, 2024. And finally, the 96th Oscars telecast will be broadcast on Sunday, March 10, and air live on ABC at 8 p.m. Et/ 5 p.m. Pt. We update predictions throughout awards season, so keep checking IndieWire for all our 2024 Oscar picks.
The State of the Race
“Maestro” (Netflix) is the one to beat at this point for the remarkable transformation of Bradley Cooper as legendary conductor/composer Leonard Bernstein, but also in the running are “Barbie” (Warner Bros.), “Priscilla” (A24), “Poor Things” (Searchlight), and “Oppenheimer” (Universal).
Other Oscar hopefuls include “The Color Purple” (Warner Bros.), “The Exorcist: Believer” (Universal), “Napoleon” (Apple TV+/Sony Pictures), “The Little Mermaid” (Disney), “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” (Marvel/Disney), “Killers of the Flower Moon” (Apple TV+/Paramount), “Wonka” (Warner Bros.), and “Saltburn” (Amazon/MGM).
Oscar-winning prosthetic makeup guru Kazu Hiro...
The State of the Race
“Maestro” (Netflix) is the one to beat at this point for the remarkable transformation of Bradley Cooper as legendary conductor/composer Leonard Bernstein, but also in the running are “Barbie” (Warner Bros.), “Priscilla” (A24), “Poor Things” (Searchlight), and “Oppenheimer” (Universal).
Other Oscar hopefuls include “The Color Purple” (Warner Bros.), “The Exorcist: Believer” (Universal), “Napoleon” (Apple TV+/Sony Pictures), “The Little Mermaid” (Disney), “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” (Marvel/Disney), “Killers of the Flower Moon” (Apple TV+/Paramount), “Wonka” (Warner Bros.), and “Saltburn” (Amazon/MGM).
Oscar-winning prosthetic makeup guru Kazu Hiro...
- 10/24/2023
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Doja Cat and the German metallic hardcore band Chaver likely have a lot in common (a total rejection of normal society, for instance), but today, the gossamer thread connecting the two artists is the image of a pink spider with a gem-like drop of pink blood in its chelicerae. Slight variations of the arachnid, designed by artist Dusty Ray, appear on the covers of each artist’s new album.
Doja Cat debuted her artwork, which features the spider and no type-treatment (other than the obligatory “Parental Advisory”), on Instagram on Tuesday,...
Doja Cat debuted her artwork, which features the spider and no type-treatment (other than the obligatory “Parental Advisory”), on Instagram on Tuesday,...
- 8/30/2023
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
From the Nc-17 ménage à trois of Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Dreamers” to James Spader having intercourse with Rosanna Arquette’s leg wound in David Cronenberg’s “Crash,” producer Jeremy Thomas loves a controversy onscreen.
Cinema raconteur Mark Cousins pays homage to the Oscar-winning producer in his 2021 Cannes Classics selection, “The Storms of Jeremy Thomas.” The film follows Cousins on Thomas’ annual pilgrimage to the Cannes Film Festival — literally, the producer drove for decades from England to the fest — and a five-day road movie through France. Together, they remember Thomas’ most acclaimed and provocative films as a producer, from his Oscar-winning “The Last Emperor” to “Crash” and its scandalous opening at the festival in 1996, Nicolas Roeg’s “Bad Timing,” Jerzy Skolimowski’s “Eo,” plus Cronenberg’s “Naked Lunch,” Jonathan Glazer’s “Sexy Beast,” and Terry Gilliam’s reviled child abuse fairy tale, “Tideland.”
The film includes Thomas’ stories of movie stars like Marlon Brando,...
Cinema raconteur Mark Cousins pays homage to the Oscar-winning producer in his 2021 Cannes Classics selection, “The Storms of Jeremy Thomas.” The film follows Cousins on Thomas’ annual pilgrimage to the Cannes Film Festival — literally, the producer drove for decades from England to the fest — and a five-day road movie through France. Together, they remember Thomas’ most acclaimed and provocative films as a producer, from his Oscar-winning “The Last Emperor” to “Crash” and its scandalous opening at the festival in 1996, Nicolas Roeg’s “Bad Timing,” Jerzy Skolimowski’s “Eo,” plus Cronenberg’s “Naked Lunch,” Jonathan Glazer’s “Sexy Beast,” and Terry Gilliam’s reviled child abuse fairy tale, “Tideland.”
The film includes Thomas’ stories of movie stars like Marlon Brando,...
- 8/24/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
The man is not in black. He is in nothing at all. Wearing his nakedness calmly, like a fact so obvious it requires no explanation, an 86-year-old Chinese male stands up slowly in the otherwise empty gallery of Paris’ famous Bouffes du Nord theatre. The artfully peeling, faded-grandeur interior, dim but for gathered pools of warm light, booms with the sound of his wooden seat swinging back into place, then with the creaks of the floorboards under his bare feet. This is the arresting opening to Chinese documentarian Wang Bing’s other Cannes 2023 film, “Man in Black,” a project so diametrically different from his Competition entry “Youth: Spring” that it feels hard to credit them both to the same person. Perhaps we shouldn’t. This brief but profoundly moving film represents such a consummate collaboration between director, cinematographer, editor and subject that its authorship could be recorded as a four-way tie.
- 7/1/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between.
Today we talk about one of the best actresses working today: Tilda Swinton!
Our guest is the great Dan Walber, public historian and recovering (!) film critic. Walber is also part of the @closefriendscollective, which you can find on Instagram.
Our B-Sides today are: Edward II, Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon, Possible Worlds, The Deep End, and Teknolust.
Walber speaks to her immediate exceptionalism in Derek Jarman’s ‘80s films, we marvel at her endless range (from Constantine to Snowpiercer and so on and so forth), and I gush about the work of Francis Bacon and the depths of his controversial career after falling in love with Love is the Devil. We...
