Famous for his brutal roles in The Quiet Man (1952), Rio Bravo (1959) and True Grit (1969), John Wayne got much recognition as the king of Westerns alongside Clint Eastwood. His movies became not only the best examples of the genre, but also one of the biggest sources of inspiration of the 20th century’s filmmakers.
In particular, Steven Spielberg, the giant of the industry, once confessed he revisits one of Wayne’s movies every time before he makes a new film of his own, as it’s much of a great value for the director. Indeed, the 1956 Western feature is quite unmissable.
The plot of the movie seems typical of the genre - it follows a Civil War veteran looking for his abducted relative. However, it’s not as simple as it may seem, as Ethan Edwards, the main character played by Wayne, has his niece Debbie stolen by the Comanches, whom he can’t bear,...
In particular, Steven Spielberg, the giant of the industry, once confessed he revisits one of Wayne’s movies every time before he makes a new film of his own, as it’s much of a great value for the director. Indeed, the 1956 Western feature is quite unmissable.
The plot of the movie seems typical of the genre - it follows a Civil War veteran looking for his abducted relative. However, it’s not as simple as it may seem, as Ethan Edwards, the main character played by Wayne, has his niece Debbie stolen by the Comanches, whom he can’t bear,...
- 4/27/2024
- by info@startefacts.com (Ava Raxa)
- STartefacts.com
After a year-long delay brought about by the 2023 Hollywood strikes, Nicole Kidman is finally set to receive the prestigious AFI Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. The Oscar winner is the 49th overall recipient of this special honor, with the last one being Julie Andrews in 2022. Kidman’s ceremony will be held on Saturday, April 27, 2024 in Hollywood, with Meryl Streep tasked to present.
Kidman is a five-time nominee at the Academy Awards, winning for Best Actress in the 2003 film “The Hours.” Her other nominations were for “Moulin Rouge!,” “Rabbit Hole,” “Lion” and “Being the Ricardos.” (She has also two Emmys on her mantel for producing and starring in “Big Little Lies.”) What do You think is her best movie performance of all time? Vote in our poll right here and then defend your choice down in the comments section:
See American Film Institute (AFI) Life Achievement Recipients
Starting in the early 1970s,...
Kidman is a five-time nominee at the Academy Awards, winning for Best Actress in the 2003 film “The Hours.” Her other nominations were for “Moulin Rouge!,” “Rabbit Hole,” “Lion” and “Being the Ricardos.” (She has also two Emmys on her mantel for producing and starring in “Big Little Lies.”) What do You think is her best movie performance of all time? Vote in our poll right here and then defend your choice down in the comments section:
See American Film Institute (AFI) Life Achievement Recipients
Starting in the early 1970s,...
- 4/26/2024
- by Marcus James Dixon and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
From the sweeping vistas of The Searchers to the towering Transformers of Age of Extinction, the mesas and monuments of Utah’s southern half have been a regular presence in film since the earliest days of the medium. In fact, throughout 2024 the “Beehive State” has been celebrating its considerable cinematic heritage with the retrospective exhibition “100 Years of Utah Film and Television” on display now at the Capitol Building in Salt Lake City.
But balancing responsible land use with tourism and commercial exploitation is forever a hot topic in Utah—a regular theme in Western states—and there are few exceptions made for the arts. Which is why collaboration with the steady guiding hand of local film commissions is so critical; someone to steer visiting filmmakers in the correct direction (both legally and creatively) and keep the reciprocal ecosystem of commerce between film crews and local businesses on the good foot.
But balancing responsible land use with tourism and commercial exploitation is forever a hot topic in Utah—a regular theme in Western states—and there are few exceptions made for the arts. Which is why collaboration with the steady guiding hand of local film commissions is so critical; someone to steer visiting filmmakers in the correct direction (both legally and creatively) and keep the reciprocal ecosystem of commerce between film crews and local businesses on the good foot.
- 4/26/2024
- by Matt Warren
- Film Independent News & More
Even among the more underrated Akira Kurosawa films are timeless masterpieces.
If films like “Dersu Uzala” and “The Idiot” and “Kagemusha” aren’t talked about as much, it’s because the best-known Kurosawa titles — “Seven Samurai,” “Rashomon,” “Throne of Blood” — also happen to be among the most influential movies ever made, casting their shadow over the Spaghetti Western genre, “Star Wars,” and so many more.
Just within the past few weeks, a movie loosely based on “Seven Samurai,” Zack Snyder’s misbegotten “Rebel Moon Part 2,” started streaming, Spike Lee confirmed he’ll direct an adaptation of “High and Low,” and, let’s face it, there’d probably be no “Shogun” at all without the Kurosawa-immortalized Japanese samurai culture onscreen. Probably no director other than Fritz Lang and John Ford has influenced as many genres as Kurosawa, who died in 1998.
But instead of focusing so much on his impact, look at the films.
If films like “Dersu Uzala” and “The Idiot” and “Kagemusha” aren’t talked about as much, it’s because the best-known Kurosawa titles — “Seven Samurai,” “Rashomon,” “Throne of Blood” — also happen to be among the most influential movies ever made, casting their shadow over the Spaghetti Western genre, “Star Wars,” and so many more.
Just within the past few weeks, a movie loosely based on “Seven Samurai,” Zack Snyder’s misbegotten “Rebel Moon Part 2,” started streaming, Spike Lee confirmed he’ll direct an adaptation of “High and Low,” and, let’s face it, there’d probably be no “Shogun” at all without the Kurosawa-immortalized Japanese samurai culture onscreen. Probably no director other than Fritz Lang and John Ford has influenced as many genres as Kurosawa, who died in 1998.
But instead of focusing so much on his impact, look at the films.
- 4/25/2024
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
“You know you can watch that at home, right?” Such was the advice directed my way by a wisecracking passerby while queued up for a screening at the 2024 Turner Classic Movies Film Festival in Hollywood, California. They were clearly not a festival passholder, but the indifference heard right there on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was another instance of the trampling of history that both the festival and its parent channel aim to counter.
Probably the most even-handed response to that trampling would be a reminder—to flip a well-known phrase—that a home is not a house (not a movie house anyway). The folks who flock to Los Angeles every year from all over the world to attend this festival, probably all subscribers or rabid devotees of the channel that bears its name, cough up a prodigious amount of money to do so. It’s clear that for them,...
Probably the most even-handed response to that trampling would be a reminder—to flip a well-known phrase—that a home is not a house (not a movie house anyway). The folks who flock to Los Angeles every year from all over the world to attend this festival, probably all subscribers or rabid devotees of the channel that bears its name, cough up a prodigious amount of money to do so. It’s clear that for them,...
- 4/23/2024
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Slant Magazine
John Ford, the iconic director known for such films as Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath, My Darling Clementine, The Searchers and much more, will be the subject of the next edition of the TCM podcast The Plot Thickens, it was announced Wednesday.
“Decoding John Ford,” hosted by Ben Mankiewicz, premieres June 6. The fifth season of the podcast, consisting of seven episodes, will feature never-before-heard archival interviews with the likes of John Wayne, Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Woody Strode and Ford himself.
TCM says Mankiewicz will “strip back the mythology to reveal Ford’s brilliance — alongside the often ugly, uncomfortable truths about his life and movies, asking whether we can ever truly separate art from the artist.”
“John Ford is a mercurial figure. Not surprisingly given his stature, the stereotypes about Ford are incomplete,” the host said in a statement. “This is a man defined by contradictions: he revered...
“Decoding John Ford,” hosted by Ben Mankiewicz, premieres June 6. The fifth season of the podcast, consisting of seven episodes, will feature never-before-heard archival interviews with the likes of John Wayne, Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Woody Strode and Ford himself.
TCM says Mankiewicz will “strip back the mythology to reveal Ford’s brilliance — alongside the often ugly, uncomfortable truths about his life and movies, asking whether we can ever truly separate art from the artist.”
“John Ford is a mercurial figure. Not surprisingly given his stature, the stereotypes about Ford are incomplete,” the host said in a statement. “This is a man defined by contradictions: he revered...
