Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Boardmasters has always been a festival like no other and this year was one that even managed to top previous years. Thats right. I have been to many festivals in my time, several even this year and I am sure in the UK alone there are several hundred each year, but Boardmasters has always topped the list in my eyes and no doubt it has been the same for others.
The location of Newquay combined with the month of August, brings an optimised combination for success. Throughout the weekend we saw sunny skies, warm humid weather and little rain which could have easily ruined the festival experience like some of you may have witnessed at Download. The festival was broken down into two sites, easily accessible by shuttle bus. Watergate Bay where all the music and entertainment happened and Fistral Beach, where all the sports went down.
Boardmasters has always been a festival like no other and this year was one that even managed to top previous years. Thats right. I have been to many festivals in my time, several even this year and I am sure in the UK alone there are several hundred each year, but Boardmasters has always topped the list in my eyes and no doubt it has been the same for others.
The location of Newquay combined with the month of August, brings an optimised combination for success. Throughout the weekend we saw sunny skies, warm humid weather and little rain which could have easily ruined the festival experience like some of you may have witnessed at Download. The festival was broken down into two sites, easily accessible by shuttle bus. Watergate Bay where all the music and entertainment happened and Fistral Beach, where all the sports went down.
- 8/21/2012
- by Guy Hurst
- Obsessed with Film
Adapting a children's book, especially one as beloved (and brief) as Dr. Seuss' gentle eco-fable "The Lorax," is an unenviable task. There's a sliver of narrative that must be expanded, padded, and teased out, while an attempt must be made to maintain all of the things that people love about Dr. Seuss (nee Theodor Geisel) and his books – the sing-songy rhythm, the loop-de-loop design work, the easy surrealism. In short: it's kind of a bitch. Or a snitch. Or a sliver-de-glitch. But the good folks at Illumination Entertainment (who made a surprise hit out of the decidedly under-the-radar "Despicable Me") have done a respectable job bringing "The Lorax" to the screen. It's just a shame that the fidelity to the source material, on both narrative and design levels, seems to have taken the steam out of something that could have been truly special.
"The Lorax" begins in an altogether...
"The Lorax" begins in an altogether...
- 2/29/2012
- by Drew Taylor
- The Playlist
A+E Networks Home Entertainment have announced the release date for Farscape: The Complete Series Blu-ray Edition. Exec Producer Brian Henson says that “all four seasons of Farscape look better than ever before” and this new set includes new bonus features as well as all those included in the DVD set. The set will be available on November 15 and has a retail list price of $199.95. SciFi Mafia is happy to announce, however, that we are giving away, to one happy SciFi Mafia reader, a Farscape: The Complete Series Blu-ray Edition box set courtesy of our friends at A+E Networks Home Entertainment. Yes, The Entire Set!
Check out the info on the set below, along with how to enter for your chance to win one of your very own.
Prepare For Starburst With The Eagerly-awaited Hi-def Set Of A Television Sci-fi Classic Farscape: The Complete Series Blu-ray...
Check out the info on the set below, along with how to enter for your chance to win one of your very own.
Prepare For Starburst With The Eagerly-awaited Hi-def Set Of A Television Sci-fi Classic Farscape: The Complete Series Blu-ray...
- 11/2/2011
- by Erin Willard
- ScifiMafia
Here comes the bride... and the rain? The royal wedding is less than three days away and forecasters are predicting thunderstorms for Kate Middleton and Prince William's big day. A downpour will ruin the couple's plans for an open-topped journey to Buckingham Palace, not to mention potential wardrobe, hair and makeup disasters!
The bride-to-be isn't letting the forecast slow down her wedding preparations. Middleton headed to Retreat beauty salon with her sister Pippa, who is a bridesmaid,...
The bride-to-be isn't letting the forecast slow down her wedding preparations. Middleton headed to Retreat beauty salon with her sister Pippa, who is a bridesmaid,...
- 4/26/2011
- Extra
Crystal Clear Winner, but Who Will ReaLee Win?
The Season 9 Finale was live from The Nokia Theater L.A. Live. Ryan pointed out the similarities in the two finalists. They were both discovered in the Chicago auditions and are both 24 years old. The similarities certainly stop there. Crystal, the indie artist, has been the front-runner all season. Lee has shown the most growth. But if you average their performances for the entire season with Tuesday.s efforts, Crystal would be donning the Idol crown. Yet Idol voters are enigmatic. Young girls like cute guys and so it goes.
There were three rounds. Round one was the contestants. favorite from the season. Round 2 was a pick from Idol creator and executive producer, Simon Fuller. The song from the 3rd Round was what the finalists would release as their first single if they win. Crystal won the coin toss and chose to sing second.