Today we talk about one of the best actresses working today: Tilda Swinton!
Our guest is the great Dan Walber, public historian and recovering (!) film critic. Walber is also part of the @closefriendscollective, which you can find on Instagram.
Our B-Sides today are: Edward II, Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon, Possible Worlds, The Deep End, and Teknolust.
Walber speaks to her immediate exceptionalism in Derek Jarman’s ‘80s films, we marvel at her endless range (from Constantine to Snowpiercer and so on and so forth), and I gush about the work of Francis Bacon and the depths of his controversial career after falling in love with Love is the Devil. We...
- 6/2/2023
- by Dan Mecca
- The Film Stage
It’s raining the Bard.
In the wake of “Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight and “Happy Valley” star Sarah Lancashire’s recently announced series on William Shakespeare, another production with the Bard as topic has revealed some of its cast.
Conspiracy drama series “The Rosy Cross: The Rebels who wrote Shakespeare,” being brought to the screen by Lasse Hallberg, executive producer of Netflix series “Lilyhammer,” explores the controversial Shakespeare authorship debate. The cast includes Stephen Campbell Moore, Romario Simpson (“Granite Harbour”), Samuel Barnett (“The History Boys”), co-producer Ed Hughes and Jonny Weldon (“House of the Dragon”).
The series is based on research claiming to identify the real and diverse underground writing group of men and women who secretly crafted the plays under the pseudonym of William Shakespeare, led by the great English philosopher Francis Bacon. The show follows a shadowy order of diverse freedom fighters from all walks of life...
In the wake of “Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight and “Happy Valley” star Sarah Lancashire’s recently announced series on William Shakespeare, another production with the Bard as topic has revealed some of its cast.
Conspiracy drama series “The Rosy Cross: The Rebels who wrote Shakespeare,” being brought to the screen by Lasse Hallberg, executive producer of Netflix series “Lilyhammer,” explores the controversial Shakespeare authorship debate. The cast includes Stephen Campbell Moore, Romario Simpson (“Granite Harbour”), Samuel Barnett (“The History Boys”), co-producer Ed Hughes and Jonny Weldon (“House of the Dragon”).
The series is based on research claiming to identify the real and diverse underground writing group of men and women who secretly crafted the plays under the pseudonym of William Shakespeare, led by the great English philosopher Francis Bacon. The show follows a shadowy order of diverse freedom fighters from all walks of life...
- 4/25/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Luca Guadagnino will next direct the William S. Burroughs adaptation “Queer” with Daniel Craig playing the renowned counterculture author’s alter ego, an outcast American expat who lives in Mexico, and “Outer Banks” star Drew Starkey starring as a younger man with whom he becomes madly infatuated.
“Queer” will also topline Lesley Manville (“The Crown”), frequent Wes Anderson collaborator Jason Schwartzman; and Henry Zaga (“The New Mutants”), according to inside sources.
The boldly ambitious indie film is set to start shooting this month at Rome’s refurbished Cinecittà Studios where the Mexico City-set movie will be filmed in its entirety.
Lorenzo Mieli’s Fremantle-owned Italian company The Apartment – the internationally expanding shingle behind Guadagnino’s “Bones and All” and Sofia Coppola’s upcoming “Priscilla” – is lead producing “Queer” in tandem with Guadagnino’s own Frenesy Film. Fremantle North America is also on board.
American playwright Justin Kuritzkes, who penned...
“Queer” will also topline Lesley Manville (“The Crown”), frequent Wes Anderson collaborator Jason Schwartzman; and Henry Zaga (“The New Mutants”), according to inside sources.
The boldly ambitious indie film is set to start shooting this month at Rome’s refurbished Cinecittà Studios where the Mexico City-set movie will be filmed in its entirety.
Lorenzo Mieli’s Fremantle-owned Italian company The Apartment – the internationally expanding shingle behind Guadagnino’s “Bones and All” and Sofia Coppola’s upcoming “Priscilla” – is lead producing “Queer” in tandem with Guadagnino’s own Frenesy Film. Fremantle North America is also on board.
American playwright Justin Kuritzkes, who penned...
- 4/21/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
When Oscar-winning production designer Rick Heinrichs (“Sleepy Hollow”) was first tasked with designing the titular structure for Rian Johnson’s “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” he treated it like a literal onion, taking the model apart and cutting into it to study the layers. “There was something so cool and architectural about it, that it became part of the design,” he told IndieWire. “You really see the layers of depth in the dome. The metaphor of the Glass Onion works so well and I tried not to invent stuff that wasn’t there.”
For Johnson — whose latest whodunit takes inspiration from such iconic films as “Sleuth,” “The Last of Sheila,” and “Evil Under the Sun” — the metaphor of The Glass Onion was wrapped around the narcissistic, bad-boy mind of tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton). Bron hosts a murder mystery weekend getaway on his private Greek island with his...
For Johnson — whose latest whodunit takes inspiration from such iconic films as “Sleuth,” “The Last of Sheila,” and “Evil Under the Sun” — the metaphor of The Glass Onion was wrapped around the narcissistic, bad-boy mind of tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton). Bron hosts a murder mystery weekend getaway on his private Greek island with his...
- 11/22/2022
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
“The Menu” is one of the rare movies, along with classics like “Big Night” and “Babette’s Feast,” that revolves almost completely around a singular meal. But unlike those odes to pleasure, “The Menu” starts out as a deluxe culinary experience for the 1, but then devolves into something much darker — and far less appetizing. Ralph Fiennes stars as the renowned Chef Slowik, whose relentless pursuit of the perfect experience threatens to drive him to madness. Anya Taylor-Joy is an unexpected dinner guest at Hawthorn, the 1250-a-head-restaurant situated on a lonely island, while Nicholas Hoult is her chef-worshipping foodie date and Hong Chau is the exacting maître d’.