- 4/18/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The award-winning Turner Classic Movies podcast “The Plot Thickens” is ready to take on the Manifest Destiny of filmmaker John Ford.
The new fifth season, titled “Decoding John Ford,” centers on the legendary auteur best known for Westerns like “The Searchers.” Host Ben Mankiewicz dives into the mythology behind Ford’s filmography.
The seven-part podcast also examines Ford’s shelved WWII film that was commissioned by the U.S. military in 1944. Host Ben Mankiewicz travels to Europe to trace the mystery of whether the D-Day movie exists. The season debuts on June 6, the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
The season features never-before-heard archival interviews with stars like John Wayne, Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Woody Strode, and director Ford himself.
“John Ford is a mercurial figure. Not surprisingly given his stature, the stereotypes about Ford are incomplete,” TCM Host Ben Mankiewicz said in a release. “This is a man defined...
The new fifth season, titled “Decoding John Ford,” centers on the legendary auteur best known for Westerns like “The Searchers.” Host Ben Mankiewicz dives into the mythology behind Ford’s filmography.
The seven-part podcast also examines Ford’s shelved WWII film that was commissioned by the U.S. military in 1944. Host Ben Mankiewicz travels to Europe to trace the mystery of whether the D-Day movie exists. The season debuts on June 6, the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
The season features never-before-heard archival interviews with stars like John Wayne, Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Woody Strode, and director Ford himself.
“John Ford is a mercurial figure. Not surprisingly given his stature, the stereotypes about Ford are incomplete,” TCM Host Ben Mankiewicz said in a release. “This is a man defined...
- 4/18/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
This article contains spoilers for "Star Wars: The Bad Batch" season 3, episode 13, "Into the Breach."
From the very beginning, "Star Wars" has been a smorgasbord of film influences and references. George Lucas cited John Ford and Akira Kurosawa films as chief inspirations for "A New Hope." In fact, here at /Film (and StarWars.com before that), I've written hundreds of articles about the cinematic influences behind "Star Wars."
The latest episode of "The Bad Batch" is no exception. As the Bad Batch further pursues a path to the secret Imperial science facility on Mount Tantiss where Omega is being held, they lead a daring mission to an orbital platform at Coruscant to get the coordinates and affect their rescue. Meanwhile, Omega is held inside a child prison with other gifted kids who are being experimented on. Be that as it may, she knows her brothers are coming for her, and...
From the very beginning, "Star Wars" has been a smorgasbord of film influences and references. George Lucas cited John Ford and Akira Kurosawa films as chief inspirations for "A New Hope." In fact, here at /Film (and StarWars.com before that), I've written hundreds of articles about the cinematic influences behind "Star Wars."
The latest episode of "The Bad Batch" is no exception. As the Bad Batch further pursues a path to the secret Imperial science facility on Mount Tantiss where Omega is being held, they lead a daring mission to an orbital platform at Coruscant to get the coordinates and affect their rescue. Meanwhile, Omega is held inside a child prison with other gifted kids who are being experimented on. Be that as it may, she knows her brothers are coming for her, and...
- 4/17/2024
- by Bryan Young
- Slash Film
Floating Weeds Sitting inside his Tokyo home, surrounded by stacks of books and photos of John Ford and Jean-Luc Godard pinned to the wall, the venerated film and literary critic, writer, and scholar Shiguéhiko Hasumi admitted with a wry smile that he was not really in the mood to talk about Ozu. We were gathered for an interview about a new English translation of his book Directed by Yasujiro Ozu, but he had old Hollywood on his mind. As he spoke, he switched between Japanese and French-accented English. “This book was written 40 years ago,” he said. “My last monograph is about John Ford. And this is my latest book. I greatly admire the films of Don Siegel.” He pointed to What is a Shot?. “So, I am so far from Ozu.” Indeed, Hasumi, who turns 88 this month, remains prolific. Spread out on the coffee table in front of him by...
- 4/16/2024
- MUBI
One of Hollywood's most frustrating recent news stories is that Francis Ford Coppola is having trouble finding distribution for his self-funded passion project, "Megalopolis" (via The Hollywood Reporter). In a just world, making "The Godfather" would grant Coppola a lifetime blank check, but that has never been the world we've lived in.
What you may not be aware of is one of Coppola's influences for his magnum opus. Like his friend "Star Wars" director George Lucas, Coppola looked to Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. While Lucas took after Kurosawa's Jidaigeki (historical) films, Coppola looked to one of the director's contemporary-set films: "The Bad Sleep Well."
Released in 1960 and starring his go-to leading man Toshiro Mifune, the movie is one of Kurosawa's (comparatively) more obscure ones. It was especially overshadowed by "High and Low," the masterful kidnapping thriller that Kurosawa and Mifune released in 1963. Both movies are set in the world of...
What you may not be aware of is one of Coppola's influences for his magnum opus. Like his friend "Star Wars" director George Lucas, Coppola looked to Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. While Lucas took after Kurosawa's Jidaigeki (historical) films, Coppola looked to one of the director's contemporary-set films: "The Bad Sleep Well."
Released in 1960 and starring his go-to leading man Toshiro Mifune, the movie is one of Kurosawa's (comparatively) more obscure ones. It was especially overshadowed by "High and Low," the masterful kidnapping thriller that Kurosawa and Mifune released in 1963. Both movies are set in the world of...
- 4/15/2024
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
Less bleak than Anthony Mann’s westerns with James Stewart, including Winchester ’73 and Bend of the River, The Tin Star still wastes little time sketching an unwelcoming vision of the Old West. It begins with bounty hunter Morgan Hickman (Henry Fonda) riding into a small town with his latest deceased prize in tow. The townspeople gather around him in the street like pigeons, though the open hostility and disapproval in their faces undermines the sense that they’re in any way titillated by the sight of a dead body or a grizzled gunslinger. Forced to wait for the paperwork to clear for his payout, Morgan settles in for a few days of frosty reception that the townsfolk extend to any outsider, including those within their community who violate the narrow-minded boundaries of accepted behavior.
Perhaps inevitably, Morgan becomes briefly attached to Nora (Betsy Palmer), a local woman ostracized to...
Perhaps inevitably, Morgan becomes briefly attached to Nora (Betsy Palmer), a local woman ostracized to...
- 4/12/2024
- by Jake Cole
- Slant Magazine
Ramsay’s brilliant rendering of a child’s experience during the 1975 Glasgow bin-collectors’ strike, spiked with a horrifying twist of fate, remains masterly
Twenty-five years ago, we saw one of the most impressive debut features in modern British movie history. Ratcatcher, by the 29-year-old Glasgow film-maker Lynne Ramsay, was a visually haunting, passionate piece of work to compare with Terence Davies or Ken Loach and which set a gold standard of artistry for new social realist cinema – or cinema of any sort – in the UK. I remember how blown away I was when I saw it at the Edinburgh film festival, especially by the rippling, sunlit fields at which a troubled child gazes, framed by the doorway of the half-built council house development outside Glasgow. (Only now does it occur to me to wonder if Ramsay was influenced by John Ford.)
The setting is Glasgow during the 13-week bin collectors...
Twenty-five years ago, we saw one of the most impressive debut features in modern British movie history. Ratcatcher, by the 29-year-old Glasgow film-maker Lynne Ramsay, was a visually haunting, passionate piece of work to compare with Terence Davies or Ken Loach and which set a gold standard of artistry for new social realist cinema – or cinema of any sort – in the UK. I remember how blown away I was when I saw it at the Edinburgh film festival, especially by the rippling, sunlit fields at which a troubled child gazes, framed by the doorway of the half-built council house development outside Glasgow. (Only now does it occur to me to wonder if Ramsay was influenced by John Ford.)
The setting is Glasgow during the 13-week bin collectors...
- 4/11/2024
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
While it was fascinating to see the results of the 2022 Sight & Sound poll, we’re just as curious to see what lies outside the established canon. As part of a comprehensive project at the essential resource They Shoot Pictures, Don’t They?, Ángel González polled nearly 839 critics on the best films that didn’t receive a single vote on the Sight & Sound poll, which they’ve now compiled into a massive Beyond the Sight & Sound Canon, which initially features 1,030 films but expands to a whopping 14,558 total films.
