![Tom Hanks and Emma Watson in The Circle (2017)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjY2OTM2Njc3Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNDgzODU3MTI@._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,0,140,207_.jpg)
![Tom Hanks and Emma Watson in The Circle (2017)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjY2OTM2Njc3Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNDgzODU3MTI@._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,0,140,207_.jpg)
Nobody sets out to make a bad movie. So why did cautionary tech thriller “The Circle” — adapted by lauded writer-director James Ponsoldt (“The Spectacular Now,” “The End of the Tour”) and beloved novelist Dave Eggers from his own 2013 bestseller — earn such negative reviews (43 on Metacritic, 17 on Rotten Tomatoes) and bomb at the box office ($9.3 million in 3,163 theaters)?
The movie went wrong in five significant ways.
1. The movie was foreign financed.
“The Circle” was developed by A-list ex-DreamWorks producers Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald’s Parkes+MacDonald Image Nation, which raised financing from Imagenation Abu Dhabi Fz and foreign sales company FilmNation on the power of Tom Hanks, who was the first star on board via his Playtone banner.
In order to raise an $18-million budget, globally bankable star Emma Watson was cast in a central leading role that demanded she be in every scene. Veering in tone from satiric comedy to naturalistic drama,...
The movie went wrong in five significant ways.
1. The movie was foreign financed.
“The Circle” was developed by A-list ex-DreamWorks producers Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald’s Parkes+MacDonald Image Nation, which raised financing from Imagenation Abu Dhabi Fz and foreign sales company FilmNation on the power of Tom Hanks, who was the first star on board via his Playtone banner.
In order to raise an $18-million budget, globally bankable star Emma Watson was cast in a central leading role that demanded she be in every scene. Veering in tone from satiric comedy to naturalistic drama,...
- 5/1/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
![Tom Hanks and Emma Watson in The Circle (2017)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjY2OTM2Njc3Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNDgzODU3MTI@._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,0,140,207_.jpg)
![Tom Hanks and Emma Watson in The Circle (2017)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjY2OTM2Njc3Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNDgzODU3MTI@._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,0,140,207_.jpg)
Nobody sets out to make a bad movie. So why did cautionary tech thriller “The Circle” — adapted by lauded writer-director James Ponsoldt (“The Spectacular Now,” “The End of the Tour”) and beloved novelist Dave Eggers from his own 2013 bestseller — earn such negative reviews (43 on Metacritic, 17 on Rotten Tomatoes) and bomb at the box office ($9.3 million in 3,163 theaters)?
The movie went wrong in five significant ways.
1. The movie was foreign financed.
“The Circle” was developed by A-list ex-DreamWorks producers Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald’s Parkes+MacDonald Image Nation, which raised financing from Imagenation Abu Dhabi Fz and foreign sales company FilmNation on the power of Tom Hanks, who was the first star on board via his Playtone banner.
In order to raise an $18-million budget, globally bankable star Emma Watson was cast in a central leading role that demanded she be in every scene. Veering in tone from satiric comedy to naturalistic drama,...
The movie went wrong in five significant ways.
1. The movie was foreign financed.
“The Circle” was developed by A-list ex-DreamWorks producers Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald’s Parkes+MacDonald Image Nation, which raised financing from Imagenation Abu Dhabi Fz and foreign sales company FilmNation on the power of Tom Hanks, who was the first star on board via his Playtone banner.
In order to raise an $18-million budget, globally bankable star Emma Watson was cast in a central leading role that demanded she be in every scene. Veering in tone from satiric comedy to naturalistic drama,...
- 5/1/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Sundance is always on the move. Skywalker and George Lucas himself are refocusing on the indies and choosing sound design as their point of entry.
Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound recently announced that the Sundance Institute Music and Sound Design Labs at Skywalker Sound will take place at Skywalker Ranch in 2013 and 2014 and also listed the artists that will participate in the 2013 Labs. This is the first time the two organizations will collaborate to support independent filmmakers and film composers and marks a significant expansion of the Institute’s existing Composers Labs to include sound design.
The Institute has hosted its Composers Labs at Sundance Resort for fiction feature films since 1999 and documentaries since 2005, allowing composers and independent filmmakers to collaboratively explore the process of writing music for film. Fellows also participate in workshops and creative exercises under the guidance of leading film composers and film music professionals acting as Creative Advisors.
Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, “Hosting the Composers Labs at Skywalker Ranch allows an expansion of the program to include sound design, giving further insight into the powerful ways that sound and music can impact independent films. We are deeply grateful to the Skywalker team for working with us to provide our Fellows with the tremendous benefit of accessing this legendary facility”
Josh Lowden, General Manager of Skywalker Sound, said, “We’re very excited to formalize this relationship. Sundance Institute is virtually synonymous with independent film, and Keri and her team have done an amazing job to honor the Institute’s legacy. Twenty-five years ago Skywalker was founded by a filmmaker for filmmakers, and we have never forgotten our roots. We continue to believe in independent filmmaking, and are thrilled to deepen our relationship with the Institute by hosting these Labs at Skywalker.”
The Composers Lab for fiction feature films is a joint initiative of the Institute’s Film Music Program and Feature Film Program, and the Composers Lab for documentaries is hosted by the Film Music Program and Documentary Film Program and Fund.
Peter Golub, Director of the Sundance Institute Film Music Program, said, “Skywalker Sound is a leader in the field of post-production and sound design, and their world-class facilities offer the ideal environment for our Composers Labs. Lab fellows will have access to Skywalker’s sound designers and mixers for ongoing collaboration, as well as the state-of-the-art facility during their stay.”
Artists and projects selected for the 2013 Sundance Music And Sound Design Lab – Documentary (June 3-10) are:
Filmmakers
Director: Kirsten Johnson
A Blind Eye (U.S.) — The voice of an American camerawoman explores the nature of cinematography and what she has failed to see while filming in Afghanistan through her encounters with two Afghan teenagers. Najeeb, a one-eyed boy, struggles to hide what really haunts him, while a bold teenage girl must decide how much she will risk to be visible. A U.S. Military surveillance blimp in the sky over Kabul tracks their every move.
Director: Judith Ehrlich
Open (U.S.) — The fight for free speech in the 21st century is being fought in cyberspace, and its most dramatic story may be unfolding in Iceland. Open follows trailblazing Internet revolutionary Birgitta Jónsdóttir and three generations of digital “hacktivists” as their stories converge in the tiny island nation now poised to become the world’s first haven for freedom of information and transparency online and off.
Director: Thomas Allen Harris
Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People (U.S.) — A 90-minute documentary film with an innovative companion transmedia project that explores the ways black communities have used the medium of photography to construct political, aesthetic and cultural representations of themselves and their world. This will be the first film to vividly bring to life the individual photographers, photographic collectives, and anonymous and celebrated subjects, whose work has transformed the lives of African Americans through the magic and power of the camera lens.
Director: Mark Grieco
Marmato (Canada/Colombia) — A peaceful gold-mining town in rural Colombia confronts destruction by a Canadian multinational mining company.
Composers
Kathryn Bostic
Kathryn Bostic is a prolific composer, pianist and singer-songwriter. She is a recipient of several awards and fellowships including the Sundance Fellowship for Feature Film Scoring, Bmi Conducting Fellowship and the Ascap Musical Theatre Workshop. She has written for both off-Broadway and Broadway productions. Currently her score can be heard in the Mark Taper production of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.
Omar Fadel
Los Angeles-based composer Omar Fadel has carved out a niche fusing an eclectic palette of musical instruments and styles. He has scored numerous features films, documentaries and television shows, including Walt Disney Studios’ first ever Arabic language feature film, The United.
Miles Jay
Miles Jay is a composer, contrabassist, and multi-instrumentalist with many traditional and cross over artists around the world. Supporting himself as a musician around the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa for much of the last decade, Miles has re-imagined the contrabass, adapting a wide range of melodic ornamentation to his own technique, as well as having invented and hand-built a new type of contrabass utilizing rawhide for a soundboard. Miles has performed in such venues as Carnegie Hall, the Emirates Palace Abu Dhabi, Ted, and the United Nations.
Todd Reynolds
Todd Reynolds is a long-time New York violinist for Bang on a Can, Steve Reich, Broadway, and founder of the string quartet known as Ethel. His double CD set, Outerborough, rose to "best in classical" on the Amazon classical charts of 2011. A classical violinist 'gone horribly wrong', his genre-defying and technologically savvy music and performances have been called "a charming, multi-mood extravaganza, playful like Milhaud, but hard-edged like Hendrix."
Artists and projects selected for the 2013 Sundance Music And Sound Design Lab – Feature Film (July 10-25) are:
Filmmakers
Writer/director: Miguel Calderón
Zeus (Mexico) — Sporadically employed and still living with his mother, Joel finds his only joy in falconry in the flatlands outside Mexico City, until an encounter with a down-to-earth secretary forces him to face reality.
Writer/director: Meredith Danluck
State Like Sleep (U.S.A.) — Under the surreal cloud cover of northern Europe, a young American widow reluctantly revisits her past when her mother is hospitalized in Brussels. While coping with the bleak reality of parental loss, Katherine explores her deceased husband's secret life of underground sex clubs and finds comfort in a relationship with a stranger as equally broken as she is.
Co-writer/co-director: Ian Hendrie
Co-writer/co-director: Jyson McLean
Mercy Road (U.S.A.) — Based on true events, Mercy Road traces the spiritual odyssey of a small town housewife and mother, as she becomes willing to commit violence and murder in the name of God.
Writer/director: K’naan
Maanokoobiyo (Somalia/U.S.A.) — In war-torn Somalia, an artistic orphan named Maano joins the mercenary killing squad of a notorious warlord, only to discover his adoptive father and gang leader is responsible for wiping out his family.
Writer/director: Pamela Romanowsky
The Adderall Diaries (U.S.A.) — Writer Stephen Elliott reaches a low point when his estranged father resurfaces, claiming that Stephen has fabricated much of the dark childhood that that fuels his work. Adrift in the precarious grey area of memory, Stephen has to navigate the unstable terrain of truth and identity, led by two sources of inspiration: a new romance, and a murder trial that reminds him more than a little of his own story. Based on the memoir by Stephen Elliott.
Co-writer/director: Eva Weber
Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name (UK/Germany/U.S.A.) — Twenty-eight-year-old Clarissa discovers on the day of her father's funeral that everything she believed about her life was a lie. She flees San Francisco and travels to the Arctic Circle to uncover the secrets of her mother, who mysteriously vanished when Clarissa was fourteen. Based on the novel by Vendela Vida.