With the entire film revolving around one momentous meal, consulting chef Dominque Crenn, production designer Ethan Tobman and the culinary team played just as important a role in bringing the film to life as the cast members. Director Mark Mylod, who helmed numerous “Succession” episodes,...
With the entire film revolving around one momentous meal, consulting chef Dominque Crenn, production designer Ethan Tobman and the culinary team played just as important a role in bringing the film to life as the cast members. Director Mark Mylod, who helmed numerous “Succession” episodes,...
- 11/18/2022
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
This article contains Alien spoilers
They say that in space, no one can hear you scream. For those who’ve watched Ridley Scott’s Alien, you’ll know that isn’t the case – with this sci-fi staple “screaming” about its legacy for the past 43 years. Making a household name of Sigourney Weaver as Lt. Ellen Ripley, Alien is tightly held as one of the all-time horror greats.
Although the franchise has since spun off into sequels, prequels, and those maligned Alien Vs Predator crossovers, it all returns to the Uscss Nostromo and its doomed crew. While it’s ironic that the titular alien is only on the screen for a total of four minutes, this isn’t the only factoid to slither from behind the scenes. Here are 10 things you might not know about Alien.
1. What’s in a Name?
There’s something simplistic about the name Alien, and now,...
They say that in space, no one can hear you scream. For those who’ve watched Ridley Scott’s Alien, you’ll know that isn’t the case – with this sci-fi staple “screaming” about its legacy for the past 43 years. Making a household name of Sigourney Weaver as Lt. Ellen Ripley, Alien is tightly held as one of the all-time horror greats.
Although the franchise has since spun off into sequels, prequels, and those maligned Alien Vs Predator crossovers, it all returns to the Uscss Nostromo and its doomed crew. While it’s ironic that the titular alien is only on the screen for a total of four minutes, this isn’t the only factoid to slither from behind the scenes. Here are 10 things you might not know about Alien.
1. What’s in a Name?
There’s something simplistic about the name Alien, and now,...
- 11/18/2022
- by Kirsten Howard
- Den of Geek
Warning: This post will contain spoilers for the film "Barbarian."
Zach Cregger's 2022 film "Barbarian" is merely the latest in a long, long series of recent "creepy Airbnb" horror movies. This is a whole subgenre now that includes "The Rental," "Superhost," "A Perfect Host," and the upcoming "8 Found Dead." This new subgenre's immediate persistence implies that many members of the film-going public possess an inherent fear of Bed & Breakfasts. It's someone else's home, after all, and they have to track your behavior while staying in their home. It's an alien location with a certain degree of privacy stripped. The anonymity of a hotel room is absent. Airbnb horror movies -- Fearbnb? -- confirm a renter's worst nightmares. That there is something untoward at play.
That's certainly at play in "Barbarian," a film about a young woman (Georgina Campbell) who finds herself having to unexpectedly share a remote Detroit Airbnb with...
Zach Cregger's 2022 film "Barbarian" is merely the latest in a long, long series of recent "creepy Airbnb" horror movies. This is a whole subgenre now that includes "The Rental," "Superhost," "A Perfect Host," and the upcoming "8 Found Dead." This new subgenre's immediate persistence implies that many members of the film-going public possess an inherent fear of Bed & Breakfasts. It's someone else's home, after all, and they have to track your behavior while staying in their home. It's an alien location with a certain degree of privacy stripped. The anonymity of a hotel room is absent. Airbnb horror movies -- Fearbnb? -- confirm a renter's worst nightmares. That there is something untoward at play.
That's certainly at play in "Barbarian," a film about a young woman (Georgina Campbell) who finds herself having to unexpectedly share a remote Detroit Airbnb with...
- 11/3/2022
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Every horror movie is about pain, but only the “Hellraiser” series is about sadomasochism — the electricity and agony of it, the higher calling of it. “Hellraiser,” a reboot of the franchise that began in 1987 and has given us nine sequels (time flies when you’re having fun imagining yourself being tortured for fun), is a movie that honors the transgressive tug of Clive Barker’s 1986 novella “The Hellbound Heart.” But it takes a long time for the new “Hellraiser” to get to what devotees of the series would call the good stuff. When it does, however, the movie doesn’t hold back. Flesh is torn and flayed, flesh is peeled and sliced, flesh gets split wide open with mystical mechanical devices. The film’s brutal final act may put you in mind of such queasy landmarks of cinematic mutilation as “Audition,” “The Cell,” the “Saw” series, the 2018 remake of “Suspiria,...
- 10/5/2022
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Best-known for her role as Noemie in the hit French series “Call My Agent!,” Laure Calamy has emerged in recent years as one of France’s biggest stars and most versatile actors. After a busy career in theater and many notable supporting roles, she finally got a shot at leading roles, and kudos have followed, for Caroline Vignal’s romantic comedy “My Donkey, My Lover and I,” which was part of Cannes’ Official Selection and earned her a Cesar award, and Eric Gravel’s social drama “A Plein Temps,” for which she won best actress at Venice in the Horizons section.
Calamy is now on a roll and she’s shown that she can play anything. Case in point: Over this summer, she was at Locarno to present Blandine Lenoir’s period drama “Angry Annie,” in which she plays a working mother who joins the Movement for the Liberation of...
Calamy is now on a roll and she’s shown that she can play anything. Case in point: Over this summer, she was at Locarno to present Blandine Lenoir’s period drama “Angry Annie,” in which she plays a working mother who joins the Movement for the Liberation of...
- 9/4/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
London, Aug 15 (Ians) English journalist and author Nicholas Evans, popularly known for writing ‘The Horse Whisperer’, which was made into a film by Robert Redford, passed away following a heart attack aged 72, reports ‘Variety’ quoting a statement issued by United Agents.