As a preview, we’ve collected the films that received at least 20 votes in this new poll, which is 263. It’s led by Spike Jonze’s Her, and they’ve also noted the directors that were most represented. Fritz Lang leads the pack with eight films mentioned, while François Truffaut has seven, and Anthony Mann, Clint Eastwood, Eric Rohmer, John Ford, Samuel Fuller,...
As a preview, we’ve collected the films that received at least 20 votes in this new poll, which is 263. It’s led by Spike Jonze’s Her, and they’ve also noted the directors that were most represented. Fritz Lang leads the pack with eight films mentioned, while François Truffaut has seven, and Anthony Mann, Clint Eastwood, Eric Rohmer, John Ford, Samuel Fuller,...
- 4/8/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
In the realm of classic Hollywood cinema, few names shine as brightly as that of John Ford. Known for his remarkable storytelling prowess and unparalleled directorial vision, Ford’s impact on the film industry is undeniable. Join us on a journey through the life, works, and enduring legacy of this legendary director as we delve into the cinematic masterpieces that have solidified his place in movie history.
Early Life
John Ford was born John Martin Feeney on February 1, 1894 in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. He was the youngest of 13 children born to Irish immigrants John Augustine Feeney and Barbara Curran. The Feeney family were devout Roman Catholics, and Ford’s childhood was steeped in Irish traditions and values.
At a young age, Ford developed a love of the sea. He worked as a deckhand and boatman during his teen years, gaining experience that would later influence his filmmaking. Though his beginnings were humble,...
Early Life
John Ford was born John Martin Feeney on February 1, 1894 in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. He was the youngest of 13 children born to Irish immigrants John Augustine Feeney and Barbara Curran. The Feeney family were devout Roman Catholics, and Ford’s childhood was steeped in Irish traditions and values.
At a young age, Ford developed a love of the sea. He worked as a deckhand and boatman during his teen years, gaining experience that would later influence his filmmaking. Though his beginnings were humble,...
- 4/6/2024
- by Penelope H. Fritz
- Martin Cid Magazine - Movies
Liam Neeson stars in In the Land of Saints and Sinners, a film directed by Robert Lorenz.
In the golden age of cinema, spanning the 1950s and 60s, a star actor’s presence was so dominant that their character, the one they consistently played, heavily influenced the movie. It used to be a movie tailored for James Stewart or Cary Grant, with minimal variations of their “hero” or “villain” roles.
The same case applies to Liam Neeson, who has embraced this traditional role, heavily influencing nearly every movie he stars in or as we suspect, the films seem to be specifically designed for him. Decades ago, someone decided that this man, Liam Neeson, embodied goodness, whether portraying the character of Oskar Schindler or, in this case, a killer with a heart.
In the Land of Saints and Sinners Plot:
Finbar Murphy is a killer living in an Irish village in...
In the golden age of cinema, spanning the 1950s and 60s, a star actor’s presence was so dominant that their character, the one they consistently played, heavily influenced the movie. It used to be a movie tailored for James Stewart or Cary Grant, with minimal variations of their “hero” or “villain” roles.
The same case applies to Liam Neeson, who has embraced this traditional role, heavily influencing nearly every movie he stars in or as we suspect, the films seem to be specifically designed for him. Decades ago, someone decided that this man, Liam Neeson, embodied goodness, whether portraying the character of Oskar Schindler or, in this case, a killer with a heart.
In the Land of Saints and Sinners Plot:
Finbar Murphy is a killer living in an Irish village in...
- 4/6/2024
- by Molly Se-kyung
- Martin Cid Magazine - Movies
Many people would claim that Frank Darabont has made the best Stephen King adaptations ever put on film, but did you know that over a decade before making The Shawshank Redemption, it would be Stephen King himself who helped Frank Darabont become a filmmaker? Frank would use one of Stephen King’s infamous “Dollar Babies” where King would allow aspiring filmmakers to license one of his short stories for just $1. Darabont would adapt King’s short The Woman in the Room which would be short-listed for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short film in 1983. Despite not getting the nomination, and not even particularly liking the short, King was a fan and for $5,000, granted Darabont the rights to adapt another of his short stories: Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.
Of course, Darabont wasn’t quite ready to tackle something as massive as that story just yet, so he made...
Of course, Darabont wasn’t quite ready to tackle something as massive as that story just yet, so he made...
- 3/29/2024
- by Brad Hamerly
- JoBlo.com
From his crowd-pleasing blockbusters like Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones to critically acclaimed projects like Schindler’s List, Steven Spielberg has delivered a few of the most popular movies of all time. Turning into a beloved American filmmaker, with three Oscars to his name, Spielberg listed his endless source of inspiration.
Steven Spielberg in an interview with BBC
Speaking with different outlets, Steven Spielberg has noted being influenced by other people’s work and deriving his inspiration from them. Handing down a properly skimmed list of his favorite movies, Spielberg claimed that his filmography is a treasure trove of tributes to those great directors of the past and their works.
1. Dune: Part Two
Among several cult classic movies that influenced Steven Spielberg over the years, the director found his recent favorite in Denis Villeneuve’s magnum opus Dune: Part Two. During an episode of the DGA’s Director’s Cut podcast via Variety,...
Steven Spielberg in an interview with BBC
Speaking with different outlets, Steven Spielberg has noted being influenced by other people’s work and deriving his inspiration from them. Handing down a properly skimmed list of his favorite movies, Spielberg claimed that his filmography is a treasure trove of tributes to those great directors of the past and their works.
1. Dune: Part Two
Among several cult classic movies that influenced Steven Spielberg over the years, the director found his recent favorite in Denis Villeneuve’s magnum opus Dune: Part Two. During an episode of the DGA’s Director’s Cut podcast via Variety,...
- 3/28/2024
- by Krittika Mukherjee
- FandomWire
Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival will celebrate the centennial of Columbia Pictures with an expansive retrospective titled The Lady with the Torch, mounted in collaboration with the studio’s parent company, Sony.
Organized in partnership with the Cinémathèque suisse, The Lady with the Torch will be curated by Ehsan Khoshbakht, co-director of Il Cinema Ritrovato, an annual festival in Bologna dedicated to film history and film restoration. The official unveiling will take place at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles on Thursday.
Locarno has said the retrospective will present the studio in “all its glory,” shining a light on lesser-known genre filmmakers like Max Nosseck, Seymour Friedman, and William A. Seiter, as well as celebrating auteurs like Howard Hawks, Frank Borzage, Fritz Lang, Frank Capra, George Stevens, and John Ford. After launching at the 77th Locarno Film Festival, running August 7-17, the retrospective will tour the world. The Retrospective will...
Organized in partnership with the Cinémathèque suisse, The Lady with the Torch will be curated by Ehsan Khoshbakht, co-director of Il Cinema Ritrovato, an annual festival in Bologna dedicated to film history and film restoration. The official unveiling will take place at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles on Thursday.
Locarno has said the retrospective will present the studio in “all its glory,” shining a light on lesser-known genre filmmakers like Max Nosseck, Seymour Friedman, and William A. Seiter, as well as celebrating auteurs like Howard Hawks, Frank Borzage, Fritz Lang, Frank Capra, George Stevens, and John Ford. After launching at the 77th Locarno Film Festival, running August 7-17, the retrospective will tour the world. The Retrospective will...
- 3/28/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Ron Harper, who starred in iconic science-fiction series like Planet of the Apes and Land of the Lost, has died at 91. His daughter, Nicole Longeuay, says her father died of natural causes at his home in West Hills on Thursday.
Ron Harper, with his golden hair, piercing eyes, and suave demeanor, was an understudy for Paul Newman on Broadway before playing notable roles like Alan Virdon in the Planet of the Apes series, Uncle Jack in Land of the Lost, and Peter Whitmore in the TV series Generations. Before striking it rich with roles that would increase his star power, Harper appeared in four series that never got a second season, including 87th Precinct, Wendy and Me, The Jean Arthur Show, and Garrison’s Gorillas.