The Season 9 Finale was live from The Nokia Theater L.A. Live. Ryan pointed out the similarities in the two finalists. They were both discovered in the Chicago auditions and are both 24 years old. The similarities certainly stop there. Crystal, the indie artist, has been the front-runner all season. Lee has shown the most growth. But if you average their performances for the entire season with Tuesday.s efforts, Crystal would be donning the Idol crown. Yet Idol voters are enigmatic. Young girls like cute guys and so it goes.
There were three rounds. Round one was the contestants. favorite from the season. Round 2 was a pick from Idol creator and executive producer, Simon Fuller. The song from the 3rd Round was what the finalists would release as their first single if they win. Crystal won the coin toss and chose to sing second.
- 5/27/2010
- www.canmag.com
Watching "Songs of the Cinema" night on "American Idol" was a lot like eating a large popcorn at the movies. Some of the kernels were close to perfect, with salty flavor and crispness balanced perfectly (Crystal). Others were stale, as if the concession workers had just dumped a new batch on top of one that had been sitting around since the theatrical run of "Kindergarten Cop" (Lee). And others were inexplicably soggy, which totally makes you gag 'cause Lord knows you didn't order any butter (Michael). (If Aaron was still on the show, I'd also talk about the kernels that were too young to pop.) And when the end credits rolled, you felt so bloated you regretted buying popcorn to begin with.
Jamie Foxx returned as a mentor (one of the few celebs in the history of "Idol" to return in the role, along with Quentin Tarantino, oddly enough) but...
Jamie Foxx returned as a mentor (one of the few celebs in the history of "Idol" to return in the role, along with Quentin Tarantino, oddly enough) but...
- 5/12/2010
- by Jim Cantiello
- MTV Newsroom
1. Prince Harry. 2. Jennifer Aniston. 3. Andrew Farkas and Carl Ichan. From PatrickMcMullan.com (1, 2); from Marion Curtis/Startracks Photo (3). Vf Daily’s picks for the top three parties around the globe last weekend. Sloanie Soirée What: A fund-raiser for Prince Harry's Sentebale charity. Where: London. Who: Princess Beatrice and her boyfriend, Dave Clark (who were standing slightly apart from everyone else), Grace Pilkington, Natasha Rufus Isaacs, Olivia Inge, and Ed Lawson Johnson. Why: Because all last week the tabloids were going wild over the potential of a Prince Harry–Chelsy Davy showdown at the event. (Turns out that a confrontation would have been anti-climatic: Harry evidently just broke up with his girlfriend, TV presenter Caroline Flack, because he's still pining for Chelsy.) Talking Point: The 100 Sloane clones. Our spy scoured the room for signs of Chelsy, but all she could see were boys in checked shirts and girls with blond hair,...
- 6/15/2009
- Vanity Fair
TOKYO -- Japan's movie industry has welcomed reports that the ruling party is to introduce a bill to make it illegal for anyone to enter a cinema with a digital camera and record a movie.
At present, it is not illegal in Japan to record a film as it is screened as long as the recording is for personal use. Pirates have been taking advantage of the regulations and were able to have bootleg copies of "The Da Vinci Code" available within 24 hours of the movie's first screening in May in Japan.
Under pressure from the U.S. movie lobby, Japan's Liberal Democratic Party will submit a new bill that would make recording movies at screenings illegal, with punishments as harsh as 10 years in prison or a fine of as much as ¥10 million ($47,620).
"We support this new bill because we believe that it makes Crystal Clear to the public that it is not acceptable to bring into a movie theater a video camera," said Satoshi Watanabe, manager of the transmissions rights department of the Japanese Society of Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers.
At present, it is not illegal in Japan to record a film as it is screened as long as the recording is for personal use. Pirates have been taking advantage of the regulations and were able to have bootleg copies of "The Da Vinci Code" available within 24 hours of the movie's first screening in May in Japan.
Under pressure from the U.S. movie lobby, Japan's Liberal Democratic Party will submit a new bill that would make recording movies at screenings illegal, with punishments as harsh as 10 years in prison or a fine of as much as ¥10 million ($47,620).
"We support this new bill because we believe that it makes Crystal Clear to the public that it is not acceptable to bring into a movie theater a video camera," said Satoshi Watanabe, manager of the transmissions rights department of the Japanese Society of Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers.
- 2/16/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This review was written for the festival screening of "The Good Shepherd".
Who knew Robert De Niro has such a keen fascination for foreign policy and espionage? "The Good Shepherd", his first directorial effort since his debut feature, "A Bronx Tale" (1993), is a thoroughly knowledgeable, carefully researched account of the founding and development of the CIA from World War II through the Bay of Pigs fiasco in 1961. While a bit unwieldy at nearly three hours and at times slow going, the film is absolutely fascinating for anyone who shares De Niro's passions.
To attract moviegoers beyond the foreign-policy crowd, he has recruited stars and top actors led by Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie and borrowed the trappings of spy thrillers, though the film certainly leans more toward John Le Carre than Ian Fleming. The problem with marketing the film centers on the problem of the film itself. De Niro and writer Eric Roth are never clear on their intentions: Is this a thriller with a historical background or history with dollops of intrigue and adventurism?
