Maude Latour’s fans have described her music as being for people who “had glow-in-the-dark stars on their ceilings” as kids. These days, Latour sees her music as “main-character” pop anthems for dramatic people with intense emotions, like herself.
“It’s for any girly who needs to put their headphones on, and that’s where they go to understand everything,” the 24-year-old dream-pop singer says. “It’s for people who journal. For people who love to feel every feeling and have a strong spectrum of emotions, and aren’t afraid to feel anything extremely.
“It’s for any girly who needs to put their headphones on, and that’s where they go to understand everything,” the 24-year-old dream-pop singer says. “It’s for people who journal. For people who love to feel every feeling and have a strong spectrum of emotions, and aren’t afraid to feel anything extremely.
- 9/19/2024
- by Tomás Mier
- Rollingstone.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for “All Happy Families,” a drama/comedy about the common life element of family that all of us must deal with in our own way, co-written by Coburn Goss and Haroula Rose, and directed by Rose. In theaters on September 20th. See local listings,
Rating: 4.5/5.0
Josh Radnor of “How I Met Your Mother” is Graham, a dejected writer/actor who manages the Landry family two flat in Chicago … his brother Will (Rob Huebel) owns it and has a successful TV show in Los Angeles. When the building needs a new tenant, Graham re-connects with interested party Dana (Chandra Russell) who he used to have a crush on in college. When Will shows up unexpectedly, and their parents (John Ashton and Becky Ann Baker) are also in for a visit, three situational bombshells are about to throw everyone into, as author Leo Tolstoy once said,...
Rating: 4.5/5.0
Josh Radnor of “How I Met Your Mother” is Graham, a dejected writer/actor who manages the Landry family two flat in Chicago … his brother Will (Rob Huebel) owns it and has a successful TV show in Los Angeles. When the building needs a new tenant, Graham re-connects with interested party Dana (Chandra Russell) who he used to have a crush on in college. When Will shows up unexpectedly, and their parents (John Ashton and Becky Ann Baker) are also in for a visit, three situational bombshells are about to throw everyone into, as author Leo Tolstoy once said,...
- 9/18/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
The University of Southern California Libraries revealed the winners for the 35th annual USC Libraries Scripter Award on Saturday. The awards, which honor the year’s best film and television adaptations (along with the works on which they are based), returned live to USC’s elegant Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library for the annual black tie awards fete.
This group of academics, industry professionals, and critics is often predictive of the Adapted Screenplay Oscar race, presaging 14 eventual Oscar winners, including in the last decade “Argo” (2013), “12 Years a Slave” (2014), “The Imitation Game” (2015), “The Big Short” (2016), “Moonlight” (2017), and “Call Me By Your Name” (2018).
Screenwriter Sarah Polley and novelist Miriam Toews won the film award for “Women Talking,” which is nominated for Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay Oscars, while the television prize went to English stand-up comedian and screenwriter Will Smith for the episode “Failure’s Contagious,” from “Slow Horses,” based...
This group of academics, industry professionals, and critics is often predictive of the Adapted Screenplay Oscar race, presaging 14 eventual Oscar winners, including in the last decade “Argo” (2013), “12 Years a Slave” (2014), “The Imitation Game” (2015), “The Big Short” (2016), “Moonlight” (2017), and “Call Me By Your Name” (2018).
Screenwriter Sarah Polley and novelist Miriam Toews won the film award for “Women Talking,” which is nominated for Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay Oscars, while the television prize went to English stand-up comedian and screenwriter Will Smith for the episode “Failure’s Contagious,” from “Slow Horses,” based...
- 3/5/2023
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
“Women Talking” has won the USC Libraries Scripter Award for adapted screenplay in a ceremony that took place on the USC campus in Los Angeles on Saturday night.
The Scripter Award goes to both the writer of an adapted screenplay and the author of the original material on which the screenplay was based, which meant that the award was given to writer-director Sarah Polley and novelist Miriam Toews, whose 2018 novel formed the basis for Polley’s film.
In the 34-year history of the Scripters, the winner has matched the Oscar winner 14 times, most of those in an eight-year streak between 2010 and 2017.
Other finalists were screenwriter Kazuo Ishiguro for “Living,” based on Leo Tolstoy’s novella “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”; screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz and journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey for “She Said”; and Guillermo del Toro, Patrick McHale and Matthew Robbins for “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” based on...