Thankfully, Planet of the Apes helped put Harper on executive’s watch lists. While Planet of the Apes didn’t last long on the air, Harper...
Ron Harper, with his golden hair, piercing eyes, and suave demeanor, was an understudy for Paul Newman on Broadway before playing notable roles like Alan Virdon in the Planet of the Apes series, Uncle Jack in Land of the Lost, and Peter Whitmore in the TV series Generations. Before striking it rich with roles that would increase his star power, Harper appeared in four series that never got a second season, including 87th Precinct, Wendy and Me, The Jean Arthur Show, and Garrison’s Gorillas.
Thankfully, Planet of the Apes helped put Harper on executive’s watch lists. While Planet of the Apes didn’t last long on the air, Harper...
- 3/25/2024
- by Steve Seigh
- JoBlo.com
Ron Harper, who starred on Planet of the Apes and four other short-lived primetime series and on the final season of the beloved kids TV show Land of the Lost during a very busy 15 years on television, has died. He was 91.
Harper died Thursday of natural causes at his home in West Hills, his daughter, Nicole Longeuay, told The Hollywood Reporter.
After understudying for Paul Newman on Broadway, Harper portrayed Det. Bert Kling alongside Norman Fell, Robert Lansing, Gregory Walcott and Gena Rowlands on the 1961-62 NBC cop show 87th Precinct, based on the novels of Ed McBain.
He played Jeff Conway, the husband of Connie Stevens’ character, on the 1964-65 ABC sitcom Wendy and Me, also starring George Burns, who produced the show and appeared as the owner of the apartment building in which the young couple lives.
Next up for Harper were turns as the son of Jean Arthur...
Harper died Thursday of natural causes at his home in West Hills, his daughter, Nicole Longeuay, told The Hollywood Reporter.
After understudying for Paul Newman on Broadway, Harper portrayed Det. Bert Kling alongside Norman Fell, Robert Lansing, Gregory Walcott and Gena Rowlands on the 1961-62 NBC cop show 87th Precinct, based on the novels of Ed McBain.
He played Jeff Conway, the husband of Connie Stevens’ character, on the 1964-65 ABC sitcom Wendy and Me, also starring George Burns, who produced the show and appeared as the owner of the apartment building in which the young couple lives.
Next up for Harper were turns as the son of Jean Arthur...
- 3/25/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A beguiling “neo-fairy tale” that effectively splits the difference between the high fantasy of “Legend” and the lo-fi drift of “L for Leisure,” Weston Razooli’s “Riddle of Fire” tries to capture the magic inherent to even modern childhood by stretching a simple fetch quest into an epic adventure. Perhaps a little too epic, it turns out.
Despite kicking off with a heist sequence that crystallizes the miscreant fun of a late summer afternoon and tees up a Tolkien-worthy plot in the clearest possible terms, Razooli’s increasingly languorous debut soon proves to be easier to appreciate than it is to enjoy. It’s a light and singular concoction of sick-ass vibes in dire need of something — anything — to weigh them down. I couldn’t wait for it to end, but that’s partially because I’m already so impatient to see what Razooli does next.
Set in rural Wyoming...
Despite kicking off with a heist sequence that crystallizes the miscreant fun of a late summer afternoon and tees up a Tolkien-worthy plot in the clearest possible terms, Razooli’s increasingly languorous debut soon proves to be easier to appreciate than it is to enjoy. It’s a light and singular concoction of sick-ass vibes in dire need of something — anything — to weigh them down. I couldn’t wait for it to end, but that’s partially because I’m already so impatient to see what Razooli does next.
Set in rural Wyoming...
- 3/21/2024
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Top to bottom: Lawrence Of Arabia (Columbia Pictures), Avatar (20th Century Fox), Blade Runner 2049 (Warner Bros.)Graphic: The A.V. Club
There are artists who work on such a large scale that seeing their art in person for the first time can completely change your impression of a piece, no...
There are artists who work on such a large scale that seeing their art in person for the first time can completely change your impression of a piece, no...
- 3/21/2024
- by Cindy White
- avclub.com
Those attending the 15th annual TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood next month will have an opportunity to engage with Mel Brooks and Vitaphone, both born in 1926. One’s extinct, the other’s still going strong.
While Brooks, 97, will be on hand for a closing-night screening of his 1987 comedy Spaceballs, six Vitaphone vaudeville shorts from the 1920s will be projected in 35mm, with sound played back from their original 16-inch discs on a turntable designed and engineered by Warner Bros.’ postproduction engineering department.
Also announced Thursday:
• Steven Spielberg will participate in a Q&a with Howard Suber — the UCLA faculty member at the center of the recent six-part TCM documentary The Power of Film — ahead of a director’s cut of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977);
• Nancy Meyers and Alexander Payne, respectively, will introduce world premiere restorations of Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (1959) and John Ford’s The Searchers...
While Brooks, 97, will be on hand for a closing-night screening of his 1987 comedy Spaceballs, six Vitaphone vaudeville shorts from the 1920s will be projected in 35mm, with sound played back from their original 16-inch discs on a turntable designed and engineered by Warner Bros.’ postproduction engineering department.
Also announced Thursday:
• Steven Spielberg will participate in a Q&a with Howard Suber — the UCLA faculty member at the center of the recent six-part TCM documentary The Power of Film — ahead of a director’s cut of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977);
• Nancy Meyers and Alexander Payne, respectively, will introduce world premiere restorations of Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (1959) and John Ford’s The Searchers...
- 3/21/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Released soon after the end of the Great Depression and on the precipice of America’s entry into World War II, William Dieterle’s All That Money Can Buy is a peculiar and fascinating blend of the populist agitprop of the 1930s and the patriotic hokum that defined much of the war years.
In transposing the legend of Faust and his pact with the devil to a rousing bit of American folklore, the screenplay by Dan Totheroh and Stephen Vincent Benét presents greed as anathema to the American way of life, and in one of the few brief eras where that notion was anything short of risible. As such, rugged individualism is spurned in favor of collectivism, specifically in the exalting of the values of an agricultural grange—a communal safety net for small farmers like All That Money Can Buy’s protagonist, Jabez Stone (James Craig).
After a string of bad luck,...
In transposing the legend of Faust and his pact with the devil to a rousing bit of American folklore, the screenplay by Dan Totheroh and Stephen Vincent Benét presents greed as anathema to the American way of life, and in one of the few brief eras where that notion was anything short of risible. As such, rugged individualism is spurned in favor of collectivism, specifically in the exalting of the values of an agricultural grange—a communal safety net for small farmers like All That Money Can Buy’s protagonist, Jabez Stone (James Craig).
After a string of bad luck,...
- 3/19/2024
- by Derek Smith
- Slant Magazine
Cinematic language can be universal. Visual images and styles can be reused and interpreted for different audiences quite easily with film fans quick to pick up on the influences. Take for example the Western. John Ford influenced Akira Kurosawa; Kurosawa influenced Sergio Leone who in turn inspired a number of Italian filmmakers in creating the whole Spaghetti Western genre. This visual language then proceeded to be imported across the globe. “Yakuza Wolf” is one such beneficiary of this transnational use of cinematic language. A blending of Yakuza action with a western flourish it's now available through “Eureka Entertainment” on Blu-ray. With its lead Sonny Chiba being rediscovered we have an opportunity to look back at a role that set him on course for bigger stardom.
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
Gosuke Himuro (Sonny Chiba) is out for revenge. His father is dead and his sister Kyoko (Yayoi Watanabe) kidnapped.
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
Gosuke Himuro (Sonny Chiba) is out for revenge. His father is dead and his sister Kyoko (Yayoi Watanabe) kidnapped.
- 3/15/2024
- by Ben Stykuc
- AsianMoviePulse
At this year’s Oscars, Christopher Nolan and Martin Scorsese, two of the finest directors working in Hollywood, will go head-to-head in several categories. Nolan’s Oppenheimer leads the race with thirteen nominations while Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon scored ten nominations at the 96th Academy Awards.