In this film as well as last year's "Munich", Roth seems to be operating between the genre cracks with political films in the mode of early Costa Gavras that deploy Hitchcockian techniques without romantic characters or situations.
The movie follows the spy career of Edward Wilson (Damon), a privileged male of the white patrician class. The character is modeled, right down to his interest in poetry, on James Angleton, who co-founded the CIA. It's accurate in most things but has the patina of fiction, which allows the filmmakers to imagine and speculate about things that perhaps will always remain secret.
At Yale in 1939, Wilson joins the clandestine Skull and Bones society, a brotherhood meant to incubate future American leadership. (The 2004 Republican and Democratic presidential candidates belong.) Roth makes Crystal Clear that the penchant for utter secrecy and sense of entitlement fostered by the Skull and Bones carry over into its members' work in government.
At the behest of an Army general (De Niro), Wilson joins the Office of Strategic Services during WWII. This sends him to London, where his mentor, Dr. Fredericks (Michael Gambon), teaches him the fine art of counterintelligence. Yet his last piece of advice to Wilson before Fredericks is murdered -- "Get out while you still have a soul" -- goes unheeded.
The movie unfolds in flashbacks from the Bay of Pigs incident, which severely compromises the CIA and Wilson's career. While diligently trying to ferret out the turncoat who relayed invasion plans to the Cubans, Wilson reflects back on his life. What is clear to the viewer, but not to Wilson himself, is how paranoia rules his actions and how self-righteousness blinds him to opinions and desires of others, including his family.
He weds Margaret "Clover" Russell (Jolie), the sister and daughter of a fellow Skull and Bonesmen, in a polite shotgun marriage. The union proves loveless right from the start since Wilson has thrown over his true soulmate (Tammy Blanchard). He doesn't meet his son Edward Jr. until age 6 when he returns home from Europe. The son consequently will wish to win his father's love by emulating him -- with disastrous consequences.
The OSS gets transformed into the CIA with the onset of the Cold War. At work, Wilson's obsessions with double agents and a mole within Langley dominate his relationships with people there, including CIA director Philip Allen (William Hurt); Sam Murach (Alec Baldwin), the rough-and-tumble agent who first recruited him; his blue-collar assistant Ray Brocco (John Turturro); and British spy Arch Cummings (Billy Crudup), whose Cambridge-upper-class heritage mirrors the backgrounds of the good old boys of the CIA.
Wilson's secret weapon is silence. He watches and listens but reveals little. Yet he has one outburst in the movie in an interview with a Mafia don (Joe Pesci), when Wilson says the USA belongs to the WASPs, and everyone else -- Italians, Jews, Irish and blacks -- are mere visitors. While Wilson probably would never say such a thing aloud, it captures the mind-set perfectly.
The sum of the parts might not add up to a great movie, but "Good Shepherd" is a pretty good one. Some scenes hit you with the impact of a bullet. And it probably took an actor of De Niro's caliber to get his stars to tone down their onscreen personas to play genuine roles.
Damon here is not Jason Bourne. No one bothers to age his character, which becomes a distraction when he looks like a drinking buddy to his own son, but this character is a ruthless, insufferable bastard who buried his emotions when his father committed suicide.
Jolie here is not Lara Croft or Mrs. Smith but the once-sassy, now long-suffering wife of a spook. And so it goes through the cast, with only Gambon playing what you might call a fictional movie character, but it fits the role to a T.
Designer Jeannine Oppewall and costume designer Ann Roth bring to life the shadowy world of espionage both in Europe and the East Coast. Cinematographer Robert Richardson gives the film a moodiness and edginess that the score by Marcelo Zarvos and Bruce Fowler --with overtones of Philip Glass -- highlight.
Who knew Robert De Niro has such a keen fascination for foreign policy and espionage? "The Good Shepherd", his first directorial effort since his debut feature, "A Bronx Tale" (1993), is a thoroughly knowledgeable, carefully researched account of the founding and development of the CIA from World War II through the Bay of Pigs fiasco in 1961. While a bit unwieldy at nearly three hours and at times slow going, the film is absolutely fascinating for anyone who shares De Niro's passions.
To attract moviegoers beyond the foreign-policy crowd, he has recruited stars and top actors led by Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie and borrowed the trappings of spy thrillers, though the film certainly leans more toward John Le Carre than Ian Fleming. The problem with marketing the film centers on the problem of the film itself. De Niro and writer Eric Roth are never clear on their intentions: Is this a thriller with a historical background or history with dollops of intrigue and adventurism?
In this film as well as last year's "Munich", Roth seems to be operating between the genre cracks with political films in the mode of early Costa Gavras that deploy Hitchcockian techniques without romantic characters or situations.