The Scripter Award goes to both the writer of an adapted screenplay and the author of the original material on which the screenplay was based, which meant that the award was given to writer-director Sarah Polley and novelist Miriam Toews, whose 2018 novel formed the basis for Polley’s film.
In the 34-year history of the Scripters, the winner has matched the Oscar winner 14 times, most of those in an eight-year streak between 2010 and 2017.
Other finalists were screenwriter Kazuo Ishiguro for “Living,” based on Leo Tolstoy’s novella “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”; screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz and journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey for “She Said”; and Guillermo del Toro, Patrick McHale and Matthew Robbins for “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” based on...
- 3/5/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
One of the most fascinating elements of Sylvester Stallone's "Rocky" series is how each movie is a reflection of where the star was at that moment in his career. Over the course of eight films (including the two "Creed" movies in which he appeared), Stallone is critically examining his success, be it skyrocketing to ludicrous extremes (in "Rocky III") or direly on the wane (in "Rocky V"). Though his private life is another, far more complicated matter, it's rare to see a massive celebrity wrestle so honestly with his public persona. He's leveling with us because he knows how much we love The Italian Stallion. You're rooting for both Stallone and Rocky to come out on top every time. Well, almost every time.
This is a lesson Sly learned in the immediate wake of "Rocky." There's no more emphatic validation of one's artistic vision than delivering the year's top-grossing...
This is a lesson Sly learned in the immediate wake of "Rocky." There's no more emphatic validation of one's artistic vision than delivering the year's top-grossing...
- 2/22/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
This past year, we've had a lot of discussions about whether Brendan Fraser should have been cast in Darren Aronofsky's "The Whale" due to him requiring a fat suit to play the role. On the one hand, we are all happy to see Fraser be given a lead role by a major director, which hasn't happened in many years. On the other, it is yet another entry on the long list of roles that should presumably have gone to fat actors but didn't. The likelihood that a central character is explicitly written to be large is already incredibly small, but if all those parts are getting taken by actors who need padding and prosthetics to make themselves appear large, when else are fat actors going to be given opportunities to lead films?
As someone who is indeed fat, I often find myself frustrated by this, but I also understand...
As someone who is indeed fat, I often find myself frustrated by this, but I also understand...
- 2/18/2023
- by Mike Shutt
- Slash Film
Prokofiev’s opera War & Peace is presented on 28 January 2023 by the internationally renowned Catalan opera director Calixto Bieito in a joint production between the Hungarian State Opera and the Grand Théâtre de Genève. The cast featuring 28 soloists is led by Andrea Brassói-Jőrös, Szabolcs Brickner and Csaba Szegedi, the Opera Orchestra and Chorus are conducted by Alan Buribayev.
The will to live of the physically and mentally broken Andrei Bolkonsky, wishing to die, is restored by his budding love for the young and cheerful Natasha Rostova in vain as the warm-hearted girl and her family are cruelly and harshly rejected by Andrei’s father, the elderly Prince Bolkonsky. As a result of Andrei’s obedience, Natasha falls into the net of the married Anatole Kuragin, but his elopement with the girl is eventually prevented by Natasha’s cousin, Sonya. The humiliated Natasha attempts suicide in her despair, unsuccessfully. As a result of the events,...
The will to live of the physically and mentally broken Andrei Bolkonsky, wishing to die, is restored by his budding love for the young and cheerful Natasha Rostova in vain as the warm-hearted girl and her family are cruelly and harshly rejected by Andrei’s father, the elderly Prince Bolkonsky. As a result of Andrei’s obedience, Natasha falls into the net of the married Anatole Kuragin, but his elopement with the girl is eventually prevented by Natasha’s cousin, Sonya. The humiliated Natasha attempts suicide in her despair, unsuccessfully. As a result of the events,...
- 1/24/2023
- by Music Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid Music
“Volver a Caer,” a contemporary Spanish-language retelling of the Leo Tolstoy classic Anna Karenina, debuts exclusively on ViX+ on Jan. 20. It stars Kate del Castillo (“Queen of the South”) whose Cholawood Prods. co-produced the series under its development pact with Endemol Shine Boomdog.
“This is our first mainstream TV series for an international audience,” Del Castillo announced at a special screening of its pilot episode in Los Angeles.