Christopher Nolan (Image Credit: BFI/YouTube)
However, despite the fanfare surrounding Nolan and Scorsese’s films at this year’s Oscars, the two acclaimed directors are far away from one record held by Clint Eastwood. Moreover, Eastwood’s run at the Oscars puts him in an elite club of directors, including only two others. Here is the uncanny record Clint Eastwood holds and why Christopher Nolan and Martin Scorsese might never break it.
Clint Eastwood Shares an Uncanny Oscars Record With Two Other Directors Clint Eastwood in The Mule
As a director, Clint Eastwood has proven himself to be one of the best in business.
Christopher Nolan (Image Credit: BFI/YouTube)
However, despite the fanfare surrounding Nolan and Scorsese’s films at this year’s Oscars, the two acclaimed directors are far away from one record held by Clint Eastwood. Moreover, Eastwood’s run at the Oscars puts him in an elite club of directors, including only two others. Here is the uncanny record Clint Eastwood holds and why Christopher Nolan and Martin Scorsese might never break it.
Clint Eastwood Shares an Uncanny Oscars Record With Two Other Directors Clint Eastwood in The Mule
As a director, Clint Eastwood has proven himself to be one of the best in business.
- 3/10/2024
- by Pratik Handore
- FandomWire
The one thing that Academy Award haters and lovers can agree on is the long and fascinating history of Oscar snubs. It’s the “Predator handshake” topic that brings us all together. It happens every year: the wrong movie wins a certain award or fails to secure the nomination it deserves. Some would say it’s a big part of the awards show experience.
Every now and then, though, the Academy Awards go above and beyond by implementing a “blanket snub.” It’s one thing for a great movie or actor to not get the win or nomination they’ve earned in the eyes of theater audiences. It’s quite another to realize that there have been numerous all-time great films throughout history that didn’t even get a single Oscar nomination, much less an Oscar win.
But let’s go one step further than that. We’re not going...
Every now and then, though, the Academy Awards go above and beyond by implementing a “blanket snub.” It’s one thing for a great movie or actor to not get the win or nomination they’ve earned in the eyes of theater audiences. It’s quite another to realize that there have been numerous all-time great films throughout history that didn’t even get a single Oscar nomination, much less an Oscar win.
But let’s go one step further than that. We’re not going...
- 3/9/2024
- by Matthew Byrd
- Den of Geek
There is a famous quotation “When truth becomes legend, print the legend”. It's often attributed to John Ford but is something that can really apply to Odyssey Entertainment's forthcoming release of the Mongolian feature “The Warrior Princess” detailing the real-life figure of Khutulun. The story is based on a novel by its producer and was one of the most popular Mongolian releases of the year. It's time to take a look and see if it lives up to the reputation of its heroine.
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
Khutulun (Tseedoo Munkhbat) is the only daughter of one of the tribal kings of Mongolia. Despite her prowess with the bow, her family wish her to be a more traditional princess and marry the prince of Pamir to form an alliance. On the night of the potential marriage, her father is attacked by assassins who steal the golden sutra.
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
Khutulun (Tseedoo Munkhbat) is the only daughter of one of the tribal kings of Mongolia. Despite her prowess with the bow, her family wish her to be a more traditional princess and marry the prince of Pamir to form an alliance. On the night of the potential marriage, her father is attacked by assassins who steal the golden sutra.
- 3/9/2024
- by Ben Stykuc
- AsianMoviePulse
When Chris Wedge's animated film "Ice Age" first came out in 2002, it was considered novel and striking for many reasons. It was set in prehistoric times yet eschewed dinosaurs in favor of megafauna living in the Pleistocene Epoch. The three main characters were a sloth named Sid (John Leguizamo), a smilodon named Diego (Denis Leary), and a mammoth named Manfred aka Manny (Ray Romano), and they were engaged in a great migration to flee the oncoming Ice Age. The plot of their first movie apes John Ford's 1946 Western "3 Godfathers," as the three animals discover a human infant that they must keep safe and deliver back to the then-evolutionarily-novel homo sapiens living nearby.
The design of "Ice Age" was striking, aiming for broad, stylized characters that were markedly different from the friendly, big-eyed protagonists of Disney pictures. It certainly helped that the "Ice Age" movies featured a character named Scrat,...
The design of "Ice Age" was striking, aiming for broad, stylized characters that were markedly different from the friendly, big-eyed protagonists of Disney pictures. It certainly helped that the "Ice Age" movies featured a character named Scrat,...
- 3/4/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Every cinephile knows that “What was the best movie of the year?” and “What movie will win Best Picture at the Oscars?” are two entirely different questions. In 2023, the answer for both was arguably the same.
The Daniels’ “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — A24’s mind-bending mother-daughter story about life’s unexplainable questions and the lengths we will go for love — won over audiences and critics before taking home Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (for Michelle Yeoh), Best Supporting Actor (for Ke Huy Quan), Best Supporting Actress (for Jamie Lee Curtis), and Best Original Screenplay at the 95th Academy Awards. Still, despite the film’s accolades, it has its critics — and you’re likely to find many a pundit who feels that the top prize ultimately should have gone to Todd Field’s chillier, less crowd-pleasing “Tár” instead.
As long as there have been award shows, movie fans have...
The Daniels’ “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — A24’s mind-bending mother-daughter story about life’s unexplainable questions and the lengths we will go for love — won over audiences and critics before taking home Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (for Michelle Yeoh), Best Supporting Actor (for Ke Huy Quan), Best Supporting Actress (for Jamie Lee Curtis), and Best Original Screenplay at the 95th Academy Awards. Still, despite the film’s accolades, it has its critics — and you’re likely to find many a pundit who feels that the top prize ultimately should have gone to Todd Field’s chillier, less crowd-pleasing “Tár” instead.
As long as there have been award shows, movie fans have...
- 3/2/2024
- by Wilson Chapman
- Indiewire
The writing on the long-running FX comedy series "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is some of the funniest in the business, but sometimes it's really the performances that make the show so hilarious. Whether it's the way Glenn Howerton punctuates his rage with pitchy staccato line reads or simply the way Danny DeVito pronounces the word "no," the way certain moments are interpreted by the actors can really make or break a joke. One of the funniest moments in all of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" involves a bit of screaming and not too much actual dialogue, all courtesy of Andrew Friedman's character Uncle Jack -- although it turns out there was a bit of help from co-star, writer, and producer Charlie Day.
In a Reddit Ask Me Anything thread, Friedman revealed that Day helped him a bit with a now-infamous scene where Uncle Jack flings a fake hand...
In a Reddit Ask Me Anything thread, Friedman revealed that Day helped him a bit with a now-infamous scene where Uncle Jack flings a fake hand...
- 3/2/2024
- by Danielle Ryan
- Slash Film
The glut of movie podcasts makes it hard to prioritize any single show. But there’s been unique pleasure in One Handshake Away, which allows directors to reflect on titans of yesteryear who host Peter Bogdanovich once interviewed––supplemented by audio of those decades-old conversations and creating a wild bridge in film history. Drawing direct paths from Alfred Hitchcock to Guillermo del Toro, Orson Welles to Rian Johnson, Don Siegel to Quentin Tarantino, it emphasizes just how quickly cinema history could be collapsed by a figure of Bogdanovich’s experience and just how much was lost with his passing.
The latest episode picks up from Bogdanovich’s passing. Guillermo del Toro’s now on hosting duties and his guest is Greta Gerwig, who discusses the films of Howard Hawks and their influence on her work––particularly the John Barrymore and Barbara Stanwyck performances that informed Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie in Barbie.
The latest episode picks up from Bogdanovich’s passing. Guillermo del Toro’s now on hosting duties and his guest is Greta Gerwig, who discusses the films of Howard Hawks and their influence on her work––particularly the John Barrymore and Barbara Stanwyck performances that informed Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie in Barbie.
- 2/29/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
At its core, John Sturges’s Gunfight at the O.K. Corral is another retelling of the exploits of Wyatt Earp (Burt Lancaster) and Doc Holliday (Kirk Douglas) where the facts are buried under layers of myth. Doc is introduced as a surly card sharp and drunk, and he’s ultimately steered out of trouble by Wyatt. This is a different approach from John Ford’s My Darling Clementine, in which Doc doesn’t appear until well into the film and is a public nuisance to Wyatt and others. By initially focusing on Doc, who’s more receptive to Wyatt’s council here, the film winds up giving the men equal footing as protagonists, making this something closer to a buddy picture.