The movie follows the spy career of Edward Wilson (Damon), a privileged male of the white patrician class. The character is modeled, right down to his interest in poetry, on James Angleton, who co-founded the CIA. It's accurate in most things but has the patina of fiction, which allows the filmmakers to imagine and speculate about things that perhaps will always remain secret.
At Yale in 1939, Wilson joins the clandestine Skull and Bones society, a brotherhood meant to incubate future American leadership. (The 2004 Republican and Democratic presidential candidates belong.) Roth makes Crystal Clear that the penchant for utter secrecy and sense of entitlement fostered by the Skull and Bones carry over into its members' work in government.
At the behest of an Army general (De Niro), Wilson joins the Office of Strategic Services during WWII. This sends him to London, where his mentor, Dr. Fredericks (Michael Gambon), teaches him the fine art of counterintelligence. Yet his last piece of advice to Wilson before Fredericks is murdered -- "Get out while you still have a soul" -- goes unheeded.
The movie unfolds in flashbacks from the Bay of Pigs incident, which severely compromises the CIA and Wilson's career. While diligently trying to ferret out the turncoat who relayed invasion plans to the Cubans, Wilson reflects back on his life. What is clear to the viewer, but not to Wilson himself, is how paranoia rules his actions and how self-righteousness blinds him to opinions and desires of others, including his family.
He weds Margaret "Clover" Russell (Jolie), the sister and daughter of a fellow Skull and Bonesmen, in a polite shotgun marriage. The union proves loveless right from the start since Wilson has thrown over his true soulmate (Tammy Blanchard). He doesn't meet his son Edward Jr. until age 6 when he returns home from Europe. The son consequently will wish to win his father's love by emulating him -- with disastrous consequences.
The OSS gets transformed into the CIA with the onset of the Cold War. At work, Wilson's obsessions with double agents and a mole within Langley dominate his relationships with people there, including CIA director Philip Allen (William Hurt); Sam Murach (Alec Baldwin), the rough-and-tumble agent who first recruited him; his blue-collar assistant Ray Brocco (John Turturro); and British spy Arch Cummings (Billy Crudup), whose Cambridge-upper-class heritage mirrors the backgrounds of the good old boys of the CIA.
Wilson's secret weapon is silence. He watches and listens but reveals little. Yet he has one outburst in the movie in an interview with a Mafia don (Joe Pesci), when Wilson says the USA belongs to the WASPs, and everyone else -- Italians, Jews, Irish and blacks -- are mere visitors. While Wilson probably would never say such a thing aloud, it captures the mind-set perfectly.
The sum of the parts might not add up to a great movie, but "Good Shepherd" is a pretty good one. Some scenes hit you with the impact of a bullet. And it probably took an actor of De Niro's caliber to get his stars to tone down their onscreen personas to play genuine roles.
Damon here is not Jason Bourne. No one bothers to age his character, which becomes a distraction when he looks like a drinking buddy to his own son, but this character is a ruthless, insufferable bastard who buried his emotions when his father committed suicide.
Jolie here is not Lara Croft or Mrs. Smith but the once-sassy, now long-suffering wife of a spook. And so it goes through the cast, with only Gambon playing what you might call a fictional movie character, but it fits the role to a T.
Designer Jeannine Oppewall and costume designer Ann Roth bring to life the shadowy world of espionage both in Europe and the East Coast. Cinematographer Robert Richardson gives the film a moodiness and edginess that the score by Marcelo Zarvos and Bruce Fowler --with overtones of Philip Glass -- highlight.
- 12/11/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Who knew Robert De Niro has such a keen fascination for foreign policy and espionage? The Good Shepherd, his first directorial effort since his debut feature, A Bronx Tale (1993), is a thoroughly knowledgeable, carefully researched account of the founding and development of the CIA from World War II through the Bay of Pigs fiasco in 1961. While a bit unwieldy at nearly three hours and at times slow going, the film is absolutely fascinating for anyone who shares De Niro's passions.
To attract moviegoers beyond the foreign-policy crowd, he has recruited stars and top actors led by Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie and borrowed the trappings of spy thrillers, though the film certainly leans more toward John le Carre than Ian Fleming. The problem with marketing the film centers on the problem of the film itself. De Niro and writer Eric Roth are never clear on their intentions: Is this a thriller with a historical background or history with dollops of intrigue and adventurism?
In this film as well as last year's Munich, Roth seems to be operating between the genre cracks with political films in the mode of early Costa Gavras that deploy Hitchcockian techniques without romantic characters or situations.
The movie follows the spy career of Edward Wilson (Damon), a privileged male of the white patrician class. The character is modeled, right down to his interest in poetry, on James Angleton, who co-founded the CIA. It's accurate in most things but has the patina of fiction, which allows the filmmakers to imagine and speculate about things that perhaps will always remain secret.
At Yale in 1939, Wilson joins the clandestine Skull and Bones society, a brotherhood meant to incubate future American leadership. (The 2004 Republican and Democratic presidential candidates belong.) Roth makes Crystal Clear that the penchant for utter secrecy and sense of entitlement fostered by the Skull and Bones carry over into its members' work in government.