She was joined at the post-screening Q & A by ViX+ chief content officer Rodrigo Mazón and the series’ director Hari Sama, best known for his acclaimed feature “This is Not Berlin,” which premiered at Sundance in 2019. Sama, who is also an executive producer, noted that this was the first TV series where he directed all the episodes.
“Hari had the right sensibility for this show, we insisted on him,” said Del Castillo. Indeed, his cinematic background comes through, elevating the six-episode series with more depth and nuance.
“This is our first mainstream TV series for an international audience,” Del Castillo announced at a special screening of its pilot episode in Los Angeles.
She was joined at the post-screening Q & A by ViX+ chief content officer Rodrigo Mazón and the series’ director Hari Sama, best known for his acclaimed feature “This is Not Berlin,” which premiered at Sundance in 2019. Sama, who is also an executive producer, noted that this was the first TV series where he directed all the episodes.
“Hari had the right sensibility for this show, we insisted on him,” said Del Castillo. Indeed, his cinematic background comes through, elevating the six-episode series with more depth and nuance.
- 1/20/2023
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
The USC Scripter Award, now in its 35th year, honors feature films adapted from novels, short stories, nonfiction books, print media, and other movies, with both the screenplay and its source material feted in each case. This year’s nominees include three of Gold Derby’s five leading contenders for Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars — “Women Talking,” “She Said,” and “Living” — as well as “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” which rank seventh and eighth on our predictions list.
The biggest omissions were “Glass Onion” by Rian Johnson, which is in second place in our Oscar race, and “The Whale” by Samuel D. Hunter, which ranks third.
The Scripter has forecast 14 of the eventual Oscar winners for Best Adapted Screenplay, six of which were in the past decade: “Call Me By Your Name” (2018) “Moonlight” (2017), “The Big Short” (2016), “The Imitation Game” (2015), “12 Years a Slave” (2014), and “Argo” (2013).
The...
The biggest omissions were “Glass Onion” by Rian Johnson, which is in second place in our Oscar race, and “The Whale” by Samuel D. Hunter, which ranks third.
The Scripter has forecast 14 of the eventual Oscar winners for Best Adapted Screenplay, six of which were in the past decade: “Call Me By Your Name” (2018) “Moonlight” (2017), “The Big Short” (2016), “The Imitation Game” (2015), “12 Years a Slave” (2014), and “Argo” (2013).
The...
- 1/18/2023
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” has become the first animated film to be saluted at the USC Libraries Scripter Awards, an annual honor that goes to the screenwriters of a film adaptation as well as the authors of the original work on which the film is based.
“Pinocchio” was named as a finalist alongside the screenplays for “Living,” “She Said,” “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Women Talking.” Because the original authors are also recognized, 2023 scripter nominees include 19th century Italian writer Carlo Collodi, who wrote the original version of “Pinocchio” in 1880; Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, whose 1886 novella “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” was adapted by Akira Kurosawa for the 1952 film “Ikiru” and by Kazuo Ishiguro for 2022’s “Living”; New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, who wrote the book “She Said” about breaking the story of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct and were played in the film version by Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan,...
“Pinocchio” was named as a finalist alongside the screenplays for “Living,” “She Said,” “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Women Talking.” Because the original authors are also recognized, 2023 scripter nominees include 19th century Italian writer Carlo Collodi, who wrote the original version of “Pinocchio” in 1880; Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, whose 1886 novella “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” was adapted by Akira Kurosawa for the 1952 film “Ikiru” and by Kazuo Ishiguro for 2022’s “Living”; New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, who wrote the book “She Said” about breaking the story of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct and were played in the film version by Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan,...
- 1/18/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
In a year in which the frontrunners for Best Adapted Screenplay are still unclear, the USC Libraries naming the finalists for the 35th annual USC Libraries Scripter Awards offer more insight into what scripts most stand out. The award, which honors the writers of the year’s most accomplished film and episodic series adaptations, as well as the writers of the works on which they are based, is a major bellwether for the Oscars race, as its winners overlapped with the Best Adapted Screenplay winners from 2011 to 2019. Its voter base is a mix of academics, industry professionals, and critics.
As expected, Sarah Polley’s screenplay for “Women Talking,” an adaptation of Miriam Toews’ 2018 novel, of which the filmmaker has already won several critics awards for, is among this year’s Scripter Award finalists. Nobel Prize-winning novelist Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Living” script (a Tolstoy novella adaptation) and Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s “She Said...