Composers
Jongnic Bontemps
Jongnic Bontemps has had the pleasure to score numerous films, including award-winning Daughter of Fortune, A Different Tree, Soaring on Invisible Wings and Saudade. Jongnic's scores incorporate ethnic instruments with organic and synthetic textures to create a unique musical world for a film. This skill has been honed through his music education at Yale University, Berklee School of Music and the University of Southern California and his collaborations with some of the top film composers. Jongnic's scores have been heard at film festivals around the world including Cannes, The Pan African Film Festival, American Black Film Festival and Run & Shoot Martha's Vineyard
Larry Goldings
Larry Goldings is a Grammy-nominated pianist, organist, composer, and arranger, whose talents have been sought-after by an impressive range of artists including James Taylor, Norah Jones, John Mayer, Sia Furler, Madeleine Peyroux, Maceo Parker, Michael Brecker, and John Scofield.
Lucas Lechowski
Based in Los Angeles, Polish born Lucas Lechowski is a violinist/guitarist who creates music, experiments with sounds, improvises and performs. His recent film scoring credits include a 2013 Student Academy Award winner “Un mundo para Raúl” (dir. Mauro Mueller). Currently he is composing music for a two-hour NBC News television special commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of President Kennedy, entitled "Where Were You?"
Heather McIntosh
Heather McIntosh is a cellist, bassist and composer who got her musical start playing with the Elephant 6 collective in Athens, Georgia and continued on to perform with artists such as Gnarls Barkley and Lil Wayne. Recently relocated to Los Angeles, her film credits include Compliance by Craig Zobel and The Rambler by Calvin Lee Reeder.
Vladimir Podgoretsky
Vladimir Podgoretsky started his professional career as a musical theater composer. His 2007 ballet Snow Maiden (Snegurochka) was a huge success and continues to be regularly performed in theaters throughout Moscow. Vladimir moved to the Us to become a film composer and after graduating from the UCLA film scoring program has been working with leading composers on films such as Rise of the Guardians, A Single Shot, The Eagle, Season Of the Witch and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. He has also worked on the acclaimed video game World of Warcraft and the ABC TV series Revenge.
Mac Quayle
A resident of Topanga Canyon, California, Mac Quayle has written music for over 20 films and television shows and accumulated a long list of credits as a music producer, dance remixer and multi-instrumentalist, including a Grammy nomination for producing Donna Summer. His music is heard in films such as the Indian documentary Beyond Grace and the Irish drama A Belfast Story and some of his collaborations as an additional composer appear in Drive, Spring Breakers and Only God Forgives.
The Sundance Institute Music and Sound Design Labs at Skywalker Sound are made possible by Bmi, Time Warner Foundation, and the Film Music Foundation.
Sundance Institute
Founded by Robert Redford in 1981, Sundance Institute is a global, nonprofit cultural organization dedicated to nurturing artistic expression in film and theater, and to supporting intercultural dialogue between artists and audiences. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to unite, inform and inspire, regardless of geo-political, social, religious or cultural differences. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival and its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, film composers, playwrights and theatre artists, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
Skywalker Sound
Skywalker Sound, a division of Lucasfilm Ltd, is one of the largest, most versatile full-service audio post-production companies in the industry. Skywalker Sound offers comprehensive post-production services and utilizes the talents of Academy Award®-winning sound professionals working on sound design, editorial, Foley and re-recording mixes as a team. This provides filmmakers the most efficient model available for the audio post-production process. More information is available at www.skysound.com.
Lucasfilm Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Skywalker Sound, the Skywalker Sound logo, Star Wars and related properties are trademarks in the United States and/or in other countries of Lucasfilm Ltd. and/or its affiliates. © 2013 Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd. or Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved.
Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound recently announced that the Sundance Institute Music and Sound Design Labs at Skywalker Sound will take place at Skywalker Ranch in 2013 and 2014 and also listed the artists that will participate in the 2013 Labs. This is the first time the two organizations will collaborate to support independent filmmakers and film composers and marks a significant expansion of the Institute’s existing Composers Labs to include sound design.
The Institute has hosted its Composers Labs at Sundance Resort for fiction feature films since 1999 and documentaries since 2005, allowing composers and independent filmmakers to collaboratively explore the process of writing music for film. Fellows also participate in workshops and creative exercises under the guidance of leading film composers and film music professionals acting as Creative Advisors.
Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, “Hosting the Composers Labs at Skywalker Ranch allows an expansion of the program to include sound design, giving further insight into the powerful ways that sound and music can impact independent films. We are deeply grateful to the Skywalker team for working with us to provide our Fellows with the tremendous benefit of accessing this legendary facility”
Josh Lowden, General Manager of Skywalker Sound, said, “We’re very excited to formalize this relationship. Sundance Institute is virtually synonymous with independent film, and Keri and her team have done an amazing job to honor the Institute’s legacy. Twenty-five years ago Skywalker was founded by a filmmaker for filmmakers, and we have never forgotten our roots. We continue to believe in independent filmmaking, and are thrilled to deepen our relationship with the Institute by hosting these Labs at Skywalker.”
The Composers Lab for fiction feature films is a joint initiative of the Institute’s Film Music Program and Feature Film Program, and the Composers Lab for documentaries is hosted by the Film Music Program and Documentary Film Program and Fund.
Peter Golub, Director of the Sundance Institute Film Music Program, said, “Skywalker Sound is a leader in the field of post-production and sound design, and their world-class facilities offer the ideal environment for our Composers Labs. Lab fellows will have access to Skywalker’s sound designers and mixers for ongoing collaboration, as well as the state-of-the-art facility during their stay.”
Artists and projects selected for the 2013 Sundance Music And Sound Design Lab – Documentary (June 3-10) are:
Filmmakers
Director: Kirsten Johnson
A Blind Eye (U.S.) — The voice of an American camerawoman explores the nature of cinematography and what she has failed to see while filming in Afghanistan through her encounters with two Afghan teenagers. Najeeb, a one-eyed boy, struggles to hide what really haunts him, while a bold teenage girl must decide how much she will risk to be visible. A U.S. Military surveillance blimp in the sky over Kabul tracks their every move.
Director: Judith Ehrlich
Open (U.S.) — The fight for free speech in the 21st century is being fought in cyberspace, and its most dramatic story may be unfolding in Iceland. Open follows trailblazing Internet revolutionary Birgitta Jónsdóttir and three generations of digital “hacktivists” as their stories converge in the tiny island nation now poised to become the world’s first haven for freedom of information and transparency online and off.
Director: Thomas Allen Harris
Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People (U.S.) — A 90-minute documentary film with an innovative companion transmedia project that explores the ways black communities have used the medium of photography to construct political, aesthetic and cultural representations of themselves and their world. This will be the first film to vividly bring to life the individual photographers, photographic collectives, and anonymous and celebrated subjects, whose work has transformed the lives of African Americans through the magic and power of the camera lens.
Director: Mark Grieco
Marmato (Canada/Colombia) — A peaceful gold-mining town in rural Colombia confronts destruction by a Canadian multinational mining company.
Composers
Kathryn Bostic
Kathryn Bostic is a prolific composer, pianist and singer-songwriter. She is a recipient of several awards and fellowships including the Sundance Fellowship for Feature Film Scoring, Bmi Conducting Fellowship and the Ascap Musical Theatre Workshop. She has written for both off-Broadway and Broadway productions. Currently her score can be heard in the Mark Taper production of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.
Omar Fadel
Los Angeles-based composer Omar Fadel has carved out a niche fusing an eclectic palette of musical instruments and styles. He has scored numerous features films, documentaries and television shows, including Walt Disney Studios’ first ever Arabic language feature film, The United.
Miles Jay
Miles Jay is a composer, contrabassist, and multi-instrumentalist with many traditional and cross over artists around the world. Supporting himself as a musician around the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa for much of the last decade, Miles has re-imagined the contrabass, adapting a wide range of melodic ornamentation to his own technique, as well as having invented and hand-built a new type of contrabass utilizing rawhide for a soundboard. Miles has performed in such venues as Carnegie Hall, the Emirates Palace Abu Dhabi, Ted, and the United Nations.
Todd Reynolds
Todd Reynolds is a long-time New York violinist for Bang on a Can, Steve Reich, Broadway, and founder of the string quartet known as Ethel. His double CD set, Outerborough, rose to "best in classical" on the Amazon classical charts of 2011. A classical violinist 'gone horribly wrong', his genre-defying and technologically savvy music and performances have been called "a charming, multi-mood extravaganza, playful like Milhaud, but hard-edged like Hendrix."
Artists and projects selected for the 2013 Sundance Music And Sound Design Lab – Feature Film (July 10-25) are:
Filmmakers
Writer/director: Miguel Calderón
Zeus (Mexico) — Sporadically employed and still living with his mother, Joel finds his only joy in falconry in the flatlands outside Mexico City, until an encounter with a down-to-earth secretary forces him to face reality.
Writer/director: Meredith Danluck
State Like Sleep (U.S.A.) — Under the surreal cloud cover of northern Europe, a young American widow reluctantly revisits her past when her mother is hospitalized in Brussels. While coping with the bleak reality of parental loss, Katherine explores her deceased husband's secret life of underground sex clubs and finds comfort in a relationship with a stranger as equally broken as she is.
Co-writer/co-director: Ian Hendrie
Co-writer/co-director: Jyson McLean
Mercy Road (U.S.A.) — Based on true events, Mercy Road traces the spiritual odyssey of a small town housewife and mother, as she becomes willing to commit violence and murder in the name of God.
Writer/director: K’naan
Maanokoobiyo (Somalia/U.S.A.) — In war-torn Somalia, an artistic orphan named Maano joins the mercenary killing squad of a notorious warlord, only to discover his adoptive father and gang leader is responsible for wiping out his family.
Writer/director: Pamela Romanowsky
The Adderall Diaries (U.S.A.) — Writer Stephen Elliott reaches a low point when his estranged father resurfaces, claiming that Stephen has fabricated much of the dark childhood that that fuels his work. Adrift in the precarious grey area of memory, Stephen has to navigate the unstable terrain of truth and identity, led by two sources of inspiration: a new romance, and a murder trial that reminds him more than a little of his own story. Based on the memoir by Stephen Elliott.
Co-writer/director: Eva Weber
Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name (UK/Germany/U.S.A.) — Twenty-eight-year-old Clarissa discovers on the day of her father's funeral that everything she believed about her life was a lie. She flees San Francisco and travels to the Arctic Circle to uncover the secrets of her mother, who mysteriously vanished when Clarissa was fourteen. Based on the novel by Vendela Vida.
Composers
Jongnic Bontemps
Jongnic Bontemps has had the pleasure to score numerous films, including award-winning Daughter of Fortune, A Different Tree, Soaring on Invisible Wings and Saudade. Jongnic's scores incorporate ethnic instruments with organic and synthetic textures to create a unique musical world for a film. This skill has been honed through his music education at Yale University, Berklee School of Music and the University of Southern California and his collaborations with some of the top film composers. Jongnic's scores have been heard at film festivals around the world including Cannes, The Pan African Film Festival, American Black Film Festival and Run & Shoot Martha's Vineyard
Larry Goldings
Larry Goldings is a Grammy-nominated pianist, organist, composer, and arranger, whose talents have been sought-after by an impressive range of artists including James Taylor, Norah Jones, John Mayer, Sia Furler, Madeleine Peyroux, Maceo Parker, Michael Brecker, and John Scofield.