At the behest of an Army general (De Niro), Wilson joins the Office of Strategic Services during WWII. This sends him to London, where his mentor, Dr. Fredericks (Michael Gambon), teaches him the fine art of counterintelligence. Yet his last piece of advice to Wilson before Fredericks is murdered -- "Get out while you still have a soul" -- goes unheeded.
The movie unfolds in flashbacks from the Bay of Pigs incident, which severely compromises the CIA and Wilson's career. While diligently trying to ferret out the turncoat who relayed invasion plans to the Cubans, Wilson reflects back on his life. What is clear to the viewer, but not to Wilson himself, is how paranoia rules his actions and how self-righteousness blinds him to opinions and desires of others, including his family.
He weds Margaret Clover Russell (Jolie), the sister and daughter of a fellow Skull and Bonesmen, in a polite shotgun marriage. The union proves loveless right from the start since Wilson has thrown over his true soulmate (Tammy Blanchard). He doesn't meet his son Edward Jr. until age 6 when he returns home from Europe. The son consequently will wish to win his father's love by emulating him -- with disastrous consequences.
The OSS gets transformed into the CIA with the onset of the Cold War. At work, Wilson's obsessions with double agents and a mole within Langley dominate his relationships with people there, including CIA director Philip Allen (William Hurt); Sam Murach (Alec Baldwin), the rough-and-tumble agent who first recruited him; his blue-collar assistant Ray Brocco (John Turturro); and British spy Arch Cummings (Billy Crudup), whose Cambridge-upper-class heritage mirrors the backgrounds of the good old boys of the CIA.
Wilson's secret weapon is silence. He watches and listens but reveals little. Yet he has one outburst in the movie in an interview with a Mafia don (Joe Pesci), when Wilson says the USA belongs to the WASPs, and everyone else -- Italians, Jews, Irish and blacks -- are mere visitors. While Wilson probably would never say such a thing aloud, it captures the mind-set perfectly.
The sum of the parts might not add up to a great movie, but Good Shepherd is a pretty good one. Some scenes hit you with the impact of a bullet. And it probably took an actor of De Niro's caliber to get his stars to tone down their onscreen personas to play genuine roles.
Damon here is not Jason Bourne. No one bothers to age his character, which becomes a distraction when he looks like a drinking buddy to his own son, but this character is a ruthless, insufferable bastard who buried his emotions when his father committed suicide.
Jolie here is not Lara Croft or Mrs. Smith but the once-sassy, now long-suffering wife of a spook. And so it goes through the cast, with only Gambon playing what you might call a fictional movie character, but it fits the role to a T.
Designer Jeannine Oppewall and costume designer Ann Roth bring to life the shadowy world of espionage both in Europe and the East Coast. Cinematographer Robert Richardson gives the film a moodiness and edginess that the score by Marcelo Zarvos and Bruce Fowler --with overtones of Philip Glass -- highlight.
To attract moviegoers beyond the foreign-policy crowd, he has recruited stars and top actors led by Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie and borrowed the trappings of spy thrillers, though the film certainly leans more toward John le Carre than Ian Fleming. The problem with marketing the film centers on the problem of the film itself. De Niro and writer Eric Roth are never clear on their intentions: Is this a thriller with a historical background or history with dollops of intrigue and adventurism?
In this film as well as last year's Munich, Roth seems to be operating between the genre cracks with political films in the mode of early Costa Gavras that deploy Hitchcockian techniques without romantic characters or situations.
The movie follows the spy career of Edward Wilson (Damon), a privileged male of the white patrician class. The character is modeled, right down to his interest in poetry, on James Angleton, who co-founded the CIA. It's accurate in most things but has the patina of fiction, which allows the filmmakers to imagine and speculate about things that perhaps will always remain secret.
At Yale in 1939, Wilson joins the clandestine Skull and Bones society, a brotherhood meant to incubate future American leadership. (The 2004 Republican and Democratic presidential candidates belong.) Roth makes Crystal Clear that the penchant for utter secrecy and sense of entitlement fostered by the Skull and Bones carry over into its members' work in government.
At the behest of an Army general (De Niro), Wilson joins the Office of Strategic Services during WWII. This sends him to London, where his mentor, Dr. Fredericks (Michael Gambon), teaches him the fine art of counterintelligence. Yet his last piece of advice to Wilson before Fredericks is murdered -- "Get out while you still have a soul" -- goes unheeded.
The movie unfolds in flashbacks from the Bay of Pigs incident, which severely compromises the CIA and Wilson's career. While diligently trying to ferret out the turncoat who relayed invasion plans to the Cubans, Wilson reflects back on his life. What is clear to the viewer, but not to Wilson himself, is how paranoia rules his actions and how self-righteousness blinds him to opinions and desires of others, including his family.