As expected, Sarah Polley’s screenplay for “Women Talking,” an adaptation of Miriam Toews’ 2018 novel, of which the filmmaker has already won several critics awards for, is among this year’s Scripter Award finalists. Nobel Prize-winning novelist Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Living” script (a Tolstoy novella adaptation) and Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s “She Said...
- 1/18/2023
- by Marcus Jones
- Indiewire
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” “Living,” “She Said,” “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Women Talking are among the film nominees for this year’s USC Libraries Scripter Awards. In addition, television episodes of “The Crown,” “Fleishman Is in Trouble,” “Slow Horses,” “Tokyo Vice” and “Under the Banner of Heaven” were also recognized.
A strong bellwether for the Oscars’ best adapted screenplay category, previous Scripter winners that have matched the Academy in the last decade include “Argo” (2012), “12 Years a Slave” (2013), “The Imitation Game” (2014), “The Big Short” (2015), “Moonlight” (2016), “Call Me by Your Name” (2017) and “Nomadland” (2020). Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman” (2019) is the only Scripter-eligible film to win the Academy Award without being nominated by the organization.
The inclusion of “Pinocchio” is particularly noteworthy since it’s been picking up awards steam over the last few weeks. It’s a dark horse for one of the five coveted adapted screenplay spots, which could point...
A strong bellwether for the Oscars’ best adapted screenplay category, previous Scripter winners that have matched the Academy in the last decade include “Argo” (2012), “12 Years a Slave” (2013), “The Imitation Game” (2014), “The Big Short” (2015), “Moonlight” (2016), “Call Me by Your Name” (2017) and “Nomadland” (2020). Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman” (2019) is the only Scripter-eligible film to win the Academy Award without being nominated by the organization.
The inclusion of “Pinocchio” is particularly noteworthy since it’s been picking up awards steam over the last few weeks. It’s a dark horse for one of the five coveted adapted screenplay spots, which could point...
- 1/18/2023
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Living, She Said, Top Gun: Maverick and Women Talking are the film nominees, and episodes of The Crown, Fleishman Is in Trouble, Slow Horses, Tokyo Vice and Under the Banner of Heaven are the TV finalists, for the 35th USC Scripter Awards, the USC Libraries announced on Wednesday.
The most notable nominations are those of Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio and Top Gun: Maverick, given that the screenplays of those films had not yet received widespread recognition, and that acclaimed adaptations of the novels Lady Chatterley’s Lover and White Noise, the nonfiction work The Good Nurse and the play The Whale were also eligible. (A widely lauded adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front was not eligible, as it is not in the English language.)
This year’s Scripters — the nominations of which were determined, as the winners will be, by a selection committee...
The most notable nominations are those of Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio and Top Gun: Maverick, given that the screenplays of those films had not yet received widespread recognition, and that acclaimed adaptations of the novels Lady Chatterley’s Lover and White Noise, the nonfiction work The Good Nurse and the play The Whale were also eligible. (A widely lauded adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front was not eligible, as it is not in the English language.)
This year’s Scripters — the nominations of which were determined, as the winners will be, by a selection committee...
- 1/18/2023
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The USC Libraries on Wednesday unveiled nominees for its 35th annual USC Libraries Scripter Award, which honors the screenwriters of the year’s best film and episodic series adaptations, along with the writers of the works on which they are based.
Related Story 2022-23 Awards Season Calendar – Dates For The Oscars, Grammys, Guilds & More Related Story Charles White Dies: USC Running Back And Heisman Trophy Winner Was 64 Related Story Hollywood Studies Show Few Gains For Women, People Of Color Directing Films In 2022
This year’s film nominees are the screenwriters and original authors from Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Living, She Said, Top Gun: Maverick and Women Talking. In TV, screenwriters were nominated for penning episodes of The Crown, Fleishman Is in Trouble, Slow Horses, Tokyo Vice and Under the Banner of Heaven.
Winners will be announced March 4 at a ceremony at USC’s Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library,...