Lucas Lechowski
Based in Los Angeles, Polish born Lucas Lechowski is a violinist/guitarist who creates music, experiments with sounds, improvises and performs. His recent film scoring credits include a 2013 Student Academy Award winner “Un mundo para Raúl” (dir. Mauro Mueller). Currently he is composing music for a two-hour NBC News television special commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of President Kennedy, entitled "Where Were You?"
Heather McIntosh
Heather McIntosh is a cellist, bassist and composer who got her musical start playing with the Elephant 6 collective in Athens, Georgia and continued on to perform with artists such as Gnarls Barkley and Lil Wayne. Recently relocated to Los Angeles, her film credits include Compliance by Craig Zobel and The Rambler by Calvin Lee Reeder.
Vladimir Podgoretsky
Vladimir Podgoretsky started his professional career as a musical theater composer. His 2007 ballet Snow Maiden (Snegurochka) was a huge success and continues to be regularly performed in theaters throughout Moscow. Vladimir moved to the Us to become a film composer and after graduating from the UCLA film scoring program has been working with leading composers on films such as Rise of the Guardians, A Single Shot, The Eagle, Season Of the Witch and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. He has also worked on the acclaimed video game World of Warcraft and the ABC TV series Revenge.
Mac Quayle
A resident of Topanga Canyon, California, Mac Quayle has written music for over 20 films and television shows and accumulated a long list of credits as a music producer, dance remixer and multi-instrumentalist, including a Grammy nomination for producing Donna Summer. His music is heard in films such as the Indian documentary Beyond Grace and the Irish drama A Belfast Story and some of his collaborations as an additional composer appear in Drive, Spring Breakers and Only God Forgives.
The Sundance Institute Music and Sound Design Labs at Skywalker Sound are made possible by Bmi, Time Warner Foundation, and the Film Music Foundation.
Sundance Institute
Founded by Robert Redford in 1981, Sundance Institute is a global, nonprofit cultural organization dedicated to nurturing artistic expression in film and theater, and to supporting intercultural dialogue between artists and audiences. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to unite, inform and inspire, regardless of geo-political, social, religious or cultural differences. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival and its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, film composers, playwrights and theatre artists, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
Skywalker Sound
Skywalker Sound, a division of Lucasfilm Ltd, is one of the largest, most versatile full-service audio post-production companies in the industry. Skywalker Sound offers comprehensive post-production services and utilizes the talents of Academy Award®-winning sound professionals working on sound design, editorial, Foley and re-recording mixes as a team. This provides filmmakers the most efficient model available for the audio post-production process. More information is available at www.skysound.com.
Lucasfilm Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Skywalker Sound, the Skywalker Sound logo, Star Wars and related properties are trademarks in the United States and/or in other countries of Lucasfilm Ltd. and/or its affiliates. © 2013 Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd. or Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved.
- 6/6/2013
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
![Michael B. Jordan in Fruitvale Station (2013)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTQ0OTU1MDkxMF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNjI5OTA3OQ@@._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,0,140,207_.jpg)
![Michael B. Jordan in Fruitvale Station (2013)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTQ0OTU1MDkxMF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNjI5OTA3OQ@@._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,0,140,207_.jpg)
Fruitvale became the first Sundance film to win the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for U.S. Dramatic film since Precious in 2009. First-time director Ryan Coogler was inspired to write the film after 22-year-old Oscar Grant was shot in the back and killed by Oakland transit police on New Year’s Day morning 2009. Fruitvale tells the story of Grant’s last 24 hours alive, as he attempts to become a better father, a better boyfriend, and a better son and friend. “It’s about human beings and how we treat each other,” said Coogler, “how we treat people that...
- 1/27/2013
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
The problem with the top festivals is that no matter what you are doing, you feel you should be doing something else. Whether to stay home and write or be out seeing films or partying/ networking, sometimes you feel like you're missing out of the really important things. And I lost my hat! If any readers find my white Russian fox hat that I bought in a Berlin flea market, please return it to me! Yesterday I missed the inauguration brunch Acme PR hosted in conjunction with the film Citizen Koch about Mayor Koch because I was trying to send out photos from my camera to my new MacBook Pro to my blog! I also missed Occupy Wall Street. But the truth of that is I am no longer in the mood for issue docs. Inequality For All satisfied my need for understanding that issue, God Loves Uganda repelled me, though one of the volunteers I was talking to was so incensed at the film's message of homophobia that I realized its value. I am going to write more on the docs in the coming days, but now just for fun, I'm going to do a survey of how many deal with personal subjects and how many with social issues. I did find a great parking lot for $5, but it was so far away that I was unable to see the films Big Sur (sold out) and C.O.G., but I did catch the buzz film Fruitvale about the New Years Eve shooting of Oscar, a 22 year old Bay Area resident. Starring the superb Michael B. Jordan, Octavia Spencer and Melonie Diaz and directed by Ryan Coogler, it captured the family life so beautifully, Oscar was so sympathetic, so human, so young that at its end, I was totally depressed by the gun violence done in this film and in so many incidents over this past year. Another film about guns, Valentine Road by Sasha Alpert is getting very good buzz as well. Seeing Fruitvale because it was a buzz film and was so easy to enter with my press pass meant missing out of Gideon's Army which I really wanted to see but did not realize a ticket had been reserved for me and so I missed out on seeing it. Gideon's Army follows three young public defenders who are part of a small group of idealistic lawyers in the Deep South challenging the assumptions that drive a criminal justice system strained to the breaking point. I wanted to share it with my Pd friends in L.A. And the issue of justice and idealism would have taken me out of the depression over Fruitvale where the security guard who shot Oscar twice got off after serving 18 months in prison. Since this doc is an HBO doc, I might not get another chance to see it. At 4:00pm in Sundance (and Berlin, Cannes and Afm), the cocktail hour begins and we put aside watching films and switch to networking, catching up with news, meeting new people, etc. and so I went off to parties: The Louisiana Film Festival , Ifp, Film Independent and Indiewire, Kofic (the Korean film organization) and "The Party" of Sundance hosted by John Sloss and Cinetic were all on the calendar. Starting at the Riverhorse on Main, the Film Independent / Indiewire party was so exciting that I missed the Ifp party up the street. At the Find/ Indiewire party, I got to catch up with so many people including Bob and Jeannie Berney who will be opening their new company Picturehouse (2) with a Metallica film in 3D which sounds like a perfect Bob Berney film. I met Adam Donaghey, a partner of Aviation Cinemas who had been at the Arthouse Convergence. His theater is where they arrested up Lee Harvey Oswald and was originally the flag ship theater created by Howard Hughes as part of the Rko Theaters chain. They also have started the Oak Cliff Film Festival which is a festival of festivals, much like Toronto was in its early days before becoming the showcase and discovery festival it is today. We spoke of a new sort of festival scam that filmmakers need to heed, called Awards Festivals. You can buy an award so you can show your film to be a winner of a festival where it never even needs to screen! Withoutabox even lists these festivals without warning. Adam wishes Withoutabox would curate chosen festivals a bit more. I agree because uneducated filmmakers often tend to think that quantity not quality of film festivals their films show at makes the look better than it might be. For uneducated audiences who might then watch the film, disappointment may result. For the trade, it gives the film a tawdry look.
Michele Satter, Founding Director, Feature Film Program of the Sundance Institute and Paul Federbush, International Director of the Feature Film Program invited me to tomorrow's Mahinda Global Filmmaking Awards Reception which awards $10,000 to 4 filmmakers with projects which give voice to issues needing to be heard. Again I have to miss something if I go there…Narco Cultura plays at 6:30pm, the Awards ceremony starts at 6pm, And I have been invited to my host's dinner party. I hope I can catch Narco Cultura (Isa: K5) on Cinando! The winners are Sarthak Dasgupta,The Music Teacher from India; Jonas Carpignano, A Chjana from Italy-us; Aly Muritiba, The Man Who Killed My Dead Beloved from Brazil; and Vendela Vida & Eva Weber, Let The Northern Lights Erase Your Name UK-Germany-us. See more here
Rick Allen, Founder and CEO of Snagfilms (the owner of Indiewire) and I spoke of their ever-growing developments and I was startled and very happy to hear him praise my blog. Stefanie Sharis, COO and Andrew Mer, VP Content Partnerships of Snagfilms and I spoke of our plans in Berlin and Cannes.
Louisiana International Film Festival and Mentorship Program party where, for the second time during this festival, I caught a fantastic musical performance. The first was at the New York Film Lounge. This one was a "love riot" performance by jazz pianist extraordinaire, actor and educator Jonathan Batiste . Both the groups are represented by N.Y. Attorney Stephen Beers . I was with Ula again, and Indiewire's James Israel, doing the party circuit. I hope Ula will bring this fine New Orleans jazz pianist Jon Batiste to The American Film Festival in Wroclaw, Poland. He had the room rocking with a sax, drums and -- was that a tuba? -- backing him up. I have filmed both groups and hope I can upload them for your enjoyment! The Louisiana Film Festival will be held in April and includes a mentorship program. It is being organized by our friends Jeff Dowd and Dan Ireland. Dan is now working on his next feature which sounds great with a cast of great actors. I want to go to this new festival to celebrate my birthday especially since my parents met in New Orleans as university students there, married and moved to L.A. where I was born, so it means a lot to me. Coincidently, when I mentioned this to the Executive Director and filmmaker Chesley Heymsfield, telling her my father was in med school at Lsu, she told me her father was Chancellor of the Lsu Medical School. In addition I am thinking that perhaps we can join forces with their Mentorship Program with The Literacy Project, which I began 4 years ago at El Centro del Pueblo in Echo Park. Their Mentorship Program, from what I understood, is headed by a Nobel Prize Winning Scientist. I may have heard wrong however, because the noise at this party was horrendous and the speech given was too long for sustained silence. Ula, James and I proceeded to the Korean party was a different group of folks gathering of the trade. While there I could do some matchmaking, one of my favorite pastimes, introducing Ula to Kiril of the Moscow Film Festival, seeing Clay Epstein, party organizers Henry Eshelmann and Mark Rabinowitz, being introduced by Ula and Kiral to the Busan International Film Festival/ Asian Film Market's Steering Committee Deputy Director (who is responsible for international marketing of the market, Chanil Jeon, who then introduced me to the programmer for North American films, Dosin Pak whose email is "Program [At] biff.kr" for all you North American filmmakers looking to break into Asia. I have written about Busan several times because I think South Korea's development and support of filmmaking, film education and film financing through its pre-sales market is a model other countries would be wise to follow. I would personally love to create an educational initiative there about cross-cultural competence. During one Cannes Festival, I spoke to their education director about that. So perhaps, with a little more time, I will be able to speak of how to actualize this idea. From the Korean party we went (Early) to John Sloss's Cinetic party, The Hot Ticket party for me. I know I'll see old friends there and meet new and not only interesting but important people in the business, and sure 'nuff, I did. I also know that if you come late to this party you are liable to spend a long time shivering in the cold waiting to be admitted. There was Anne Thompson holding court, Christine Vachon holding court and I am sure many others. I got some good face time with Cotty Chubb who has 3 films nearing completion, and Carol (whose last name I have forgotten regrettably without her card to jolt my memory) whom I last saw in Paris many years ago and has now returned to filmmaking. She in turn introduced me to the L.A. Based Rio Film Commissioner who works with the Rio-based Steve Solet. We gathered with old friends Tom Davia (of Shoreline) and Rodrigo Bellot whose film he wrote, We Are What We Are (Isa: Memento), just sold to eOne for U.S. for a low 6 figures. Eone already has Canada and U.K. That's enough for now. See you tomorrow!!