The agency said the “much-loved” author had died following a heart attack on August 9. “He lived a full and happy life, in his home on the banks of the River Dart in Devon,” the statement added.
Evans’s 1995 novel ‘The Horse Whisperer’ sold 20 million copies worldwide and was the number one bestseller in 20 countries. It has been translated into 40 languages.
The 1998 film, produced by and directed by Redford, also starred him alongside Scarlett Johansson, Kristin Scott Thomas and Sam Neill, according to ‘Variety’.
The inspiration for ‘The Horse Whisperer’came in 1993 when Evans met a blacksmith in the south-west of England who informed him about horse whisperers, those who...
The agency said the “much-loved” author had died following a heart attack on August 9. “He lived a full and happy life, in his home on the banks of the River Dart in Devon,” the statement added.
Evans’s 1995 novel ‘The Horse Whisperer’ sold 20 million copies worldwide and was the number one bestseller in 20 countries. It has been translated into 40 languages.
The 1998 film, produced by and directed by Redford, also starred him alongside Scarlett Johansson, Kristin Scott Thomas and Sam Neill, according to ‘Variety’.
The inspiration for ‘The Horse Whisperer’came in 1993 when Evans met a blacksmith in the south-west of England who informed him about horse whisperers, those who...
- 8/15/2022
- by Glamsham Bureau
- GlamSham
English journalist and author Nicholas Evans, popularly known for writing ‘The Horse Whisperer’, which was made into a film by Robert Redford, passed away following a heart attack aged 72, reports ‘Variety’ quoting a statement issued by United Agents.
The agency said the “much-loved” author had died following a heart attack on August 9. “He lived a full and happy life, in his home on the banks of the River Dart in Devon,” the statement added.
Evans’s 1995 novel ‘The Horse Whisperer’ sold 20 million copies worldwide and was the number one bestseller in 20 countries. It has been translated into 40 languages.
The 1998 film, produced by and directed by Redford, also starred him alongside Scarlett Johansson, Kristin Scott Thomas and Sam Neill, according to ‘Variety’.
The inspiration for ‘The Horse Whisperer’came in 1993 when Evans met a blacksmith in the south-west of England who informed him about horse whisperers, those who have the gift...
The agency said the “much-loved” author had died following a heart attack on August 9. “He lived a full and happy life, in his home on the banks of the River Dart in Devon,” the statement added.
Evans’s 1995 novel ‘The Horse Whisperer’ sold 20 million copies worldwide and was the number one bestseller in 20 countries. It has been translated into 40 languages.
The 1998 film, produced by and directed by Redford, also starred him alongside Scarlett Johansson, Kristin Scott Thomas and Sam Neill, according to ‘Variety’.
The inspiration for ‘The Horse Whisperer’came in 1993 when Evans met a blacksmith in the south-west of England who informed him about horse whisperers, those who have the gift...
- 8/15/2022
- by Glamsham Bureau
- GlamSham
British journalist and author Nicholas Evans, best known for writing “The Horse Whisperer,” which was adapted as a film by Robert Redford, has died of a heart attack, according to United Agents. He was 72.
In a statement, United Agents said the “much-loved” author had died following a heart attack on Aug. 9. “He lived a full and happy life, in his home on the banks of the River Dart in Devon,” the statement added.
Evans’ 1995 novel “The Horse Whisperer” sold 20 million copies worldwide and was the number one bestseller in 20 countries. It has been translated into 40 languages. The 1998 film, produced by and directed by Redford, also starred him alongside Scarlett Johansson, Kristin Scott Thomas and Sam Neill.
The inspiration for “The Horse Whisperer” came in 1993 when Evans met a blacksmith in the south-west of England who informed him about horse whisperers — those who have the gift of healing traumatized horses by speaking to them.
In a statement, United Agents said the “much-loved” author had died following a heart attack on Aug. 9. “He lived a full and happy life, in his home on the banks of the River Dart in Devon,” the statement added.
Evans’ 1995 novel “The Horse Whisperer” sold 20 million copies worldwide and was the number one bestseller in 20 countries. It has been translated into 40 languages. The 1998 film, produced by and directed by Redford, also starred him alongside Scarlett Johansson, Kristin Scott Thomas and Sam Neill.
The inspiration for “The Horse Whisperer” came in 1993 when Evans met a blacksmith in the south-west of England who informed him about horse whisperers — those who have the gift of healing traumatized horses by speaking to them.
- 8/15/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Nicholas Evans, the author of the bestselling novel The Horse Whisperer, has died. He was 72.
In a statement, Evans’s longtime agent, Caradoc King of United Agents, confirmed the news to Deadline and said that Evans died following a heart attack on Tuesday, August 9.
“He lived a full and happy life, in his home on the banks of the River Dart in Devon. He was much loved and leaves behind his wife Charlotte, and four children, Finlay, Lauren, Max and Harry,” the statement continued.
Born in 1950 in Worcestershire, England, Evans studied law at Oxford University and started his career as a journalist, working at the Evening Chronicle, a local newspaper based in Newcastle, England.
Evans then moved into TV, producing broadcasts about US politics and the Middle East for the popular weekly current affairs programme Weekend World. In 1982, he began producing arts documentaries on a range of subjects, including popular artists such as David Hockney,...
In a statement, Evans’s longtime agent, Caradoc King of United Agents, confirmed the news to Deadline and said that Evans died following a heart attack on Tuesday, August 9.
“He lived a full and happy life, in his home on the banks of the River Dart in Devon. He was much loved and leaves behind his wife Charlotte, and four children, Finlay, Lauren, Max and Harry,” the statement continued.