After a prologue set in Fort Griffin, Texas, the film’s story is neatly mapped out in a two-act structure, with the characters travelling from Dodge City to Tombstone,...
After a prologue set in Fort Griffin, Texas, the film’s story is neatly mapped out in a two-act structure, with the characters travelling from Dodge City to Tombstone,...
- 2/26/2024
- by Clayton Dillard
- Slant Magazine
In the 1930s, Universal laid claim to the two biggest horror stars of the era, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, and it was only a matter of time before the pair would meet on screen. In 1932, only months after each rocketed to stardom in Dracula and Frankenstein respectively, the two were dressed in tuxedoes and brought together for a genial photoshoot that simultaneously announced their partnership and implied a rivalry. Through a series of circumstances, it was another two years before the pair would star in a film together. As one might expect, it was in the most transgressive horror film of the era, 1934’s The Black Cat, a film that remains shocking not only for the early 1930s but even more surprising as a product overseen by the newly enforced Hays Code.
The Code had been established in 1927 as a self-censoring wing of the motion picture industry and an attempt to avoid government censorship.
The Code had been established in 1927 as a self-censoring wing of the motion picture industry and an attempt to avoid government censorship.
- 2/26/2024
- by Brian Keiper
- bloody-disgusting.com
In honour of Empire's new Star Wars prequels issue, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the trilogy's launch, we're asking – which of the prequel movies is the best? Read the case for Episode II – Attack Of The Clones below, and find the issue on newsstands now.
When the camera pans up from the opening crawl in Attack Of The Clones — the only film in the Skywalker saga to buck the tradition of the pan down — George Lucas promises us a different kind of Star Wars movie, and he delivers from the very first frame. Every time Lucas set out to make a Star Wars film, he worked to make it different from the others in the most unexpected ways — and Attack Of The Clones is somehow more unique and brilliant amongst the entire Skywalker saga.
As the first film shot entirely digitally, George Lucas didn’t just set out to change...
When the camera pans up from the opening crawl in Attack Of The Clones — the only film in the Skywalker saga to buck the tradition of the pan down — George Lucas promises us a different kind of Star Wars movie, and he delivers from the very first frame. Every time Lucas set out to make a Star Wars film, he worked to make it different from the others in the most unexpected ways — and Attack Of The Clones is somehow more unique and brilliant amongst the entire Skywalker saga.
As the first film shot entirely digitally, George Lucas didn’t just set out to change...
- 2/21/2024
- by Bryan Young
- Empire - Movies
Martin Scorsese was greeted by loud cheers as he alighted from his car at the Berlinale Palast on Tuesday night, and set about signing autographs for the crowd gathered on this cold Berlin night.
The Oscar-winning filmmaker is the recipient of an honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement at the 74th Berlinale.
“Marty!! Marty!!” the crowd chanted, as Scorsese posed for photographers before fielding press questions and greeting festival brass, protected from the sharp weather only by his dapper black suit.
Once inside the auditorium, the 81-year-old finally sat down some 25 minutes after arriving, following a long-standing ovation.
Live music from the soundtrack of Killers of the Flowers Moon was accompanied by clips playing on the screen. The fest’s exec director, Marietta Rissenbeek, and artistic director, Carlo Chatrian, offered a few words in recognition of the great director, making Scorsese laugh and seem to all but cry with his daughter Francesca by his side.
The Oscar-winning filmmaker is the recipient of an honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement at the 74th Berlinale.
“Marty!! Marty!!” the crowd chanted, as Scorsese posed for photographers before fielding press questions and greeting festival brass, protected from the sharp weather only by his dapper black suit.
Once inside the auditorium, the 81-year-old finally sat down some 25 minutes after arriving, following a long-standing ovation.
Live music from the soundtrack of Killers of the Flowers Moon was accompanied by clips playing on the screen. The fest’s exec director, Marietta Rissenbeek, and artistic director, Carlo Chatrian, offered a few words in recognition of the great director, making Scorsese laugh and seem to all but cry with his daughter Francesca by his side.
- 2/20/2024
- by Liza Foreman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Martin Scorsese was presented with the Berlin Film Festival’s Honorary Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement on Tuesday evening, with old friend German director Wim Wenders paying a warm personal tribute.
Martin Scorsese received Berlin’s Honorary Golden Bear on stage alongside German filmmaker Wim Wenders pic.twitter.com/PgQyYZK8IP
— Deadline Hollywood (@Deadline) February 20, 2024
In his tribute speech, Wenders described his old friend as “the reigning king of cinema” and said that over half a century of directing, Scorsese had become a trademark, almost brand.
“You could safely go into a movie theatre, sit down and know that with this next Martin Scorsese Picture, that was your your credit formula Marty, you were going to see a masterful film that would markedly define its time, not more not less,” he said.
He recalled how he and Scorsese had first hooked up while attending the Telluride Film Festival in 1978.
Wenders...
Martin Scorsese received Berlin’s Honorary Golden Bear on stage alongside German filmmaker Wim Wenders pic.twitter.com/PgQyYZK8IP
— Deadline Hollywood (@Deadline) February 20, 2024
In his tribute speech, Wenders described his old friend as “the reigning king of cinema” and said that over half a century of directing, Scorsese had become a trademark, almost brand.
“You could safely go into a movie theatre, sit down and know that with this next Martin Scorsese Picture, that was your your credit formula Marty, you were going to see a masterful film that would markedly define its time, not more not less,” he said.
He recalled how he and Scorsese had first hooked up while attending the Telluride Film Festival in 1978.
Wenders...
- 2/20/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow and Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Throughout the history of cinema, the stories of indigenous peoples in the Americas have been framed almost entirely through the gaze of immigrant European peoples. Lisandro Alonso’s challenging three part film is informed by their own stories, not just in the narratives it unfolds, but also in the structures of its storytelling.
Scripted with the aid of authors Martin Camaño and Fabian Casas, this is a film as rich in thematic and literary motifs as it is in imagery. The first segment, which stars Viggo Mortensen as a damaged man looking for trouble in a dissolute frontier town, plays out like a black and white reworking of The Searchers, taking John Ford’s vision of the Wild West to such an extreme that its nature as propaganda can no longer be denied, and at the same time speaking to the very real tragedy wrought upon Native peoples by colonial brutalisation and.
Scripted with the aid of authors Martin Camaño and Fabian Casas, this is a film as rich in thematic and literary motifs as it is in imagery. The first segment, which stars Viggo Mortensen as a damaged man looking for trouble in a dissolute frontier town, plays out like a black and white reworking of The Searchers, taking John Ford’s vision of the Wild West to such an extreme that its nature as propaganda can no longer be denied, and at the same time speaking to the very real tragedy wrought upon Native peoples by colonial brutalisation and.
- 2/16/2024
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Exclusive: Following a competitive bidding situation, Shout! Studios has acquired North American rights to The Dead Don’t Hurt, the Western written, directed, produced by and starring Viggo Mortensen (Thirteen Lives) which world premiered at last year’s Toronto Film Festival, where star Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread) was honored with the TIFF Tribute Performer Award.
Acquired from Talipot Studio, Recorded Picture Company, Perceval Pictures, and HanWay Films, the film marks Mortensen’s second effort on both sides of the camera on the heels of 2020 father-son drama Falling. Pic will be released across all major entertainment platforms, beginning with a wide theatrical launch this summer.
A story of star-crossed lovers on the western U.S. frontier in the 1860s, The Dead Don’t Hurt centers on Vivienne Le Coudy (Krieps), a fiercely independent woman who embarks on a relationship with Danish immigrant Holgen Olsen (Mortensen). After meeting Olsen in San Francisco, she agrees...
Acquired from Talipot Studio, Recorded Picture Company, Perceval Pictures, and HanWay Films, the film marks Mortensen’s second effort on both sides of the camera on the heels of 2020 father-son drama Falling. Pic will be released across all major entertainment platforms, beginning with a wide theatrical launch this summer.