Related Story 2022-23 Awards Season Calendar – Dates For The Oscars, Grammys, Guilds & More Related Story Charles White Dies: USC Running Back And Heisman Trophy Winner Was 64 Related Story Hollywood Studies Show Few Gains For Women, People Of Color Directing Films In 2022
This year’s film nominees are the screenwriters and original authors from Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Living, She Said, Top Gun: Maverick and Women Talking. In TV, screenwriters were nominated for penning episodes of The Crown, Fleishman Is in Trouble, Slow Horses, Tokyo Vice and Under the Banner of Heaven.
Winners will be announced March 4 at a ceremony at USC’s Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library,...
- 1/18/2023
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
First things first: as I mentioned in my review of Season One, I’m not a gamer, have never played The Last of Us, and haven’t even watched a walkthrough video of it. So I’ll be discussing this episode, and all the ones to come, solely on the basis of how it works as a television show.
Judged on that basis, the super-sized “When You’re Lost in the Darkness” comes off pretty well. All of the season’s episodes are covering familiar ground in some way or other,...
Judged on that basis, the super-sized “When You’re Lost in the Darkness” comes off pretty well. All of the season’s episodes are covering familiar ground in some way or other,...
- 1/16/2023
- by Alan Sepinwall
- Rollingstone.com
James Norton has reflected on working with the disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein on one of the producer’s last projects.
The actor, 37, was discussing the hit 2016 miniseries War & Peace in a new interview with The Independent, when he looked back on his encounters with Weinstein.
War & Peace, a retelling of Leo Tolstoy’s classic Russian novel, starred Norton as Prince Andrei Bolkonsky.
Weinstein served as an executive producer on the show, with Paul Dano and Lily James also starring. It was written by Andrew Davies and directed by Tom Harper.
The drama aired the year before Weinstein found himself accused of sexual harassment, assault and rape in an investigation by The New York Times that led to the #MeToo movement.
Speaking in a new interview with The Independent, Norton said of Weinstein: “He visited the set once when I was there, flew in for an hour, it was a handshake situation.
The actor, 37, was discussing the hit 2016 miniseries War & Peace in a new interview with The Independent, when he looked back on his encounters with Weinstein.
War & Peace, a retelling of Leo Tolstoy’s classic Russian novel, starred Norton as Prince Andrei Bolkonsky.
Weinstein served as an executive producer on the show, with Paul Dano and Lily James also starring. It was written by Andrew Davies and directed by Tom Harper.
The drama aired the year before Weinstein found himself accused of sexual harassment, assault and rape in an investigation by The New York Times that led to the #MeToo movement.
Speaking in a new interview with The Independent, Norton said of Weinstein: “He visited the set once when I was there, flew in for an hour, it was a handshake situation.
- 1/6/2023
- by Ellie Harrison
- The Independent - TV
“I’d say ‘Living’ is harder,” admits Bill Nighy when asked whether it’s more challenging to portray an emotionally repressed man, like his character in “Living,” as opposed to portraying someone who is carefree and uninhibited. For our recent webchat he adds, “the way that I do it, it’s quite physical because you have to hold yourself still and tight and you have to squeeze out the voice and you are forever uptight. That’s quite exhausting!” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
See Exclusive Video Interview: Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch (‘Living’ composer)
“Living” is directed by South African filmmaker Oliver Hermanus from a screenplay by acclaimed novelist Kazuo Ishiguro (“The Remains of the Day”). It was adapted from the 1952 Akira Kurosawa-directed “Ikiru,” which in turn was inspired by the 1886 Russian novella “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” by novelist Leo Tolstoy. Set in 1950s London, Nighy stars as Mr. Williams,...
See Exclusive Video Interview: Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch (‘Living’ composer)
“Living” is directed by South African filmmaker Oliver Hermanus from a screenplay by acclaimed novelist Kazuo Ishiguro (“The Remains of the Day”). It was adapted from the 1952 Akira Kurosawa-directed “Ikiru,” which in turn was inspired by the 1886 Russian novella “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” by novelist Leo Tolstoy. Set in 1950s London, Nighy stars as Mr. Williams,...
- 12/19/2022
- by Rob Licuria
- Gold Derby
“It is a beautiful journey, in a sense of meeting this point of bittersweetness and acceptance,” declares composer Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch about what her score for the British drama “Living” means to her on a personal level. For our recent webchat she adds, “doing this film helped me see things from his point of view because not only has he accepted the fact that he’s going to die, but he’s also found the value of his own life,” she explains. “I’m glad I got to kind of think about that, because it helped me write a better score.” We talked with Levienaise-Farrouch as part of Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with 2022/2023 awards contenders. Watch our exclusive video interview above.