Born in 1950 in Worcestershire, England, Evans studied law at Oxford University and started his career as a journalist, working at the Evening Chronicle, a local newspaper based in Newcastle, England.
Evans then moved into TV, producing broadcasts about US politics and the Middle East for the popular weekly current affairs programme Weekend World. In 1982, he began producing arts documentaries on a range of subjects, including popular artists such as David Hockney,...
- 8/15/2022
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
The fogo-fátuo, or will-o'-the-wisp, is a chemical reaction that resembles small phantasmagoric flames. The phenomenonon generally happens in marshy areas or burial grounds, where phosphorus and methane are released from decaying organic matter. After a reaction with the environment, these substances combust in ghostly bursts of light that float on swampy surfaces.This is a deeply accurate title for the new João Pedro Rodrígues film, a spontaneous explosion in the midst of this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Thirteen years after Rodrígues’s last appearance on the Croisette with his fatidic melodrama To Die Like a Man (2009), Will-o’-the-Wisp takes a different approach to tragicomedy, a deconstruction of the musical genre embellished with a potpourri of hilarious eccentricities. A 67-minute package of voracious cinematographic twists and turns, Will-o'-the-Wisp recounts the long life of King Alfredo (Joel Branco). On his deathbed in the year 2069, he remembers a fleeting encounter with love and desire,...
- 7/5/2022
- MUBI
Andrew Moir Oct 26, 2017
Andrew takes a nerdy dive into the pop culture real and fictional that's made its way into the world of Red Dwarf...
Creating culture within science-fiction can be tricky. It’s potentially alienating, with the audience required to understand allusions without a reference point. Then again, if you throw in too many contemporary references, the future starts to look dated pretty quickly. Red Dwarf has walked that fine line, building its own stars and entertainment but chucking in the familiar, just to keep the world grounded. We take a look at humanity’s future culture as seen through the eyes of Lister, Rimmer, Cat, Kryten and Holly.
See related Gunpowder episode 1 review Amazon Prime UK: what’s new in October 2017? New on Netflix UK: what's added in October 2017? Music
Red Dwarf set out its fictional musical world early on with the opening scenes of the first episode...
Andrew takes a nerdy dive into the pop culture real and fictional that's made its way into the world of Red Dwarf...
Creating culture within science-fiction can be tricky. It’s potentially alienating, with the audience required to understand allusions without a reference point. Then again, if you throw in too many contemporary references, the future starts to look dated pretty quickly. Red Dwarf has walked that fine line, building its own stars and entertainment but chucking in the familiar, just to keep the world grounded. We take a look at humanity’s future culture as seen through the eyes of Lister, Rimmer, Cat, Kryten and Holly.
See related Gunpowder episode 1 review Amazon Prime UK: what’s new in October 2017? New on Netflix UK: what's added in October 2017? Music
Red Dwarf set out its fictional musical world early on with the opening scenes of the first episode...
- 10/25/2017
- Den of Geek
David Lynch: The Art Life
Blu-ray
Criterion
2016 / 1:75 / Street Date September 26, 2017
Starring the One and Only David Lynch
Cinematography: Jason S.
Film Editor: Olivia Neergaard-Holm
Produced by Josefine Bothe
Music: Jonatan Bengta
Directed by Jon Nguyen, Rick Barnes and Olivia Neergaard-Holm
Twin Peaks: The Return recently ended its 18 hour run on Showtime and with that it can be said that the 41 year old cable channel finally made good on its name. Directed by David Lynch and co-written with Mark Frost, The Return see-sawed from soaring fly-overs of Manhattan and Vegas to suffocating dungeons infested with oily-skinned ghosts. It was pictorial storytelling on a grand scale, a work of epic surrealism that challenged the capabilities of any ordinary television screen.
If Lynch and Frost viewed the 1990 incarnation of Twin Peaks as a relatively benign first draft populated by lovable eccentrics, Twin Peaks: The Return could be seen as a take-no-prisoners revision,...
Blu-ray
Criterion
2016 / 1:75 / Street Date September 26, 2017
Starring the One and Only David Lynch
Cinematography: Jason S.
Film Editor: Olivia Neergaard-Holm
Produced by Josefine Bothe
Music: Jonatan Bengta
Directed by Jon Nguyen, Rick Barnes and Olivia Neergaard-Holm
Twin Peaks: The Return recently ended its 18 hour run on Showtime and with that it can be said that the 41 year old cable channel finally made good on its name. Directed by David Lynch and co-written with Mark Frost, The Return see-sawed from soaring fly-overs of Manhattan and Vegas to suffocating dungeons infested with oily-skinned ghosts. It was pictorial storytelling on a grand scale, a work of epic surrealism that challenged the capabilities of any ordinary television screen.
If Lynch and Frost viewed the 1990 incarnation of Twin Peaks as a relatively benign first draft populated by lovable eccentrics, Twin Peaks: The Return could be seen as a take-no-prisoners revision,...
- 9/9/2017
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Re-Animator
Blu-ray
Arrow
1985 / 1:85 / Street Date August 8, 2017
Starring: Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton
Cinematography: Mac Ahlberg
Film Editor: Lee Percy
Written by Stuart Gordon, Dennis Paoli, William Norris
Produced by Brian Yuzna
Music: Richard Band
Directed by Stuart Gordon
Released in 1985, Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator remains the grandest of Grand Guignols, a viscerally entertaining comedy that is just grindhouse enough for fans of Blood Feast and arthouse enough for connoisseurs of Francis Bacon’s more grisly canvases.
Originally scripted for Chicago’s Organic Theater Company by Gordon and co-writers Dennis Paoli and William Norris, Re-Animator was based on H. P. Lovecraft’s short story, Herbert West – Re-Animator, first published in 1922. Set in the blandly generic college town of Arkham, Massachusetts, the action revolves in and around the classrooms of stately Miskatonic University’s medical school and the sterilized atmosphere of the academy’s dank morgue evoked so well by Mac Ahlberg’s lush cinematography.