Michele Satter, Founding Director, Feature Film Program of the Sundance Institute and Paul Federbush, International Director of the Feature Film Program invited me to tomorrow's Mahinda Global Filmmaking Awards Reception which awards $10,000 to 4 filmmakers with projects which give voice to issues needing to be heard. Again I have to miss something if I go there…Narco Cultura plays at 6:30pm, the Awards ceremony starts at 6pm, And I have been invited to my host's dinner party. I hope I can catch Narco Cultura (Isa: K5) on Cinando! The winners are Sarthak Dasgupta,The Music Teacher from India; Jonas Carpignano, A Chjana from Italy-us; Aly Muritiba, The Man Who Killed My Dead Beloved from Brazil; and Vendela Vida & Eva Weber, Let The Northern Lights Erase Your Name UK-Germany-us. See more here
Rick Allen, Founder and CEO of Snagfilms (the owner of Indiewire) and I spoke of their ever-growing developments and I was startled and very happy to hear him praise my blog. Stefanie Sharis, COO and Andrew Mer, VP Content Partnerships of Snagfilms and I spoke of our plans in Berlin and Cannes.
Louisiana International Film Festival and Mentorship Program party where, for the second time during this festival, I caught a fantastic musical performance. The first was at the New York Film Lounge. This one was a "love riot" performance by jazz pianist extraordinaire, actor and educator Jonathan Batiste . Both the groups are represented by N.Y. Attorney Stephen Beers . I was with Ula again, and Indiewire's James Israel, doing the party circuit. I hope Ula will bring this fine New Orleans jazz pianist Jon Batiste to The American Film Festival in Wroclaw, Poland. He had the room rocking with a sax, drums and -- was that a tuba? -- backing him up. I have filmed both groups and hope I can upload them for your enjoyment! The Louisiana Film Festival will be held in April and includes a mentorship program. It is being organized by our friends Jeff Dowd and Dan Ireland. Dan is now working on his next feature which sounds great with a cast of great actors. I want to go to this new festival to celebrate my birthday especially since my parents met in New Orleans as university students there, married and moved to L.A. where I was born, so it means a lot to me. Coincidently, when I mentioned this to the Executive Director and filmmaker Chesley Heymsfield, telling her my father was in med school at Lsu, she told me her father was Chancellor of the Lsu Medical School. In addition I am thinking that perhaps we can join forces with their Mentorship Program with The Literacy Project, which I began 4 years ago at El Centro del Pueblo in Echo Park. Their Mentorship Program, from what I understood, is headed by a Nobel Prize Winning Scientist. I may have heard wrong however, because the noise at this party was horrendous and the speech given was too long for sustained silence. Ula, James and I proceeded to the Korean party was a different group of folks gathering of the trade. While there I could do some matchmaking, one of my favorite pastimes, introducing Ula to Kiril of the Moscow Film Festival, seeing Clay Epstein, party organizers Henry Eshelmann and Mark Rabinowitz, being introduced by Ula and Kiral to the Busan International Film Festival/ Asian Film Market's Steering Committee Deputy Director (who is responsible for international marketing of the market, Chanil Jeon, who then introduced me to the programmer for North American films, Dosin Pak whose email is "Program [At] biff.kr" for all you North American filmmakers looking to break into Asia. I have written about Busan several times because I think South Korea's development and support of filmmaking, film education and film financing through its pre-sales market is a model other countries would be wise to follow. I would personally love to create an educational initiative there about cross-cultural competence. During one Cannes Festival, I spoke to their education director about that. So perhaps, with a little more time, I will be able to speak of how to actualize this idea. From the Korean party we went (Early) to John Sloss's Cinetic party, The Hot Ticket party for me. I know I'll see old friends there and meet new and not only interesting but important people in the business, and sure 'nuff, I did. I also know that if you come late to this party you are liable to spend a long time shivering in the cold waiting to be admitted. There was Anne Thompson holding court, Christine Vachon holding court and I am sure many others. I got some good face time with Cotty Chubb who has 3 films nearing completion, and Carol (whose last name I have forgotten regrettably without her card to jolt my memory) whom I last saw in Paris many years ago and has now returned to filmmaking. She in turn introduced me to the L.A. Based Rio Film Commissioner who works with the Rio-based Steve Solet. We gathered with old friends Tom Davia (of Shoreline) and Rodrigo Bellot whose film he wrote, We Are What We Are (Isa: Memento), just sold to eOne for U.S. for a low 6 figures. Eone already has Canada and U.K. That's enough for now. See you tomorrow!!
- 1/24/2013
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Sundance Institute and India’s Mahindra Group today announced the four winners of the 2013 Sundance Institute/Mahindra Global Filmmaking Awards, in recognition and support of emerging independent filmmakers from around the world. The winning directors and projects are: Sarthak Dasgupta, The Music Teacher from India; Jonas Carpignano, A Chjana from Italy-us; Aly Muritiba, The Man Who Killed My Beloved Dead from Brazil; and Vendela Vida & Eva Weber, Read More...
- 1/23/2013
- Bollywood Trade
![Sarthak Dasgupta](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYWNjZmZlZWMtYTY5NC00N2JhLThiOGYtYjIyM2M3Njk2ZDQxXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQ3Mzk2MDg4._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,2,140,207_.jpg)
![Sarthak Dasgupta](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYWNjZmZlZWMtYTY5NC00N2JhLThiOGYtYjIyM2M3Njk2ZDQxXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQ3Mzk2MDg4._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,2,140,207_.jpg)
Sundance Institute and India’s Mahindra Group announced the four winners of the 2013 Sundance Institute | Mahindra Global Filmmaking Awards, in recognition and support of emerging independent filmmakers from around the world. The winning directors and projects are: Sarthak Dasgupta, The Music Teacher from India; Jonas Carpignano, A Chjana from Italy-us; Aly Muritiba, The Man Who Killed My Beloved Dead from Brazil;and Vendela Vida & Eva Weber, Let The Northern Lights Erase Your Name from UK-Germany-us.
The awards were presented at a private ceremony at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, U.S.A., by Rohit Khattar, Chairman, Mumbai Mantra, Michelle Satter, Founding Director, Feature Film Program, Sundance Institute, and Paul Federbush, International Director, Feature Film Program, Sundance Institute.
Each of the four winning filmmakers will receive a cash award of $10,000, attendance at the Sundance Film Festival for targeted industry and creative meetings, year-round mentoring from Institute staff and creative advisors,...
The awards were presented at a private ceremony at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, U.S.A., by Rohit Khattar, Chairman, Mumbai Mantra, Michelle Satter, Founding Director, Feature Film Program, Sundance Institute, and Paul Federbush, International Director, Feature Film Program, Sundance Institute.
Each of the four winning filmmakers will receive a cash award of $10,000, attendance at the Sundance Film Festival for targeted industry and creative meetings, year-round mentoring from Institute staff and creative advisors,...
- 1/23/2013
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Every year, precisely the week before we toast to a new edition of the Sundance Film Festival, there is a lucky set of a dozen or more scribes who head of to the Sundance resort as part of the January Screenwriters Lab. For the 2013 edition, this year’s dozen includes some familiar names and fairly diverse international mix and at the top of the list we find Andrew Renzi who’ll be at the fest the week later with his short Karaoke! and will be workshopping his feature film Franny. Russell Harbaugh who brought his queasy The Celebration-esque short Rolling on the Floor Laughing to the fest the year before, will also be receiving support on his debut entitled, Love After Love. Jan Kwiecinski whose most recent short was part of The Fourth Dimension project will tackle The Incident, and K’naan, an artist who is already had practice at...
- 12/17/2012
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
The Believer's 2011 Film Issue is out and not only are there a few texts online in full but you can also sample teensy bits of others, such as David Thomson's interview with Walter Murch, Vendela Vida's with Debra Winger and Jules Moore's "microinterview" with Paul Verhoeven. Among the full texts: Jessica Winter on People on Sunday, written by Billy Wilder, co-directed by Robert Siodmak and Edgar G Ulmer, with Fred Zinneman as assistant cinematographer: "You can trace the DNA of a golden age in American cinema back to this quasi-documentary snapshot of a weekend in Berlin circa 1930."...
- 3/3/2011
- MUBI
Grief is common, which might be the saddest thing about it. In Vendela Vida’s third novel, The Lovers, a widow named Yvonne returns to Turkey—to Datça, the village near where she honeymooned with her husband Peter—searching for some kind of reprieve from her mourning. Surprising herself, she unloads the tale of her spouse’s car crash onto the kind of quick friends tourists make when thrown together on day-trips in boats. Unsurprisingly, the confessional act leaves her feeling drained and unsatisfied by her companions’ response. She admits to herself, “She knew she wouldn’t tell the ...
- 7/8/2010
- avclub.com
HollywoodNews.com: Anthony Bregman of Likely Story and Peter Saraf and Marc Turtletaub of Big Beach announced that Paul Rudd has signed on to star in “My Idiot Brother,” a comedy about family and the sacrifices it takes to deal with them. Based on a screenplay by Evgenia Peretz and David Schisgall, “My Idiot Brother” will be directed by Jesse Peretz. Production is slated to begin in July in New York. Bregman, Saraf and Turtletaub will produce for their respective companies. Caroline Jaczko, Stefanie Azpiazu and Aleen Keshishian will executive produce. Rudd and Peretz have worked together previously on “The Château.” Rudd will next be seen starring in Jay Roach’s “Dinner for Schmucks” opposite Steve Carell and James Brooks’ “How Do You Know” opposite Reese Witherspoon. He will also be producing (alongside Judd Apatow, Wain, and Ken Marino) and starring in David Wain’s “Wanderlust” opposite Jennifer Aniston.
Ned (Rudd) is an idealist.
Ned (Rudd) is an idealist.