He weds Margaret Clover Russell (Jolie), the sister and daughter of a fellow Skull and Bonesmen, in a polite shotgun marriage. The union proves loveless right from the start since Wilson has thrown over his true soulmate (Tammy Blanchard). He doesn't meet his son Edward Jr. until age 6 when he returns home from Europe. The son consequently will wish to win his father's love by emulating him -- with disastrous consequences.
The OSS gets transformed into the CIA with the onset of the Cold War. At work, Wilson's obsessions with double agents and a mole within Langley dominate his relationships with people there, including CIA director Philip Allen (William Hurt); Sam Murach (Alec Baldwin), the rough-and-tumble agent who first recruited him; his blue-collar assistant Ray Brocco (John Turturro); and British spy Arch Cummings (Billy Crudup), whose Cambridge-upper-class heritage mirrors the backgrounds of the good old boys of the CIA.
Wilson's secret weapon is silence. He watches and listens but reveals little. Yet he has one outburst in the movie in an interview with a Mafia don (Joe Pesci), when Wilson says the USA belongs to the WASPs, and everyone else -- Italians, Jews, Irish and blacks -- are mere visitors. While Wilson probably would never say such a thing aloud, it captures the mind-set perfectly.
The sum of the parts might not add up to a great movie, but Good Shepherd is a pretty good one. Some scenes hit you with the impact of a bullet. And it probably took an actor of De Niro's caliber to get his stars to tone down their onscreen personas to play genuine roles.
Damon here is not Jason Bourne. No one bothers to age his character, which becomes a distraction when he looks like a drinking buddy to his own son, but this character is a ruthless, insufferable bastard who buried his emotions when his father committed suicide.
Jolie here is not Lara Croft or Mrs. Smith but the once-sassy, now long-suffering wife of a spook. And so it goes through the cast, with only Gambon playing what you might call a fictional movie character, but it fits the role to a T.
Designer Jeannine Oppewall and costume designer Ann Roth bring to life the shadowy world of espionage both in Europe and the East Coast. Cinematographer Robert Richardson gives the film a moodiness and edginess that the score by Marcelo Zarvos and Bruce Fowler --with overtones of Philip Glass -- highlight.
- 12/11/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
If there were any doubts that Christina Ricci is one of the most interesting, resourceful and hugely watchable young actresses of her generation, then "Prozac Nation" ends them.
Her performance as a Harvard undergrad battling clinical depression compels your attention every moment she is on screen. It's not easy to make an audience want to watch an impossible personality. She's Jekyll and she's Hyde all the time, and it's tearing her apart.
The movie is standard-issue woman-under-the-influence material, better than "Girl, Interrupted", less graphic than "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" and made with genuine concern about this area of mental illness. The film will engage mainly female audiences in North America and many overseas venues. Critical reaction and possible awards for Ricci certainly will help sell a movie that is, after all, no walk in the park.
Based on Elizabeth Wurtzel's memoir, director Erik Skjoldbjaerg and writers Galt Niederhoffer, Alex Orlovsky and Frank Deasy lay things out with crystal clarity. Lizzie (Ricci) might have been prone to depression anyway, but with her early family life she never stands a chance.
A chain-smoking, neurotically self-obsessed mother (Jessica Lange in a truly scary performance) raises her in New York after her father (Nicholas Campbell) -- an even more self-centered character, if that's possible -- all but deserts the family.
Lizzie's writing carries her far -- all the way to a Harvard scholarship and published pieces in Rolling Stone. But at the university, her life falls apart. Understandably terrified of rejection, she nonetheless alienates everyone close to her: an admiring roommate (Michelle Williams), who really "gets" her; her first lover Jonathan Rhys Meyers), who turns her on to recreational drugs; and a caring fellow student (Jason Biggs), whom she anoints her "savior."
Seemingly, Lizzie can connect only with Lou Reed -- the rocker puts in an appearance at an underground music venue. Those closest to her put her in panic mode. Her therapist (an icy Anne Heche) realizes that only by remaining aloof can she reach a soul in such turmoil. Eventually, she prescribes Prozac -- the cure-all drug of the 1980s -- to help Lizzie get "a perspective" and rebuild her identity.
Ricci has mesmerizing eyes and a face that is open one moment and opaque the next. In this role, she uses her eyes and face to reflect not only the emotional turmoil but also the anger at her self-destructive actions. Ricci makes you realize how tough it is for Lizzie to be Lizzie. She doesn't like herself much but nevertheless clings to life.
The movie, though, is perhaps too Crystal Clear. The other actors are very good at establishing exactly what kind of people their characters are and how they will respond in all circumstances. Consequently, there are few surprises. No one can step out of character to lend Lizzie a helping hand. In fact, the movie is practically a commercial for medication over human compassion, which is unfortunate though possibly true in many cases.
Skjoldbjaerg's attempts to visualize Lizzie's moods through speeded-up action and fuzzy double images remind you of bad student films of the '70s and '80s. Otherwise, he directs with intelligence and is smart enough to realize that with Ricci as his star, the less fuss the better.