Blu-ray
Arrow
1985 / 1:85 / Street Date August 8, 2017
Starring: Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton
Cinematography: Mac Ahlberg
Film Editor: Lee Percy
Written by Stuart Gordon, Dennis Paoli, William Norris
Produced by Brian Yuzna
Music: Richard Band
Directed by Stuart Gordon
Released in 1985, Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator remains the grandest of Grand Guignols, a viscerally entertaining comedy that is just grindhouse enough for fans of Blood Feast and arthouse enough for connoisseurs of Francis Bacon’s more grisly canvases.
Originally scripted for Chicago’s Organic Theater Company by Gordon and co-writers Dennis Paoli and William Norris, Re-Animator was based on H. P. Lovecraft’s short story, Herbert West – Re-Animator, first published in 1922. Set in the blandly generic college town of Arkham, Massachusetts, the action revolves in and around the classrooms of stately Miskatonic University’s medical school and the sterilized atmosphere of the academy’s dank morgue evoked so well by Mac Ahlberg’s lush cinematography.
- 8/8/2017
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
David Lynch is one of the industry’s most visual filmmakers, which makes his love for painting and art history a no-brainer. While he will often pull inspiration from other great directors — just look at the most recent episode of “Twin Peaks” and the way it evoked Kubrick and Malick — his biggest visual influences are works by iconic painters like surrealist René Magritte, realist Edward Hopper and figurative painter Francis Bacon.
Read More: The ‘Twin Peaks’ Nuclear Explosion Sequence Synced to Pink Floyd is a Psychedelic Wonder — Watch
A great new video essay from VoorDeFilm (via No Film School) puts some of Lynch’s most memorable images right next to the paintings that inspired them, and the similarities are uncanny. Each shot finds Lynch twisting the original artist’s style into his own, and the side-by-side comparisons speak greatly to what it is that makes Lynch’s cinematic style so unforgettable.
Read More: The ‘Twin Peaks’ Nuclear Explosion Sequence Synced to Pink Floyd is a Psychedelic Wonder — Watch
A great new video essay from VoorDeFilm (via No Film School) puts some of Lynch’s most memorable images right next to the paintings that inspired them, and the similarities are uncanny. Each shot finds Lynch twisting the original artist’s style into his own, and the side-by-side comparisons speak greatly to what it is that makes Lynch’s cinematic style so unforgettable.
- 7/5/2017
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
The title is literal: this video essay looks at some of David Lynch’s key visual inspirations, including Rene Margritte, Edward Hopper, Arnold Böcklin and Francis Bacon.
- 6/29/2017
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Just your usual movie about a little girl and her pet super pig. Our review of Bong Joon-ho's weird and wonderful sci-fi comedy, Okja...
When asked about all the disturbing slabs of meat and sense of death in his paintings, the artist Francis Bacon often replied that, if you wanted real horror, "then you only need to think about the meat on your plate."
See related Terminator 2's opening sequence: one of cinema's greatest When Italy remade Aliens and called it Terminator 2
In his own playful, stylistically fluid way, South Korean director Bong Joon-ho uses his sci-fi comedy Okja to do the same thing: it forces us to confront the everyday horror of the meat on our plates. Assuming you're not a vegetarian already, Okja may just convince you to switch pork sausages for soya ones.
Okja is what's known as a super pig - a gigantic mammal reared...
When asked about all the disturbing slabs of meat and sense of death in his paintings, the artist Francis Bacon often replied that, if you wanted real horror, "then you only need to think about the meat on your plate."
See related Terminator 2's opening sequence: one of cinema's greatest When Italy remade Aliens and called it Terminator 2
In his own playful, stylistically fluid way, South Korean director Bong Joon-ho uses his sci-fi comedy Okja to do the same thing: it forces us to confront the everyday horror of the meat on our plates. Assuming you're not a vegetarian already, Okja may just convince you to switch pork sausages for soya ones.
Okja is what's known as a super pig - a gigantic mammal reared...
- 6/29/2017
- Den of Geek
“Alien” and its many sequels and prequels have always been about transformation. The creature itself is constantly changing, as are those unfortunate enough to encounter it. As you celebrate Alien Day — celebrated on April 26 because the original film is set on the planet Lv-426 — take a moment to revisit the many forms Sigourney Weaver’s greatest screen partner has taken on in the nearly 40 years since H.R. Giger and Ridley Scott first introduced us to it.
The facehugger (“Alien”)
Our first exposure to the otherworldly creature known among fans as the xenomorph remains the most quietly unsettling. “It’s got a wonderful defense mechanism,” Parker (Yaphet Kotto) says after noticing the facehugger’s acidic blood: “You don’t dare kill it.”
Almost reminiscent of a scorpion in its appearance, the facehugger was initially intended by Giger to be larger and possess eyes; screenwriter Dan O’Bannon had imagined it as an octopus-like being with tentacles.
The facehugger (“Alien”)
Our first exposure to the otherworldly creature known among fans as the xenomorph remains the most quietly unsettling. “It’s got a wonderful defense mechanism,” Parker (Yaphet Kotto) says after noticing the facehugger’s acidic blood: “You don’t dare kill it.”
Almost reminiscent of a scorpion in its appearance, the facehugger was initially intended by Giger to be larger and possess eyes; screenwriter Dan O’Bannon had imagined it as an octopus-like being with tentacles.
- 4/25/2017
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
The director opens up about how his fears inspired the heavy metal infused homage.