- 6/3/2010
- by HollywoodNews.com
- Hollywoodnews.com
![Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski in Away We Go (2009)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTYxNzE3NjAwMl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwODkxOTI0Mg@@._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,4,140,207_.jpg)
![Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski in Away We Go (2009)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTYxNzE3NjAwMl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwODkxOTI0Mg@@._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,4,140,207_.jpg)
In honor of Valentine's Day, our staff will be sharing some of their favorite romantic scenes all day long.
Believe it or not, I actually consider Sam Mendes' Away We Go as one of my favorite romantic films. I just wanted to warn you, because my contribution to Our Favorite Romantic Scenes is from that very movie -- one that has been described as having a "smug self-regard", tainted by "unsettling meanness" and contained songs that will "wear out their rueful, faux-naïve welcome". But I stand by the story of a couple looking to start a new life for their family, once their own are out of the picture because it is full of moments that define my kind of romance. It isn't about grand gestures or what I call 'Scarlett O'Hara' moments, but it's a story about real and lasting love between two people who seem like they...
Believe it or not, I actually consider Sam Mendes' Away We Go as one of my favorite romantic films. I just wanted to warn you, because my contribution to Our Favorite Romantic Scenes is from that very movie -- one that has been described as having a "smug self-regard", tainted by "unsettling meanness" and contained songs that will "wear out their rueful, faux-naïve welcome". But I stand by the story of a couple looking to start a new life for their family, once their own are out of the picture because it is full of moments that define my kind of romance. It isn't about grand gestures or what I call 'Scarlett O'Hara' moments, but it's a story about real and lasting love between two people who seem like they...
- 2/15/2010
- by Jessica Barnes
- Cinematical
On Wednesday, December 16, Chicago Film Critics Association (Cfca) has announced their nominees for the best of 2009, unraveling the dominations of "Up in the Air" and "Where the Wild Things Are". Scoring six nominations each, the two movies will compete in three categories, Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Beside those three nods, the Jason Reitman-directed drama lands Best Actor count for George Clooney and Best Supporting Actress gongs for Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick. Meanwhile, the Forest Whitaker-starring film places Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers among the nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay. This Warner Bros. Pictures' drama is additionally nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Original Score.
Other movies which are also among the nominees are "Inglourious Basterds" and "The Hurt Locker". The Iraq-set movie about an Army bomb squad and Quentin Tarantino-directed action drama will up against each other in three categories, including Best Picture,...
Beside those three nods, the Jason Reitman-directed drama lands Best Actor count for George Clooney and Best Supporting Actress gongs for Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick. Meanwhile, the Forest Whitaker-starring film places Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers among the nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay. This Warner Bros. Pictures' drama is additionally nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Original Score.
Other movies which are also among the nominees are "Inglourious Basterds" and "The Hurt Locker". The Iraq-set movie about an Army bomb squad and Quentin Tarantino-directed action drama will up against each other in three categories, including Best Picture,...
- 12/17/2009
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
Chicago – The Chicago Film Critics Association, of which HollywoodChicago.com writers Brian Tallerico, Adam Fendelman, and Pat McDonald are all voting members, announced their nominees for the best of 2009 this morning. “Up in the Air” and “Where the Wild Things Are” led the way with six nominations each, closely followed by “The Hurt Locker” and “Inglourious Basterds,” each with five.
“Up in the Air” and “Where the Wild Things Are” each scored nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. “The Hurt Locker” and “Inglourious Basterds” scored a similar trifecta of Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. The fifth Best Picture slot went to the latest work by Joel & Ethan Coen, “A Serious Man,” a pair who were also nominated for Best Director. The Coen’s “Fargo” and “No Country For Old Men” are previous Best Picture winners of the Cfca. “A Serious Man” also landed...
“Up in the Air” and “Where the Wild Things Are” each scored nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. “The Hurt Locker” and “Inglourious Basterds” scored a similar trifecta of Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. The fifth Best Picture slot went to the latest work by Joel & Ethan Coen, “A Serious Man,” a pair who were also nominated for Best Director. The Coen’s “Fargo” and “No Country For Old Men” are previous Best Picture winners of the Cfca. “A Serious Man” also landed...
- 12/16/2009
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Dave Eggers has been on top of the film world lately. His first original script (Away We Go), which he wrote with his wife Vendela Vida, was filmed and directed by none other than Academy Award Winning director Sam Mendes. Last month, his adaptation of the popular children's story Where the Wild Things Are received considerable praise for its unconventional nature. Now his latest piece of nonfiction Zeitoun, an account of one man's extraordinary experience during and following Hurricane Katrina, has been picked up for adaptation. This news was reported late last month but seems to have been overlooked by many news sites. According to the NY Times, Jonathan Demme (director of Silence of the Lambs and more recently Rachel Getting Married) has purchased the rights to Eggers' book and plans to adapt it into a cartoon. It seems that Demme was inspired by the book's cover art (drawn by...
- 11/17/2009
- cinemablend.com
By Christopher Stipp
The Archives, Right Here
I was able to sit down for a couple of years and pump out a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right Here for free.
Check out my new column, This Week In Trailers, at SlashFilm.com and follow me on Twitter under the name: Stipp
Away We Go - Giveaway
I appreciate this film as a quiet examination into the lives of two people who are surrounded by chaos.
What’s most fascinating about Away We Go is that Sam Mendes went from Revolutionary Road to this. From a depressing portrait on suburban life to a picture that dabbles in a little drama and a little comedy the movie works because of co-writers Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and the upcoming film Where The Wild Things Are) and his wife Vendela Vida.
The Archives, Right Here
I was able to sit down for a couple of years and pump out a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right Here for free.
Check out my new column, This Week In Trailers, at SlashFilm.com and follow me on Twitter under the name: Stipp
Away We Go - Giveaway
I appreciate this film as a quiet examination into the lives of two people who are surrounded by chaos.
What’s most fascinating about Away We Go is that Sam Mendes went from Revolutionary Road to this. From a depressing portrait on suburban life to a picture that dabbles in a little drama and a little comedy the movie works because of co-writers Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and the upcoming film Where The Wild Things Are) and his wife Vendela Vida.
- 10/26/2009
- by Christopher Stipp
DVD Playhouse—October 2009
By
Allen Gardner
The Wizard Of Oz 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’S Edition (Warner Bros.) A true highlight in digital restoration technology, Warner Bros. restoration of the 1939 classic is cause for celebration. The Technicolor of the late ‘30s looks as though it was shot yesterday, and is especially stunning on Blu-ray, which was produced by scanning each of the film’s original Technicolor camera negatives using 8K resolution. From this scan, a final “capture” master was created in 4K, yielding twice the resolution seen in the master utilized for the film’s previous DVD release. Judy Garland’s Dorothy is charming as ever, and the entire cast: Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley and Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch, are all stellar. Four disc set bonuses include: Sing-along track; Documentaries and featurettes; Two 1914 silent films produced by Oz author L. Frank Baum, based on his stories...
By
Allen Gardner
The Wizard Of Oz 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’S Edition (Warner Bros.) A true highlight in digital restoration technology, Warner Bros. restoration of the 1939 classic is cause for celebration. The Technicolor of the late ‘30s looks as though it was shot yesterday, and is especially stunning on Blu-ray, which was produced by scanning each of the film’s original Technicolor camera negatives using 8K resolution. From this scan, a final “capture” master was created in 4K, yielding twice the resolution seen in the master utilized for the film’s previous DVD release. Judy Garland’s Dorothy is charming as ever, and the entire cast: Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley and Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch, are all stellar. Four disc set bonuses include: Sing-along track; Documentaries and featurettes; Two 1914 silent films produced by Oz author L. Frank Baum, based on his stories...
- 10/15/2009
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Away We Go My Theatrical Review: Read It Here Quick Thoughts: Away We Go is a dramatic and comical road trip movie from Sam Mendes as he deviates from his traditionally darker tone and delivers a sweet indie film about a couple (John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph) who are expecting their first child and go out in search of where to root their family. Rudolph is great and a host of co-stars along the way add their share of comedic and occasionally extremely emotional elements. The film was attacked by some in a way that prompted me to write an editorial headlined "Do Sam Mendes's Films Attack the State of American Marriage?" Based on American Beauty, Revolutionary Road and Away We Go I would say a case could be made, but I really don't understand how anyone can come away from this film with any kind of negative feelings.
- 9/29/2009
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Chicago – Filmmaker Sam Mendes has always been drawn to telling stories set in a dysfunctional America where the sanctity of marriage is anything but “sanct.” For the past decade, he has specialized in brutally frank social satires about the deterioration of the American family. His work is nearly always riveting, but could never be described as “feel good”…until now. The happily unmarried couple in “Away We Go” sharply contrasts with the unhappily married couple of “Revolutionary Road.” It is a rather marvelous lark, and easily the most optimistic film Mendes has ever made.
Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0 John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph are two enormously appealing actors, and they finally get the opportunity to prove it onscreen. They perfectly capture the excitement and uncertainty of a couple in their early thirties desperate to prove to themselves that they are not “f—k-ups.” With their first child on the way, Burt (Krasinski...
Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0 John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph are two enormously appealing actors, and they finally get the opportunity to prove it onscreen. They perfectly capture the excitement and uncertainty of a couple in their early thirties desperate to prove to themselves that they are not “f—k-ups.” With their first child on the way, Burt (Krasinski...
- 9/28/2009
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Ah! Sam Mendes! That old poe face laugh a minute joker is at at again. After covering suburban alienation, violent gangster under worlds, the effects of war on the psyche, marriage meltdowns, suicide and murder, he's this time turned his cynical humanist hand to... an all out sweet comedy? And one that is as brilliantly simple in execution as it is uncomplicated in plot. After odd couple Burt and Verona find out (in a brilliantly played opening scene) that they are expecting a baby and also that Burt's parents are fleeing the country before the birth, the pair find themselves strangely unencumbered with no real sense of place or home and set off on a little trip to visit old friends with the hope of deciding where they want to raise their family. John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph's off kilter chemistry and perfect comedy timing helps make this easy...
- 9/22/2009
- by Neil Innes
- t5m.com
A brand new trailer and poster for Sam Mendes’ incredible new film ‘Away We Go’ has been released.
It hits the UK cinemas on the 18th September 2009 and is definitely a must see.
Directed by Academy Award winner Sam Mendes from an original screenplay by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, this funny and heartfelt film follows the journey of a young expectant couple called Burt and Verona (John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph)
They look to be living comfortably (he’s a vibrant insurance salesman, she’s a medical reference illustrator) albeit in a rundown house close to his parents in Denver. When Burt’s self-absorbed parents announce abruptly that they are moving to Antwerp before Verona’s due date, the young couple recognize an opportunity to travel across America to find a place they can settle down and start to develop their own roots.
Along the way, they have misadventures...
It hits the UK cinemas on the 18th September 2009 and is definitely a must see.