Cinematographer Erling Thurmann-Andersen goes for somber, dark tones, while editor James Lyons moves things along at a crisp pace.
PROZAC NATION
Millennium Films
in association with Cinerenta
A Given production
Producers:Galt Niederhoffer, Brad Weston, R. Paul Miller
Director:Erik Skjoldbjaerg
Screenwriters:Galt Niederhoffer, Alex Orlovsky, Frank Deasy
Based on the book by:Elizabeth Wurtzel
Executive producers:Willi Baer, Avi Lerner, Danny Dimbort, Trevor Short, John Thompson
Director of photography:Erling Thurmann-Andersen
Production designer:Clay A. Griffith
Costume designer:Terry Dresbach
Editor:James Lyons
Color/stereo
Cast:
Lizzie:Christina Ricci
Sarah:Jessica Lange
Dr. Diana Sterling:Anne Heche
Rafe:Jason Biggs
Ruby:Michelle Williams
Noah:Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Donald:Nicholas Campbell
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Her performance as a Harvard undergrad battling clinical depression compels your attention every moment she is on screen. It's not easy to make an audience want to watch an impossible personality. She's Jekyll and she's Hyde all the time, and it's tearing her apart.
The movie is standard-issue woman-under-the-influence material, better than "Girl, Interrupted", less graphic than "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" and made with genuine concern about this area of mental illness. The film will engage mainly female audiences in North America and many overseas venues. Critical reaction and possible awards for Ricci certainly will help sell a movie that is, after all, no walk in the park.
Based on Elizabeth Wurtzel's memoir, director Erik Skjoldbjaerg and writers Galt Niederhoffer, Alex Orlovsky and Frank Deasy lay things out with crystal clarity. Lizzie (Ricci) might have been prone to depression anyway, but with her early family life she never stands a chance.
A chain-smoking, neurotically self-obsessed mother (Jessica Lange in a truly scary performance) raises her in New York after her father (Nicholas Campbell) -- an even more self-centered character, if that's possible -- all but deserts the family.
Lizzie's writing carries her far -- all the way to a Harvard scholarship and published pieces in Rolling Stone. But at the university, her life falls apart. Understandably terrified of rejection, she nonetheless alienates everyone close to her: an admiring roommate (Michelle Williams), who really "gets" her; her first lover Jonathan Rhys Meyers), who turns her on to recreational drugs; and a caring fellow student (Jason Biggs), whom she anoints her "savior."
Seemingly, Lizzie can connect only with Lou Reed -- the rocker puts in an appearance at an underground music venue. Those closest to her put her in panic mode. Her therapist (an icy Anne Heche) realizes that only by remaining aloof can she reach a soul in such turmoil. Eventually, she prescribes Prozac -- the cure-all drug of the 1980s -- to help Lizzie get "a perspective" and rebuild her identity.
Ricci has mesmerizing eyes and a face that is open one moment and opaque the next. In this role, she uses her eyes and face to reflect not only the emotional turmoil but also the anger at her self-destructive actions. Ricci makes you realize how tough it is for Lizzie to be Lizzie. She doesn't like herself much but nevertheless clings to life.
The movie, though, is perhaps too Crystal Clear. The other actors are very good at establishing exactly what kind of people their characters are and how they will respond in all circumstances. Consequently, there are few surprises. No one can step out of character to lend Lizzie a helping hand. In fact, the movie is practically a commercial for medication over human compassion, which is unfortunate though possibly true in many cases.
Skjoldbjaerg's attempts to visualize Lizzie's moods through speeded-up action and fuzzy double images remind you of bad student films of the '70s and '80s. Otherwise, he directs with intelligence and is smart enough to realize that with Ricci as his star, the less fuss the better.
Cinematographer Erling Thurmann-Andersen goes for somber, dark tones, while editor James Lyons moves things along at a crisp pace.
PROZAC NATION
Millennium Films
in association with Cinerenta
A Given production
Producers:Galt Niederhoffer, Brad Weston, R. Paul Miller
Director:Erik Skjoldbjaerg
Screenwriters:Galt Niederhoffer, Alex Orlovsky, Frank Deasy
Based on the book by:Elizabeth Wurtzel
Executive producers:Willi Baer, Avi Lerner, Danny Dimbort, Trevor Short, John Thompson
Director of photography:Erling Thurmann-Andersen
Production designer:Clay A. Griffith
Costume designer:Terry Dresbach
Editor:James Lyons
Color/stereo
Cast:
Lizzie:Christina Ricci
Sarah:Jessica Lange
Dr. Diana Sterling:Anne Heche
Rafe:Jason Biggs
Ruby:Michelle Williams
Noah:Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Donald:Nicholas Campbell
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Orson Welles' "Othello, '' one of the filmmaker's great masterpieces, has, after years of neglect in the United States, undergone a substantial and welcome restoration. Thanks to the production of a new master negative and a partially restored and partially rerecorded soundtrack, the full 91 minutes of the 1952 film will be available to American audiences in 35mm and, later, on video and laserdisc.