It’s hard to adequately describe The Devil’s Candy, Australian director Sean Byrne’s follow up to 2009’s The Loved Ones. The film, which premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and was eventually picked up by IFC Midnight for U.S. distribution, is a pastiche of occult horror, demonic possession, and religious mania, while also offering viewers a truly poignant family drama. It’s a pure treat for horror fans but above all else, it’s metal as fuck — literally.
The Devil’s Candy follows the not-so-ordinary Hellman family who move into an isolated but spacious Texas farmhouse, which may be a gateway to something sinister. Ethan Embry stars as Jesse, a struggling painter, who bonds with his daughter, Zooey (Kiara Glasco), over their shared love of heavy metal music. Shiri Appleby rounds up the family as Astrid, the...
It’s hard to adequately describe The Devil’s Candy, Australian director Sean Byrne’s follow up to 2009’s The Loved Ones. The film, which premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and was eventually picked up by IFC Midnight for U.S. distribution, is a pastiche of occult horror, demonic possession, and religious mania, while also offering viewers a truly poignant family drama. It’s a pure treat for horror fans but above all else, it’s metal as fuck — literally.
The Devil’s Candy follows the not-so-ordinary Hellman family who move into an isolated but spacious Texas farmhouse, which may be a gateway to something sinister. Ethan Embry stars as Jesse, a struggling painter, who bonds with his daughter, Zooey (Kiara Glasco), over their shared love of heavy metal music. Shiri Appleby rounds up the family as Astrid, the...
- 3/16/2017
- by Jamie Righetti
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Close-Up is a column that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Catherine Breillat's Romance (1999) is playing January 25 - February 24 and Anatomy of Hell (2004) is playing January 26 - February 25, 2017 in the United Kingdom in the series Catherine Breillat, Auteur of Porn?“Why do men who disgust us understand us better than the ones we love?”—Marie, Romance“Forget it. She’s a bitch. A slut like any other.”“Yes, but the queen of sluts.”—Man, Anatomy of HellNobody fucks like the French. Or is that the Italians? Ask Catherine Breillat, the French auteur who remarked, when probed in an interview promoting her 2004 feature Anatomy of Hell, regarding the decision to cast Rocco Siffredi, the Italian megastar of hardcore porn, in one of the film’s two leading roles: “No French actor could do it. Rocco performs with his entire body and mind, so he is a sort of perfection.” The Italian Stallion,...
- 1/27/2017
- MUBI
Terence Stamp, Samuel L Jackson and Eva Green battle time loops in this adventure adapted from the bestseller by Ransom Riggs
Everything but the kitchen sink goes into this buoyant fantasy-adventure from Tim Burton, adapted by Jane Goldman from the 2011 bestseller by Ransom Riggs. It rattles amiably along, although it’s a little overextended and loses something of its control and focus by the end.
This is a sort of classic time-travel mystery: shades of Tom’s Midnight Garden and When Marnie Was There, with a touch of X-Men. There’s a nice pipe-smoking turn by Eva Green as Miss Peregrine (although like all smokers in the movies, she abandons her habit after the first few scenes) and some very creepy monsters who appear to be modelled on Francis Bacon’s Three Studies for Figures at The Base of a Crucifixion.
Continue reading...
Everything but the kitchen sink goes into this buoyant fantasy-adventure from Tim Burton, adapted by Jane Goldman from the 2011 bestseller by Ransom Riggs. It rattles amiably along, although it’s a little overextended and loses something of its control and focus by the end.
This is a sort of classic time-travel mystery: shades of Tom’s Midnight Garden and When Marnie Was There, with a touch of X-Men. There’s a nice pipe-smoking turn by Eva Green as Miss Peregrine (although like all smokers in the movies, she abandons her habit after the first few scenes) and some very creepy monsters who appear to be modelled on Francis Bacon’s Three Studies for Figures at The Base of a Crucifixion.
Continue reading...
- 9/29/2016
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Philippe Grandrieux’s Despite the Night is a relentlessly morose, miasmic thing that, like much of his work, alternately seeks to narcotize and brutalize its viewer into submission until the distinctions between agony and ecstasy, tenderness and violation, are indistinguishable. Grandrieux is, in many respects, a wildly contradictory figure: a tough sell for most audiences; an easy pitch for prospective fans (the maximalist Denis? the haptic Lynch? the narrative Brakhage? the goth Malick? etc); a niche artist even in the realm of “festival cinema”; yet (for instance) a favorite of Marilyn Manson, who once recruited him to direct a music video. In a skeptical piece written for Reverse Shot, Michael Sicinski characterizes Grandrieux as the Scott Walker to Gaspar Noé’s Trent Reznor — the shadowy, marginal alternative to the celebrity provocateur. Facetiously, Sicinski continues, “To judge from his mystique, Grandrieux is that awesome band nobody likes yet, and you secretly hope nobody discovers.
- 8/20/2016
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
For this weeks Q&A I asked for an art theme to celebrate the joint birthday of Vincent Van Gogh and Francisco de Goya on this very day! So we'll start with a few art-focused topics before venturing to rando questions.
Tom: Which film about an artist (in any field of the Arts) that you were not particularly knowledgeable about made you want to see/hear the real work by that artist?
I vastly prefer non-traditional biopics so I'm susceptible to stuff that piques curiosity rather than gives you a greatest hits. So I like bios like Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993). I have some problems with I'm Not There (2007) which is my least favorite Todd Haynes film but I respect the hell out of it conceptually. In terms of movies about painters I definitely became more interested in Francis Bacon after Love is the Devil (1998) and not...
Tom: Which film about an artist (in any field of the Arts) that you were not particularly knowledgeable about made you want to see/hear the real work by that artist?
I vastly prefer non-traditional biopics so I'm susceptible to stuff that piques curiosity rather than gives you a greatest hits. So I like bios like Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993). I have some problems with I'm Not There (2007) which is my least favorite Todd Haynes film but I respect the hell out of it conceptually. In terms of movies about painters I definitely became more interested in Francis Bacon after Love is the Devil (1998) and not...