Directed by Academy Award winner Sam Mendes from an original screenplay by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, this funny and heartfelt film follows the journey of a young expectant couple called Burt and Verona (John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph)
They look to be living comfortably (he’s a vibrant insurance salesman, she’s a medical reference illustrator) albeit in a rundown house close to his parents in Denver. When Burt’s self-absorbed parents announce abruptly that they are moving to Antwerp before Verona’s due date, the young couple recognize an opportunity to travel across America to find a place they can settle down and start to develop their own roots.
Along the way, they have misadventures...
- 8/26/2009
- by Rachael Church
- FilmShaft.com
Sam Mendes' Away We Go (54 screens) makes for a great trailer, consisting of all the very funny, snarky stuff written by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida. The actual movie has some very funny moments as well, and some terrific individual scenes, but it doesn't add up to a reasonable whole, mainly because the ever-shifting tones never quite mesh. Nevertheless, it seems to be performing well in its arthouse capacity, surviving more on a well-executed stream of hype rather than on the quality of the movie itself. From the ads, you'd think it has already won an Oscar (and, because of this kind of subconscious suggestion, it still might). Either way, what this means is that a literary giant like Eggers didn't have to go slumming. His reputation is intact.
In the old days, great novelists would sometimes write for the movies, but it was sneered at and looked down upon.
In the old days, great novelists would sometimes write for the movies, but it was sneered at and looked down upon.
- 8/23/2009
- by Jeffrey M. Anderson
- Cinematical
Starring: John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph
Director: Sam Mendes
Release Date: June 5, 2009 (Limited)
Running Time: 98 min
MPAA Rating: R
Distributor: Focus Features
- - -
Sam Mendes is, for me, one of the most interesting directors putting out films right now. He’s definitely had his misses. Jarhead was uneven and overly trite in it’s portrayal of affected American soldiers in Iraq, The Road to Perdition was a solid, good film, but vastly overrated. But he, at the very least, has a competence behind the camera that makes any of his films interesting to watch. Away We Go, written by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, is no different. It’s effectively charming, funny, and a little sappy, but falls just short of the mark.
The film begins with an extremely intimate scene between our protagonist couple, pregnant Verona (Maya Rudolph), and Burt (John Krazinski). Two thirty-somethings confused at their inability...
Director: Sam Mendes
Release Date: June 5, 2009 (Limited)
Running Time: 98 min
MPAA Rating: R
Distributor: Focus Features
- - -
Sam Mendes is, for me, one of the most interesting directors putting out films right now. He’s definitely had his misses. Jarhead was uneven and overly trite in it’s portrayal of affected American soldiers in Iraq, The Road to Perdition was a solid, good film, but vastly overrated. But he, at the very least, has a competence behind the camera that makes any of his films interesting to watch. Away We Go, written by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, is no different. It’s effectively charming, funny, and a little sappy, but falls just short of the mark.
The film begins with an extremely intimate scene between our protagonist couple, pregnant Verona (Maya Rudolph), and Burt (John Krazinski). Two thirty-somethings confused at their inability...
- 6/28/2009
- The Movie Fanatic
Starring: John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph
Director: Sam Mendes
Release Date: June 5, 2009 (Limited)
Running Time: 98 min
MPAA Rating: R
Distributor: Focus Features
- - -
Sam Mendes is, for me, one of the most interesting directors putting out films right now. He’s definitely had his misses. Jarhead was uneven and overly trite in it’s portrayal of affected American soldiers in Iraq, The Road to Perdition was a solid, good film, but vastly overrated. But he, at the very least, has a competence behind the camera that makes any of his films interesting to watch. Away We Go, written by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, is no different. It’s effectively charming, funny, and a little sappy, but falls just short of the mark.
The film begins with an extremely intimate scene between our protagonist couple, pregnant Verona (Maya Rudolph), and Burt (John Krazinski). Two thirty-somethings confused at their inability...
Director: Sam Mendes
Release Date: June 5, 2009 (Limited)
Running Time: 98 min
MPAA Rating: R
Distributor: Focus Features
- - -
Sam Mendes is, for me, one of the most interesting directors putting out films right now. He’s definitely had his misses. Jarhead was uneven and overly trite in it’s portrayal of affected American soldiers in Iraq, The Road to Perdition was a solid, good film, but vastly overrated. But he, at the very least, has a competence behind the camera that makes any of his films interesting to watch. Away We Go, written by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, is no different. It’s effectively charming, funny, and a little sappy, but falls just short of the mark.
The film begins with an extremely intimate scene between our protagonist couple, pregnant Verona (Maya Rudolph), and Burt (John Krazinski). Two thirty-somethings confused at their inability...
- 6/28/2009
- The Movie Fanatic
We have Dave Eggers. He broke into the mainstream with 2000's A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, the idiosyncratic Pulitzer-nominated memoir about his journey to and living in San Francisco with his brother. Eggers followed that up with several more books, the script to Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are, and founding McSweeney's, a book publishing arm (also the name of his quarterly literary journal). We have Vendela Vida, who has written two acclaimed novels: And Now You Can Go and Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name. And Vida, alongside husband Eggers, acts on the board of 826...
- 6/25/2009
- Rotten Tomatoes
See a new clip called "You're So Fat" from the Focus Features' release starring John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Jeff Daniels, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Allison Janney and Catherine O’Hara. Written by Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius), Vendela Vida (And Now You Can Go). Directed by Academy Award winner Sam Mendes (“American Beauty”), this funny and heartfelt film follows the journey of an expectant couple (John Krasinski [“The Office’] and Maya Rudolph [“Saturday Night Live’]), as they travel the U.S. in search of the perfect place to put down roots and raise their family. Along the way, they have misadventures...
- 6/23/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski play a happily unmarried couple in Away We Go
Photo: Focus Features I was happy to see my article ranking director Sam Mendes's films getting more reads than I thought it would. I wasn't sure how many people would get excited over a director more known for award contending films than big time blockbusters, but a good conversation topic was born out of the comment section worth taking a look at as one of our regular readers, "Chris C," takes a look at three of Mendes's films from a perspective I never quite thought of. When originally adding his own personal ranking of Mendes's films Chris wrote, "I actually found Away We Go to be an insult disguised as an endearing comedy... but I could be off the mark." An insult? Really? I was intrigued and wanted to know more and thankfully Chris obliged...
Photo: Focus Features I was happy to see my article ranking director Sam Mendes's films getting more reads than I thought it would. I wasn't sure how many people would get excited over a director more known for award contending films than big time blockbusters, but a good conversation topic was born out of the comment section worth taking a look at as one of our regular readers, "Chris C," takes a look at three of Mendes's films from a perspective I never quite thought of. When originally adding his own personal ranking of Mendes's films Chris wrote, "I actually found Away We Go to be an insult disguised as an endearing comedy... but I could be off the mark." An insult? Really? I was intrigued and wanted to know more and thankfully Chris obliged...
- 6/22/2009
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Away We Go Directed by: Sam Mendes Written by: Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida Starring: John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Jeff Daniels, Catherine O'Hara, Allison Janney, Jim Gaffigan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Paul Schneider It's been a full decade now since directors like Wes Anderson and Alexander Payne first laid down the template for the "new" indie dramedy, creating a collection of aesthetic and thematic elements that have since been rehashed so many times that they've basically become a genre unto themselves. The ingredients are all too familiar: dysfunctional families and/or weird relationships mixed with dry or dark humour, fashionable yet quirky characters and a soundtrack by The Kinks. If it sounds like I'm being a bit cynical, it's because I am, but I must admit that I still have a soft spot for these kinds of films and I enjoy seeing someone put a new spin on the formula whenever possible.
- 6/20/2009
- by Sean
- FilmJunk
Director Sam Mendes.
Sam Mendes Hits The Road With Away We Go
By
Alex Simon
Sam Mendes is one of the rare hyphenates who remains active directing on the stage and in film, in a time when the two worlds have become largely segregated from one another. Having been lauded with virtually every prestigious award for stage and screen by time he was in his mid-30s, Sam Medes was a wunderkind almost from the start.
Born August 1, 1965 in Reading, Berkshire, England to a university lecturer father and a mother who authored children’s books, Mendes’ parents divorced when he was five. Upon reaching Cambridge University, he quickly fell in love with theater and film, joining the Chichester Festival Theater after graduation in 1987. Soon, he was directing Dame Judi Dench in Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, winning the Critics Circle Award for Best Newcomer. Following work with the Royal Shakespeare Company,...
Sam Mendes Hits The Road With Away We Go
By
Alex Simon
Sam Mendes is one of the rare hyphenates who remains active directing on the stage and in film, in a time when the two worlds have become largely segregated from one another. Having been lauded with virtually every prestigious award for stage and screen by time he was in his mid-30s, Sam Medes was a wunderkind almost from the start.
Born August 1, 1965 in Reading, Berkshire, England to a university lecturer father and a mother who authored children’s books, Mendes’ parents divorced when he was five. Upon reaching Cambridge University, he quickly fell in love with theater and film, joining the Chichester Festival Theater after graduation in 1987. Soon, he was directing Dame Judi Dench in Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, winning the Critics Circle Award for Best Newcomer. Following work with the Royal Shakespeare Company,...
- 6/15/2009
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Chicago – Has life always been this difficult? Doesn’t anybody ever stay together anymore? Have the pressures of modern times turned the majority of us into screw-ups?
Rating: 3.0/5.0 “Away We Go” is a chronicle of couple – Burt and Verona (John Krasinski of NBC’s “The Office” and Maya Rudolph of “Saturday Night Live”) – attempting to resolve just that. A narrative map of stops along the road to self-discovery, the film is an exploration of the complications and confusions in modern relationships.
Thirty-somethings Burt and Verona – a pair stunted in their college days (living with borrowed furniture and a cardboard window) – are expecting. What they’re not expecting is to be left completely alone in the venture as Burt’s parents (played by Catherine O’Hara and Jeff Daniels) announce their planned move to Belgium one month before the baby’s due date.
Read Elizabeth Oppriecht’s full review of “Away We Go...
Rating: 3.0/5.0 “Away We Go” is a chronicle of couple – Burt and Verona (John Krasinski of NBC’s “The Office” and Maya Rudolph of “Saturday Night Live”) – attempting to resolve just that. A narrative map of stops along the road to self-discovery, the film is an exploration of the complications and confusions in modern relationships.
Thirty-somethings Burt and Verona – a pair stunted in their college days (living with borrowed furniture and a cardboard window) – are expecting. What they’re not expecting is to be left completely alone in the venture as Burt’s parents (played by Catherine O’Hara and Jeff Daniels) announce their planned move to Belgium one month before the baby’s due date.
Read Elizabeth Oppriecht’s full review of “Away We Go...
- 6/12/2009
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Underpowered road trip.