A story of star-crossed lovers on the western U.S. frontier in the 1860s, The Dead Don’t Hurt centers on Vivienne Le Coudy (Krieps), a fiercely independent woman who embarks on a relationship with Danish immigrant Holgen Olsen (Mortensen). After meeting Olsen in San Francisco, she agrees...
- 2/13/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Although he has personally competed for the Best Picture Oscar as a qualifying producer of just four films, Martin Scorsese is responsible for directing 10 of the top Academy Award category’s nominees, including 2024 contender “Killers of the Flower Moon.” This recent improvement upon his total makes him only the third filmmaker in Oscars history to helm a double-digit amount of Best Picture nominees. Including him, six people who were already credited with directing at least one nominee rose higher in the ranks this year.
The previous Scorsese films that vied for Best Picture are 2007 winner “The Departed” (for which he earned his sole directing trophy) and nominees “Taxi Driver” (1977), “Raging Bull” (1981), “Goodfellas” (1991), “Gangs of New York” (2003), “The Aviator” (2005), “Hugo” (2012), “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2014), and “The Irishman” (2020). Of the 10, he received producing notices for the most recent four and directing bids for all but “Taxi Driver.” The only ones who...
The previous Scorsese films that vied for Best Picture are 2007 winner “The Departed” (for which he earned his sole directing trophy) and nominees “Taxi Driver” (1977), “Raging Bull” (1981), “Goodfellas” (1991), “Gangs of New York” (2003), “The Aviator” (2005), “Hugo” (2012), “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2014), and “The Irishman” (2020). Of the 10, he received producing notices for the most recent four and directing bids for all but “Taxi Driver.” The only ones who...
- 2/9/2024
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
This was a well-kept secret. Two years since his passing we’ve learned of Peter Bogdanoivch’s podcasting project One Handshake Away, which saw the late-in-life filmmaker sit down with modern luminaries. The first two episodes, out today, feature Guillermo del Toro and Quentin Tarantino discussing personal favorites, the former Alfred Hitchcock and the latter Don Siegel––a normal concept made novel by integrating unheard audio from Bogdanovich’s prodigious start interviewing the deceased filmmakers decades ago.
Later episodes will feature conversations with Rian Johnson and Ken Burns; after Bogdanovich’s passing, del Toro continued the series by speaking to Greta Gerwig, Julie Delpy, and Allison Anders. Integrated into these are audio of John Ford, Howard Hawks, and (believe it or not!) Orson Welles. It’s immediately evident that the company of a fellow auteur puts del Toro and Tarantino at ease, the subjects elevating them to enthusiasm––well and...
Later episodes will feature conversations with Rian Johnson and Ken Burns; after Bogdanovich’s passing, del Toro continued the series by speaking to Greta Gerwig, Julie Delpy, and Allison Anders. Integrated into these are audio of John Ford, Howard Hawks, and (believe it or not!) Orson Welles. It’s immediately evident that the company of a fellow auteur puts del Toro and Tarantino at ease, the subjects elevating them to enthusiasm––well and...
- 2/7/2024
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Late auteur Peter Bogdanovich is still just a handshake away per his posthumous podcast, “One Handshake Away.”
Prior to Bogdanovich’s January 2022 death, the filmmaker recorded a series of interviews with fellow directors such as Guillermo del Toro, Quentin Tarantino, Ken Burns, and Rian Johnson to discuss their biggest cinematic influences.
Per Deadline, Bogdanovich named the podcast “One Handshake Away” to honor the relationship between contemporary directors and pioneering filmmakers, with each filmmaker being “one handshake away” from one another in film history.
After Bogdanovich’s passing, del Toro took over the podcast and recorded the final three episodes, interviewing Greta Gerwig, Julie Delpy, and Allison Anders, which included discussing the works of Howard Hawks, Fritz Lang, and Raoul Walsh.
Filmmakers Alfred Hitchcock, Don Siegel, Orson Welles, and John Ford were reexamined in episodes Bogdanovich recorded; the podcast additionally features exclusive archival interviews with Hitchcock, Welles, and Ford that have...
Prior to Bogdanovich’s January 2022 death, the filmmaker recorded a series of interviews with fellow directors such as Guillermo del Toro, Quentin Tarantino, Ken Burns, and Rian Johnson to discuss their biggest cinematic influences.
Per Deadline, Bogdanovich named the podcast “One Handshake Away” to honor the relationship between contemporary directors and pioneering filmmakers, with each filmmaker being “one handshake away” from one another in film history.
After Bogdanovich’s passing, del Toro took over the podcast and recorded the final three episodes, interviewing Greta Gerwig, Julie Delpy, and Allison Anders, which included discussing the works of Howard Hawks, Fritz Lang, and Raoul Walsh.
Filmmakers Alfred Hitchcock, Don Siegel, Orson Welles, and John Ford were reexamined in episodes Bogdanovich recorded; the podcast additionally features exclusive archival interviews with Hitchcock, Welles, and Ford that have...
- 2/5/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Peter Bogdanovich, the director of Hollywood classics such as The Last Picture Show and Paper Moon, may have died two years ago but he left behind a “love letter to film.”
The critic-turned-filmmaker was working on One Handshake Away, a podcast series that saw him in conversation with some of the greatest living filmmakers, including Guillermo del Toro, Quentin Tarantino, Rian Johnson and Ken Burns framed through a series of never-before-heard archival interviews with legends including Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles and John Ford.
After Bogdanovich’s death, del Toro took over for the final three interviews with Greta Gerwig, Julie Delpy and Allison Anders.
Each episode pays homage to a master and offers insight and perspective on the influence and impact the legends who came before them had on their career and filmmaking.
Bogdanovich discussed Hitchcock with del Toro, Don Siegel with Tarantino, Welles with Johnson and Ford with Burns.
The critic-turned-filmmaker was working on One Handshake Away, a podcast series that saw him in conversation with some of the greatest living filmmakers, including Guillermo del Toro, Quentin Tarantino, Rian Johnson and Ken Burns framed through a series of never-before-heard archival interviews with legends including Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles and John Ford.
After Bogdanovich’s death, del Toro took over for the final three interviews with Greta Gerwig, Julie Delpy and Allison Anders.
Each episode pays homage to a master and offers insight and perspective on the influence and impact the legends who came before them had on their career and filmmaking.
Bogdanovich discussed Hitchcock with del Toro, Don Siegel with Tarantino, Welles with Johnson and Ford with Burns.
- 2/5/2024
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
The elemental tale of man versus nature is one that we’ve been telling since the days of cave paintings. The tale of man versus a big, scary creature has been one of that tradition’s most reliably entertaining iterations since the dawn of Hollywood, and Andrew Cumming’s Stone Age thriller Out of Darkness makes for a worthy addition.
The film is set 45,000 years ago. After making a daring journey across the sea, a small band of Stone Agers have arrived in an unfamiliar place that they hope to call home. Sadly, this place isn’t the land of milk, honey, and warm, cozy caves that they’d been dreaming of. Rather, it’s a gray and barren place where rough, rocky hills seem to roll out endlessly in all directions. It makes for a dispiriting landscape during the day, and it’s even worse when darkness falls and...
The film is set 45,000 years ago. After making a daring journey across the sea, a small band of Stone Agers have arrived in an unfamiliar place that they hope to call home. Sadly, this place isn’t the land of milk, honey, and warm, cozy caves that they’d been dreaming of. Rather, it’s a gray and barren place where rough, rocky hills seem to roll out endlessly in all directions. It makes for a dispiriting landscape during the day, and it’s even worse when darkness falls and...
- 2/4/2024
- by Ross McIndoe
- Slant Magazine
The rather prolific Adilkhan Yerzhanov (15 features in 12 years) has already established his own style, by including elements of US b-movies, Western, action and violence, and a rather bleak sense of humor that make his movies quite entertaining. “Steppenwolf” continues in the same path, in a pure genre film that is inspired by the 1956 John Ford movie, “The Searchers”.