- 3/31/2016
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
6 January 1971: ‘She laughs with a barmaid vitality that never suggests the way life has mauled her’
Patricia Neal obituary, 9 August 2010
Two giant stone eagles claw the lawn outside Patricia Neal’s house in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire. They stand by the glasshouse where her writer-husband, Roald Dahl, grows his orchids, just before you reach the indoor swimming pool. “I bought them in Texas when I was making ‘Hud’,” said Miss Neal. “They’re pretty terrific.” Inside the house, a brassier echo of remembrance is chimed by the Oscar statuette she won for making the same film.
“I suppose you could say that those were the days,” she said, looking at its junk-stall incongruity among the pictures by Francis Bacon and Matthew Smith. “Producers seem to fight shy of me now, since I had my stroke. I’ve only made two films in the five years since it happened. I can’t blame anybody,...
Patricia Neal obituary, 9 August 2010
Two giant stone eagles claw the lawn outside Patricia Neal’s house in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire. They stand by the glasshouse where her writer-husband, Roald Dahl, grows his orchids, just before you reach the indoor swimming pool. “I bought them in Texas when I was making ‘Hud’,” said Miss Neal. “They’re pretty terrific.” Inside the house, a brassier echo of remembrance is chimed by the Oscar statuette she won for making the same film.
“I suppose you could say that those were the days,” she said, looking at its junk-stall incongruity among the pictures by Francis Bacon and Matthew Smith. “Producers seem to fight shy of me now, since I had my stroke. I’ve only made two films in the five years since it happened. I can’t blame anybody,...
- 1/6/2016
- by Tom Hutchinson
- The Guardian - Film News
"Eckhart saw Hell too. He said: The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of life, your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you, he said. They're freeing your soul. So, if you're frightened of dying and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth." -- Louis (Danny Aiello) in "Jacob's Ladder" I first viewed "Jacob's Ladder" on VHS several years after its release in theaters, when it received a lukewarm response from audiences (it grossed around $26 million by the end of its run) and received a polarizing response from critics: Roger Ebert called it "powerfully written, directed and acted" while The Washington Post's Hal Hinson charged it with being "garbled and cliched." My initial reaction to...
- 12/31/2015
- by Chris Eggertsen
- Hitfix
In May, Pablo Picasso’s 1955 painting Les Femmes d’Alger (Version “O”) was snapped up at Christie’s for $179 million, setting a record for the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction. Naturally, the headlines focused on the sheer magnitude of the sale, which broke the old auction record of $142 million — the cost of Francis Bacon’s Three Studies of Lucian Freud. The painting itself, though, has a story to tell beyond its price. The Inspiration Delacroix’s Les Femmes d’Alger. Les Femmes d’Alger (Version “O”) was born out of a rivalry between Picasso and Henri Matisse. But competition can evolve into adoration, and when Matisse died on November 3, 1954, Picasso embarked upon an ambitious form of mourning: He would make a series of 15 works in homage to Eugène Delacroix’s 1834 painting Les Femmes d’Alger, a work held in near-religious regard by the late artist. The Model Qui...
- 7/14/2015
- by Nate Freeman
- Vulture
For collectors feeling flush and looking to buy, this week is a shopping paradise: Frieze, Nada, and the other assorted art fairs and flashy gallery exhibitions going on. But the news will always come from the auction houses, which are confident they'll surpass their record-setting $1.2 billion haul from last November’s sales of postwar and contemporary art. They are likely to succeed, thanks in part to “Looking Forward to the Past,” a stand-alone auction of mixed modern and contemporary material at Christie’s tonight that could reel in a half-billion dollars. The main evening sales — on Tuesday at Sotheby’s, Wednesday at Christie’s, and Thursday at Phillips — are peppered with major works by Francis Bacon, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lucian Freud, Sigmar Polke, and Christopher Wool, with added spice from newer names like Seth Price, Adrian Ghenie, and Tauba Auerbach.But the market’s frothy churn means there are few deals to be found.
- 5/11/2015
- by Sarah P. Hanson
- Vulture
Bill Jensen: Transgressions Cheim & Read Gallery Through May 9, 2015
There was a time in modern music when the role of the artist changed from being the custodian of cultural knowledge to something more of an autobiographer. We might choose that moment in the late sixties when Lou Reed abandoned the writing of pop ditties about boys and girls, to focus on his own, more personal interests, like boys and girls and heroin.
In other art forms this sea change was happening -- in comedy, where once jokes were shared, un-authored, between performers in Vegas, the Catskills, and New York City clubs, Lenny Bruce made comedy suddenly personal -- talking about race, politics, cops, censorship, and heroin. It is tempting to suggest that in painting this shift had happened decades earlier, particularly in that sub-category of painting called "abstraction." Once artists like Kandinsky, Rodchenko, Dove, and O’Keefe had looked for...
There was a time in modern music when the role of the artist changed from being the custodian of cultural knowledge to something more of an autobiographer. We might choose that moment in the late sixties when Lou Reed abandoned the writing of pop ditties about boys and girls, to focus on his own, more personal interests, like boys and girls and heroin.
In other art forms this sea change was happening -- in comedy, where once jokes were shared, un-authored, between performers in Vegas, the Catskills, and New York City clubs, Lenny Bruce made comedy suddenly personal -- talking about race, politics, cops, censorship, and heroin. It is tempting to suggest that in painting this shift had happened decades earlier, particularly in that sub-category of painting called "abstraction." Once artists like Kandinsky, Rodchenko, Dove, and O’Keefe had looked for...
- 4/30/2015
- by bradleyrubenstein
- www.culturecatch.com
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