John Krasinski and Maggie Gyllenhaal in "Away We Go"
Photo: Focus Features
Verona (Maya Rudolph) is pregnant. Her boyfriend, Burt (John Krasinski), is a college dropout, currently unemployed (although he'd sorta like to learn to whittle, or maybe build a kiln). They're in their early thirties, and getting worried. "Are we f---ups?" Maya wonders.
"Away We Go," directed by Sam Mendes ("Revolutionary Road"), never answers that question. The movie follows Burt and Verona on an apprehensive continental road trip in search of some kind of happiness. It opens in Denver, where they've relocated solely to be near Burt's parents (played by Jeff Daniels and Catherine O'Hara) — who've just announced, in a fit of midlife whimsy, that they've decided to move to Belgium, possibly for quite a while. So, Burt and Verona hit the road, first to visit a sister in Phoenix (not the sort of place they'd...
John Krasinski and Maggie Gyllenhaal in "Away We Go"
Photo: Focus Features
Verona (Maya Rudolph) is pregnant. Her boyfriend, Burt (John Krasinski), is a college dropout, currently unemployed (although he'd sorta like to learn to whittle, or maybe build a kiln). They're in their early thirties, and getting worried. "Are we f---ups?" Maya wonders.
"Away We Go," directed by Sam Mendes ("Revolutionary Road"), never answers that question. The movie follows Burt and Verona on an apprehensive continental road trip in search of some kind of happiness. It opens in Denver, where they've relocated solely to be near Burt's parents (played by Jeff Daniels and Catherine O'Hara) — who've just announced, in a fit of midlife whimsy, that they've decided to move to Belgium, possibly for quite a while. So, Burt and Verona hit the road, first to visit a sister in Phoenix (not the sort of place they'd...
- 6/12/2009
- MTV Movie News
Away We Go
Starring John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, and Maggie Gyllenhaal
Directed by Sam Mendes
Rated R
There's a terrific moment in Sam Mendes' Away We Go that doesn't hit you until later. You'll have to pardon my French, because it only works best with the actual quote. Burt Farlander (John Krasinski from The Office) and Verona De Tessant (Saturday Night Live vet Maya Rudolph) are in their mid-30s, unmarried, living in a shack with a cardboard window, and about to have their first baby.
Reflecting on their state of affairs, Verona asks, in all earnestness, "Are we fuck-ups?" Its timing is positioned as a joke to us, but we're only observers.
Verona is serious, though; she's about to bring a baby into this world and her self-doubt is probably very common. Burt is unconvincing when he assures her that they're normal. But we don't respond to how normal Burt,...
Starring John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, and Maggie Gyllenhaal
Directed by Sam Mendes
Rated R
There's a terrific moment in Sam Mendes' Away We Go that doesn't hit you until later. You'll have to pardon my French, because it only works best with the actual quote. Burt Farlander (John Krasinski from The Office) and Verona De Tessant (Saturday Night Live vet Maya Rudolph) are in their mid-30s, unmarried, living in a shack with a cardboard window, and about to have their first baby.
Reflecting on their state of affairs, Verona asks, in all earnestness, "Are we fuck-ups?" Its timing is positioned as a joke to us, but we're only observers.
Verona is serious, though; she's about to bring a baby into this world and her self-doubt is probably very common. Burt is unconvincing when he assures her that they're normal. But we don't respond to how normal Burt,...
- 6/12/2009
- by Colin Boyd
- GetTheBigPicture.net
Here you go, my movie reviews of:
"The Taking Of Pelham 1 2 3" -- Starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta. Script by Brian Helgeland from Director Tony Scott
"Imagine That" -- Starring Eddie Murphy and the super-cute and charming Yara Shahidi. Directed by Karey Kirkpatrick from a script by Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson
"Away We Go" -- Starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph. Sam Mendes directs from a script by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida.
So which film is my pick of the week? Take a look at my review by clicking right here.
"The Taking Of Pelham 1 2 3" -- Starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta. Script by Brian Helgeland from Director Tony Scott
"Imagine That" -- Starring Eddie Murphy and the super-cute and charming Yara Shahidi. Directed by Karey Kirkpatrick from a script by Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson
"Away We Go" -- Starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph. Sam Mendes directs from a script by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida.
So which film is my pick of the week? Take a look at my review by clicking right here.
- 6/12/2009
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
If one were to never hear of Sam Mendes’ prior to seeing Away We Go, they would assume it was his first film. In some respects it is as it’s tonally different than what he’s accomplished in the past with Road to Perdition, Jarhead and the overrated American Beauty. Where Mendes’ usually invigorates a dark tone in his pictures, Away We Go feels like a giant step back from what his normal arsenal. Tonally it’s lighter and feels smaller than what he usually gives which is why it feels like a first timer is behind the camera and not a skilled veteran.
One of Away We Go’s biggest flaws happens to be it’s script written by the husband and wife duo of Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida. Characters overstay their welcome, notably Maggie Gyllenhal and Josh Hamilton as a “spiritual” couple who like to keep their kids close.
One of Away We Go’s biggest flaws happens to be it’s script written by the husband and wife duo of Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida. Characters overstay their welcome, notably Maggie Gyllenhal and Josh Hamilton as a “spiritual” couple who like to keep their kids close.
- 6/12/2009
- by Philip Barrett
- Atomic Popcorn
Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski in Away We Go
Photo: Focus Features I have always been a middle-of-the-road kind of guy when it comes to the work of director Sam Mendes. While many lavish praise on both American Beauty and Road to Perdition I was always turned cold by both pictures (although I haven't seen either in quite some time). Away We Go has a little more life to it and deviates from Mendes' traditional darker tone, delivering more in an American indie kind of fashion. As a matter of fact, when it comes to the more moodier tone Mendes brings to his films, Away We Go could come off as sickly sweet, or even trite, to anyone expecting more of the same. And while I am willing to admit the film has its flaws, I believe they are only minor bumps in the road when looked at as a whole.
Photo: Focus Features I have always been a middle-of-the-road kind of guy when it comes to the work of director Sam Mendes. While many lavish praise on both American Beauty and Road to Perdition I was always turned cold by both pictures (although I haven't seen either in quite some time). Away We Go has a little more life to it and deviates from Mendes' traditional darker tone, delivering more in an American indie kind of fashion. As a matter of fact, when it comes to the more moodier tone Mendes brings to his films, Away We Go could come off as sickly sweet, or even trite, to anyone expecting more of the same. And while I am willing to admit the film has its flaws, I believe they are only minor bumps in the road when looked at as a whole.
- 6/11/2009
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
I have nothing but great admiration for the cast and crew of "Away We Go." Director Sam Mendes crafted a sweet, simple film about parenting, nesting, and the family unit. The film is in limited release right now, but for theaters and showtimes for "Away We Go" click here, and here to visit the film's official website.
In this interview, John Krasinski (Burt Farlander) and I talked about:
Outfits, yeah!
His great chemistry with Maya Rudolph (Verona De Tessant)
Why he chose to work on the film
The actor with the most open face hides behind a beard
What he learned as a director from Sam Mendes
Where is home? And why it may be New York?
Click here if the video does not play.
In this interview, Maya Rudolph (Verona De Tessant) and I talked about:
Working with John Krasinski (Burt Farlander)
Why she chose the role
Parenthood
Having a baby
Where is home?...
In this interview, John Krasinski (Burt Farlander) and I talked about:
Outfits, yeah!
His great chemistry with Maya Rudolph (Verona De Tessant)
Why he chose to work on the film
The actor with the most open face hides behind a beard
What he learned as a director from Sam Mendes
Where is home? And why it may be New York?
Click here if the video does not play.
In this interview, Maya Rudolph (Verona De Tessant) and I talked about:
Working with John Krasinski (Burt Farlander)
Why she chose the role
Parenthood
Having a baby
Where is home?...
- 6/8/2009
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
There is Dave. And there is Vendela. And they are married. They have two kids. They write books—mostly. They also publish books (that is, other people’s, under their own imprints). They each have a magazine. His: McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern. Hers: The Believer. Then there’s 826 Valencia, a tutoring space they created in San Francisco where kids can come to get help with their writing. Since its founding in 2002, it has gone national, with seven drop-in centers around the U.S.
They do a lot, those two. When I accuse them of this, all I get is sass. “Ballroom dancing,” is Dave’s answer. And Vendela’s: “Snapping,” which leads to something Dave calls interpretive snapping, a not-so-unsuccessful example of which—complete with Dave singing—I still have on tape.
They do a lot, those two. When I accuse them of this, all I get is sass. “Ballroom dancing,” is Dave’s answer. And Vendela’s: “Snapping,” which leads to something Dave calls interpretive snapping, a not-so-unsuccessful example of which—complete with Dave singing—I still have on tape.
- 6/7/2009
- by By Nathan Englander Photography Larry Sultan
- Interview Magazine
In Sam Mendes' Away We Go, Verona (Maya Rudolph) and Burt (John Krasinski) touch down in a number of spots around North America in search of a new home after Burt's flighty parents decide to go live in Antwerp. Thanks to a script from Dave Eggers and his wife Vendela Vida, Away We Go is far less wrist-slittingly depressing than Mendes' last outing, Revolutionary Road, if quite a bit more twee.
The clip below is from a scene where three concerned airline attendants don't want to let Verona board the plane because she looks more than eight months pregnant, even though she assures them she's not. This goes out to all the mommies and daddies (and expecting mommies and daddies) out there who have to deal with anyone eyeballing and/or touching your belly when it's not welcome. Hands off! (Unless you're John Krasinski armed with a stethoscope, of course.
The clip below is from a scene where three concerned airline attendants don't want to let Verona board the plane because she looks more than eight months pregnant, even though she assures them she's not. This goes out to all the mommies and daddies (and expecting mommies and daddies) out there who have to deal with anyone eyeballing and/or touching your belly when it's not welcome. Hands off! (Unless you're John Krasinski armed with a stethoscope, of course.
- 6/7/2009
- by Jenni Miller
- Cinematical
Burt and Verona are a perfectly happy couple. It’s everyone else who’s crazy.
Comfortably ensconced in a long-term relationship, bearded Burt (John Krasinski) and pregnant Verona (Maya Rudolph) are dismayed to learn that John’s parents (Jeff Daniels and Catherine O’Hara) will be moving away to Belgium, even before Verona is expected to deliver their grandchild. The young couple had moved to the Northeastern United States to be closer to his parents and were counting on them to provide support. The anxiety levels skyrocket for the soon-to-be first-time parents.
“We don’t have to stay here,” Verona remarks to Burt, setting in motion a cross-continent road trip as the young couple decides where they want to settle down and raise their family.
Away We Go, directed by Sam Mendes from a script by real-life couple Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, feels like it should have been set in the late 60s.