Previously, those lucky enough to see the film at all had to be satisfied with a foggy-looking 16mm print that had nearly unintelligible sound.
The picture restoration, done from the original camera negative, is dramatic. Welles' images are strong, stark and Crystal Clear. This is key, because although the film's compositions are vertiginously bold, the performances are deliberately subdued, and the change in facial expressions require a careful scrutiny that, in the old prints, was difficult if not impossible.
The sound restoration was apparently more difficult and, in the eyes of some critics, more problematic. The dialogue was recorded post-sync, much of it "wild'' -- that is, not to the picture. Welles himself redubbed the lines of Robert Coote's Rodrigo.
Also, since the process was done over a four-year period, due to production and financial difficulties, different equipment, with different responses, was used.
The response was, first of all, to have conductor Michael Pendowski listen to the musical score, transcribe it and rerecord it. The result is a beautiful stereo score in place of the mono original.
The dialogue, for its part, was gleaned from the original optical negative and processed digitally, so that the synchronization could be improved. Hiss was also eliminated.
The result is mighty impressive. Although still clearly dubbed, the dialogue is absolutely clear and perfectly matched to lip movements. The effect of Welles' naturalistic approach to the dialogue -- he had eliminated most of the characters' speeches -- can be fully appreciated.
There have been some complaints that Pendowski's instrumentation is quite different from the original, and that many of
There have been some complaints that Pendowski's instrumentation is quite different from the original, and that many ofWelles' effects -- ranging from a strummed piano to a bridge of Gregorian chants -- have not survived the restoration.
Apparently, the prints in Europe are based on the film's Cannes print and this restoration is a slightly different version cut for the original New York premiere. A comparison of the two could be useful.
OTHELLO
Restoration credits only:
INTERMISSION PRODUCTIONS LTD.
A CASTLE HILL PRODUCTIONS RELEASE
Producers Michael Dawson, Arnie Saks
Executive producers Donald M. Leibsker, Edward H. Stone, James J. Trainor
In association with Beatrice Welles-Smith, Christopher F. Smith
Final restoration supervisor Phillip Schopper
Final Re-Recording Mixer Lee Dichter
Final Post Production Services Sound One/New York
Orchestral Reconstrction Michael Pendowski
Nitrate Restoration Film Technology Company
Running time -- 91 minutes
NO MPAA RATING
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
Previously, those lucky enough to see the film at all had to be satisfied with a foggy-looking 16mm print that had nearly unintelligible sound.
The picture restoration, done from the original camera negative, is dramatic. Welles' images are strong, stark and Crystal Clear. This is key, because although the film's compositions are vertiginously bold, the performances are deliberately subdued, and the change in facial expressions require a careful scrutiny that, in the old prints, was difficult if not impossible.
The sound restoration was apparently more difficult and, in the eyes of some critics, more problematic. The dialogue was recorded post-sync, much of it "wild'' -- that is, not to the picture. Welles himself redubbed the lines of Robert Coote's Rodrigo.
Also, since the process was done over a four-year period, due to production and financial difficulties, different equipment, with different responses, was used.
The response was, first of all, to have conductor Michael Pendowski listen to the musical score, transcribe it and rerecord it. The result is a beautiful stereo score in place of the mono original.
The dialogue, for its part, was gleaned from the original optical negative and processed digitally, so that the synchronization could be improved. Hiss was also eliminated.
The result is mighty impressive. Although still clearly dubbed, the dialogue is absolutely clear and perfectly matched to lip movements. The effect of Welles' naturalistic approach to the dialogue -- he had eliminated most of the characters' speeches -- can be fully appreciated.
There have been some complaints that Pendowski's instrumentation is quite different from the original, and that many of
There have been some complaints that Pendowski's instrumentation is quite different from the original, and that many ofWelles' effects -- ranging from a strummed piano to a bridge of Gregorian chants -- have not survived the restoration.
Apparently, the prints in Europe are based on the film's Cannes print and this restoration is a slightly different version cut for the original New York premiere. A comparison of the two could be useful.
OTHELLO
Restoration credits only:
INTERMISSION PRODUCTIONS LTD.
A CASTLE HILL PRODUCTIONS RELEASE
Producers Michael Dawson, Arnie Saks
Executive producers Donald M. Leibsker, Edward H. Stone, James J. Trainor
In association with Beatrice Welles-Smith, Christopher F. Smith
Final restoration supervisor Phillip Schopper
Final Re-Recording Mixer Lee Dichter
Final Post Production Services Sound One/New York
Orchestral Reconstrction Michael Pendowski
Nitrate Restoration Film Technology Company
Running time -- 91 minutes
NO MPAA RATING
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
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