Steppenwolf is screening at International Film Festival Rotterdam
Tamara, a young woman who seems to suffer from mental issues, is walking around a small town where the police is clashing with some sort of armed groups, in search of her missing son who has been kidnapped by child organ traffickers. Bullets do not seem to touch her, but the fact that she can barely speak does not help her cause, as the people around her mostly ignore her. Eventually, she stumbles upon ‘The Steppenwolf' a man the corrupt police hire to torture convicts into confession,...
Steppenwolf is screening at International Film Festival Rotterdam
Tamara, a young woman who seems to suffer from mental issues, is walking around a small town where the police is clashing with some sort of armed groups, in search of her missing son who has been kidnapped by child organ traffickers. Bullets do not seem to touch her, but the fact that she can barely speak does not help her cause, as the people around her mostly ignore her. Eventually, she stumbles upon ‘The Steppenwolf' a man the corrupt police hire to torture convicts into confession,...
- 2/1/2024
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
John Ford is the four-time Oscar-winning director who made over 140 films in his long career, spanning the silent era through the 1960s. Yet how many of those titles are classics? Let’s take a look back at 20 of Ford’s greatest movies, ranked worst to best.
To this day, Ford holds the all-time Oscar record for Best Director victories with four: “The Informer” (1935), “The Grapes of Wrath” (1940), “How Green Was My Valley” (1941), and “The Quiet Man” (1952). Of those, only “How Green Was My Valley” also won Best Picture (Ford also competed as a producer on “The Quiet Man.”).
Interestingly enough, the one Best Director nomination he lost was for the film that had perhaps the most profound impact on his career: “Stagecoach” (1939). The first of many westerns Ford shot in his beloved Monument Valley, it was also the beginning of a long and iconic career with leading man John Wayne,...
To this day, Ford holds the all-time Oscar record for Best Director victories with four: “The Informer” (1935), “The Grapes of Wrath” (1940), “How Green Was My Valley” (1941), and “The Quiet Man” (1952). Of those, only “How Green Was My Valley” also won Best Picture (Ford also competed as a producer on “The Quiet Man.”).
Interestingly enough, the one Best Director nomination he lost was for the film that had perhaps the most profound impact on his career: “Stagecoach” (1939). The first of many westerns Ford shot in his beloved Monument Valley, it was also the beginning of a long and iconic career with leading man John Wayne,...
- 1/26/2024
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
There is a certain inevitability about a film inspired by Hermann Hesse’s novel “Steppenwolf,” first published in German in 1927, and two famous Westerns of the 1950s — John Ford’s “The Searchers,” and Howard Hawks’ “Red River.” The film, also called “Steppenwolf,” has its world premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Big Screen Competition section. Its teaser debuts on Variety exclusively (below).
In acclaimed Kazakh director Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s latest film, two characters who are essentially loners existing outside of the usual moral boundaries of the world come together united in a common task: to save a small boy who has gone missing.
Yerzhanov takes universal themes from Hesse’s novel and the later Hollywood Westerns, to plumb the depths of where man’s spirituality disappears into the depths of his animal origins. To explore what he calls a story of “two different heroes, two opposing characters, who...
In acclaimed Kazakh director Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s latest film, two characters who are essentially loners existing outside of the usual moral boundaries of the world come together united in a common task: to save a small boy who has gone missing.
Yerzhanov takes universal themes from Hesse’s novel and the later Hollywood Westerns, to plumb the depths of where man’s spirituality disappears into the depths of his animal origins. To explore what he calls a story of “two different heroes, two opposing characters, who...
- 1/26/2024
- by Nick Holdsworth
- Variety Film + TV
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Film at Lincoln Center
“Never Look Away: Serge Daney’s Radical 1970s” brings films by Kurosawa, Bresson, Tati, Godard and more.
IFC Center
As Francis Ford Coppola’s latest recut, One from the Heart: Reprise, continues, Bertrand Bonello’s masterpiece Coma gets a New York premiere; Ken Russell’s Whore, Saw III, and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome also have late showings.
Roxy Cinema
A Ryan O’Neal retrospective brings The Driver on 35mm and Partners, while Cronenberg’s Crash shows on a print; City Dudes returns on Saturday and Sunday brings a puppet program and the Iranian feature Downpour plays on Sunday.
Film Forum
A 4K restoration of The Pianist begins a run while I Heard It Through the Grapevine and The Third Man continue; The Sunshine Boys plays on Sunday.
Museum of the Moving Image
A retrospective of snubbed performances brings films by Howard Hawks,...
Film at Lincoln Center
“Never Look Away: Serge Daney’s Radical 1970s” brings films by Kurosawa, Bresson, Tati, Godard and more.
IFC Center
As Francis Ford Coppola’s latest recut, One from the Heart: Reprise, continues, Bertrand Bonello’s masterpiece Coma gets a New York premiere; Ken Russell’s Whore, Saw III, and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome also have late showings.
Roxy Cinema
A Ryan O’Neal retrospective brings The Driver on 35mm and Partners, while Cronenberg’s Crash shows on a print; City Dudes returns on Saturday and Sunday brings a puppet program and the Iranian feature Downpour plays on Sunday.
Film Forum
A 4K restoration of The Pianist begins a run while I Heard It Through the Grapevine and The Third Man continue; The Sunshine Boys plays on Sunday.
Museum of the Moving Image
A retrospective of snubbed performances brings films by Howard Hawks,...
- 1/26/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
While recently scrolling Twitter, an interesting anecdote came to my attention. In the fabled George Lucas outline for a Star Wars sequel trilogy, a treatment which the filmmaker shared with the Walt Disney Company when he sold Lucasfilm for $4 billion, Lucas apparently had a strange vision for Luke Skywalker: He wanted the older version of Skywalker to be like a character in a movie Lucas almost made before Star Wars. He wanted him to be, in essence, Marlon Brando’s Col. Kurtz from Apocalypse Now, right down to the bald head and rambling gibberish.
This detail is not new. In fact, Pablo Hidalgo first confirmed the information in Star Wars: Fascinating Facts (2020). In that book (via Total Film/GamesRadar+), Hidalgo wrote, “Although Luke Skywalker only barely appears in The Force Awakens, the concept artists had a lot to imagine based on the fragments of the story they were hearing as it developed.
This detail is not new. In fact, Pablo Hidalgo first confirmed the information in Star Wars: Fascinating Facts (2020). In that book (via Total Film/GamesRadar+), Hidalgo wrote, “Although Luke Skywalker only barely appears in The Force Awakens, the concept artists had a lot to imagine based on the fragments of the story they were hearing as it developed.
- 1/24/2024
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Martin Scorsese has now earned more Oscar nominations for best director than anyone alive.
The Academy nominated the 81-year-old icon for his film Killers of the Flower Moon with Tuesday’s Oscar nominations.
Scorsese now has 10 best director nominations, surpassing Steven Spielberg, who has nine. Scorsese has won the category just once — for 2006’s The Departed. On that front, Spielberg still has one up on Scorsese, having won the category twice (for 1994’s Schindler’s List and 1999’s Saving Private Ryan).
There is one deceased director who has more than 10 Oscar nominations for this category. Care to make a guess?
William Wyler, who was nominated 12 times, and won three times, for films such as 1959’s Ben-Hur.
To win the category this year, Scorsese will have to beat out Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall), Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer), Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things) and Jonathan Glazer (Zone of Interest). Surprisingly absent from the...
The Academy nominated the 81-year-old icon for his film Killers of the Flower Moon with Tuesday’s Oscar nominations.
Scorsese now has 10 best director nominations, surpassing Steven Spielberg, who has nine. Scorsese has won the category just once — for 2006’s The Departed. On that front, Spielberg still has one up on Scorsese, having won the category twice (for 1994’s Schindler’s List and 1999’s Saving Private Ryan).
There is one deceased director who has more than 10 Oscar nominations for this category. Care to make a guess?
William Wyler, who was nominated 12 times, and won three times, for films such as 1959’s Ben-Hur.
To win the category this year, Scorsese will have to beat out Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall), Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer), Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things) and Jonathan Glazer (Zone of Interest). Surprisingly absent from the...
- 1/23/2024
- by James Hibberd
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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