Comfortably ensconced in a long-term relationship, bearded Burt (John Krasinski) and pregnant Verona (Maya Rudolph) are dismayed to learn that John’s parents (Jeff Daniels and Catherine O’Hara) will be moving away to Belgium, even before Verona is expected to deliver their grandchild. The young couple had moved to the Northeastern United States to be closer to his parents and were counting on them to provide support. The anxiety levels skyrocket for the soon-to-be first-time parents.
“We don’t have to stay here,” Verona remarks to Burt, setting in motion a cross-continent road trip as the young couple decides where they want to settle down and raise their family.
Away We Go, directed by Sam Mendes from a script by real-life couple Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, feels like it should have been set in the late 60s.
- 6/5/2009
- by Peter Martin
- Screen Anarchy
When I was in La for the Away We Go junket, I was able to interview Maya Rudolph about the film, SNL and a couple of other things: Women & Hollywood: What was it about this script that spoke to you? Maya Rudolph: I fell in love with these two people instantly. I really loved them. I loved the simplicity of the description of their relationship. That it really wasn't trying to say anything other than the way they loved each other. It was written in a way that was very familiar because it was written by people familiar to each other W&H: You mean the writers Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida? Mr: Yes, they are smart, exceptional writers and funny too. I loved the humor in their relationship. And for me, the other side was that I...
- 6/5/2009
- by Melissa Silverstein
- Huffington Post
Listen to Away We Go's soundtrack here.
Rarely has a number in a film title seemed so strange --
Release Date: June 5
Director: Sam Mendes
Writer: Dave Eggers & Vendela Vida
Cinematographer: Ellen Kuras
Starring: John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Carmen Ejogo, Catherine O’Hara, Jeff Daniels
Studio/Run Time: Focus Features, 98 mins.
John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Dave Eggers and Sam Mendes have one in the oven
In a blind taste test of the charming new film Away We Go, it’s doubtful that many movie-going citizens, even when observed by technicians in white coats, would accurately identify the film’s director. They might wrongly guess David O. Russell, thinking of his early offbeat comedy Flirting with Disaster, or name one of the young kings of tender and raunchy pregnancy humor like Jason Reitman or Judd Apatow, thinking of Juno or Knocked Up. They might even describe the screenplay as Eggers-esque,...
Rarely has a number in a film title seemed so strange --
Release Date: June 5
Director: Sam Mendes
Writer: Dave Eggers & Vendela Vida
Cinematographer: Ellen Kuras
Starring: John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Carmen Ejogo, Catherine O’Hara, Jeff Daniels
Studio/Run Time: Focus Features, 98 mins.
John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Dave Eggers and Sam Mendes have one in the oven
In a blind taste test of the charming new film Away We Go, it’s doubtful that many movie-going citizens, even when observed by technicians in white coats, would accurately identify the film’s director. They might wrongly guess David O. Russell, thinking of his early offbeat comedy Flirting with Disaster, or name one of the young kings of tender and raunchy pregnancy humor like Jason Reitman or Judd Apatow, thinking of Juno or Knocked Up. They might even describe the screenplay as Eggers-esque,...
- 6/5/2009
- Pastemagazine.com
Burt (John Krasinski) is 33. Verona (Maya Rudolph) is 34. They suffer -- or make us suffer -- Severe Whimsy Disorder. Symptoms may include excruciatingly playful dialogue and underemployment. Treat with megadoses of Nick Drake.
Their story unfolds, or rather puts its feet up and pops a Pbr, in a script by Dave Eggers and his novelist wife, Vendela Vida. Eggers, author of the memoir "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" (or, "How I Nearly Converted Immense Personal Tragedy Into a Starring Gig on...
Their story unfolds, or rather puts its feet up and pops a Pbr, in a script by Dave Eggers and his novelist wife, Vendela Vida. Eggers, author of the memoir "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" (or, "How I Nearly Converted Immense Personal Tragedy Into a Starring Gig on...
- 6/5/2009
- by By KYLE SMITH
- NYPost.com
With apologies to Nina Simone, I'd like to dedicate this week in film to four women: Yolande, Mariah, Maya and Joan. In her last two lead performances, Brussels-born Yolande Moreau has shown exceptional nuance and grace in roles that could have easily toppled lesser actresses. "When the Sea Rises" (2004), which Moreau also co-wrote and co-directed, begins with a potentially disastrous premise -- a performance artist traveling with her bizarre one-woman show "A Dirty Business of Sex and Crime" begins a tentative relationship with a man who makes giant papier-mâché puppets -- and becomes one of the sweetest, most original road-romance movies in recent years. In Martin Provost's "Séraphine," the fleshy 56-year-old actress plays the title character, a real-life naïve artist who died in an insane asylum in 1942, courageously forgoing the histrionics usually associated with biopics about the "touched."
Séraphine, the housekeeper of a German collector, Wilhelm Uhde (Ulrich Tukur...
Séraphine, the housekeeper of a German collector, Wilhelm Uhde (Ulrich Tukur...
- 6/5/2009
- by Melissa Anderson
- ifc.com
I enjoyed this film! It's a bittersweet comedy about a couple (John Krasinksi and Maya Rudolph) looking for the perfect nest to raise their child. Director Sam Mendes ("Revolutionary Road," "American Beauty") knows how to make searing and memorable films. You will not be able to forget this couple taking a road trip in search of a perfect home.
It's the sweetest movie you should see this summer! The script by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida is smart and powerful, and I love the original music by Alex Murdoch.
Watch out for Maggie Gyllenhaal's scene-stealing performance as Ln, a seemingly progressive mother who may be hiding a thing or two.
I will be posting my interviews with Krasinksi, Rudolph, and Mendes very, very soon. Wait 'til you see those interviews :happy
But for now, make a date for "Away We Go." It opens in limited release this Friday, June 5th.
It's the sweetest movie you should see this summer! The script by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida is smart and powerful, and I love the original music by Alex Murdoch.
Watch out for Maggie Gyllenhaal's scene-stealing performance as Ln, a seemingly progressive mother who may be hiding a thing or two.
I will be posting my interviews with Krasinksi, Rudolph, and Mendes very, very soon. Wait 'til you see those interviews :happy
But for now, make a date for "Away We Go." It opens in limited release this Friday, June 5th.
- 6/5/2009
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
You're a couple in your mid-30s, expecting a baby, suddenly shorn of the anchor tethering you to a hometown you're not that crazy about. Now what? That's the conundrum confronting Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph) in Sam Mendes' Away We Go, from a script by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida. Burt and Verona are only a couple months away from parenthood, when Burt's parents (Jeff Daniels and Catherine O'Hara) announce that they're moving to Europe for two years -- before the baby is born. Since being close to Burt's parents (Verona's are dead) is the only reason they've stayed in Connecticut, Burt and Verona decide to hit the road, visiting friends, siblings and relatives around the country, auditioning potential new places to relocate. This low-key, sometimes melancholy comedy is a road movie with a twist. While this couple does have a...
- 6/3/2009
- by Marshall Fine
- Huffington Post
I knew nothing about Vendela Vida before I spoke with her a couple of weeks ago in conjunction with the release of her first film Away We Go which she co-wrote with husband Dave Eggers. (The film opens Friday and I liked it very much.) I very much enjoyed the conversation and am now going to make sure I read all her books which includes And Now You Can Go and Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name. She also co-edits The Believer magazine. Women & Hollywood: Talk about how the idea for writing this film came about. Vendela Vida: It started in 2005 and I was pregnant with our first (we now have 2 children) and I basically started taking notes. As a writer that's how I process the world. I go out and take notes of things...
- 6/2/2009
- by Melissa Silverstein
- Huffington Post
Away We Go is something of an oddity. This new Focus Features film is attracting attention not for its star director (Sam Mendes) or its ensemble cast (John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Catherine O'Hara, Jeff Daniels, and Maggie Gyllenhaal, among others), but rather for its writers, the wunderkind couple Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida. (They're married.) Most know Eggers from his hyper self-conscious memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2000. He is also the founder and editor of McSweeney's, a literary quarterly that has grown into what its detractors would call a publishing empire (though I would contend it's a very nice publishing empire). McSweeney's is unique for its dedication to the short story and its inventive packaging -- one issue is designed to look like a bundle of...
- 6/2/2009
- by Jed P. Cohen
- Huffington Post
John Krasinski's character on The Office, paper salesman Jim Halpert, is one of pop culture's most unlikely icons, a hero for nice (if mischievous and self-assured) guys to model after and for girls of more quirky, sophisticated tastes to daydream over. Krasinski's film roles have been thoughtful variations on Jim, including Burt Farlander of his new film, Away We Go. Directed by Sam Mendes and written by power literary couple Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, Burt is an aimless, devoted husband who travels the nation looking for a new home for his equally aimless wife (played by Maya Rudolph). On...
- 6/2/2009
- Rotten Tomatoes
The Office's John Krasinski and Saturday Night Live's Maya Rudolph star as Burt and Verona in the funny and heartfelt Away We Go, directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty) and written by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida. It opens in theaters June 5th (limited).
And away we go, GreenCine and Focus Features are teaming up for a new contest where you can win a bagful of Away We Go goodies. Five (5) Winners will receive the official movie soundtrack, plus an Away We Go T-shirt and postcard!
Click below for details on how you can enter and win!
And away we go, GreenCine and Focus Features are teaming up for a new contest where you can win a bagful of Away We Go goodies. Five (5) Winners will receive the official movie soundtrack, plus an Away We Go T-shirt and postcard!
Click below for details on how you can enter and win!
- 6/1/2009
- by GreenCineStaff
- GreenCine
If you're a fan of road movies, then you better call in sick with a case of swine flu, as this weeks sees a lot of them arriving in theaters. For everyone else, there are docs on art and music, some European sunshine and a little smattering of domestic darkness.
Download this in audio form (MP3: 10:56 minutes, 15 Mb) Subscribe to the In Theaters podcast: [Xml] [iTunes]
"24 City"
Festival favorite Jia Zhang-ke ("Still Life") delivers a portrait of a culture in flux and a meditation on the ethereal nature of history with yet another of his patented hybrids of documentary aesthetic and name actors. Once a virtually self-contained community with its own accommodations and amenities, the massive 50-year-old munitions factory in Chengdu is undergoing demolition to make way for high-rise apartments. Through the testimony of former inhabitants both real and fictional, Jia offers a take on the growing pains of...
Download this in audio form (MP3: 10:56 minutes, 15 Mb) Subscribe to the In Theaters podcast: [Xml] [iTunes]
"24 City"
Festival favorite Jia Zhang-ke ("Still Life") delivers a portrait of a culture in flux and a meditation on the ethereal nature of history with yet another of his patented hybrids of documentary aesthetic and name actors. Once a virtually self-contained community with its own accommodations and amenities, the massive 50-year-old munitions factory in Chengdu is undergoing demolition to make way for high-rise apartments. Through the testimony of former inhabitants both real and fictional, Jia offers a take on the growing pains of...
- 6/1/2009
- by Neil Pedley
- ifc.com
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