See dozens of interviews with 2022/2023 awards contenders
“Living” is directed by South African filmmaker Oliver Hermanus from a screenplay by acclaimed novelist Kazuo Ishiguro...
See dozens of interviews with 2022/2023 awards contenders
“Living” is directed by South African filmmaker Oliver Hermanus from a screenplay by acclaimed novelist Kazuo Ishiguro...
- 11/13/2022
- by Rob Licuria
- Gold Derby
Veteran filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, now age 92, has worked for decades making critically loved, epic-length documentaries that often reach well beyond the two-, three- and four-hour mark. His subject matter is often institutional, the places of civic and political life: large government agencies (“City Hall”) and small towns, psychiatric hospitals (“Titicut Follies”) and burlesque clubs (“Crazy Horse”), libraries “(“Ex Libris”) and Neiman-Marcus (“The Store”).
So it might come as a surprise to learn that his latest, the intense, sorrowful “A Couple” is neither a documentary nor much longer than an hour.
“A Couple” stars French actress Nathalie Boutefeu as Sophia Tolstoy, a writer and the wife of legendary Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, one half of literary history’s most infamously unhappy marriage. Tolstoy was her husband’s secretary and manuscript copyist, a diarist and the mother to their 13 children. Here Boutefeu (who co-wrote the screenplay with Wiseman) delivers a stunning solo...
So it might come as a surprise to learn that his latest, the intense, sorrowful “A Couple” is neither a documentary nor much longer than an hour.
“A Couple” stars French actress Nathalie Boutefeu as Sophia Tolstoy, a writer and the wife of legendary Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, one half of literary history’s most infamously unhappy marriage. Tolstoy was her husband’s secretary and manuscript copyist, a diarist and the mother to their 13 children. Here Boutefeu (who co-wrote the screenplay with Wiseman) delivers a stunning solo...
- 11/11/2022
- by Dave White
- The Wrap
Frederick Wisman has been making movies since 1967. Now, 55 years later, he’s directed his first narrative fiction film ever shot on location. A Couple stars Nathalie Boutefeu as Sophia Tolstaya, the only actor in the 64-minute film from its 92-year-old director. It’s a methodical piece by Wiseman, shot on the small island of Belle-Île, close to the filmmaker’s home in Paris. He follows Tolstaya around a lush garden and on a deserted beach, focused on the words she’s speaking to Leo Tolstoy and the thoughts coming into her head. It’s ruminative, slight, and washes over its audience—much like Wiseman’s other, non-fiction films.
The director has been prolific in the last five decades, releasing a new film nearly every year, beloved by critics. Wiseman trades preparation for perception, placing his camera in front of his subjects without judgment or interference. This hour-long film is far...
The director has been prolific in the last five decades, releasing a new film nearly every year, beloved by critics. Wiseman trades preparation for perception, placing his camera in front of his subjects without judgment or interference. This hour-long film is far...
- 11/11/2022
- by Michael Frank
- The Film Stage
The forever-rotating catalog of streaming movies and television has ebbs and flows of availability with what we gain and lose every month. November 2022 happens to be a month when we'll lose quite a number of great titles to the digital ether from HBO Max. Everything from some recent genre material, Hollywood classics, and films by major auteurs all leave the service by the end of the month. There are enough great films that I could spotlight a dozen or so movies you need to see before they leave HBO Max and are sent to possibly another streaming service or – and I know it's unthinkable – for digital rental, where you actually have to put down a couple of bucks to watch the movie.
To avoid spending some extra cash before the holiday season burns a hole in your wallet that you will soon regret, here are five films leaving HBO Max...
To avoid spending some extra cash before the holiday season burns a hole in your wallet that you will soon regret, here are five films leaving HBO Max...
- 10/24/2022
- by Mike Shutt
- Slash Film
"Your power crushed my life and my personality as well." Film Forum in NYC has revealed a trailer for the first narrative film from acclaimed doc filmmaker Frederick Wiseman. It's called A Couple, also known as just Un Couple in French, and it's not really a film - a 63 minute chamber piece. A Couple follows a long term relationship between a man and a woman. The man is Leo Tolstoy. The woman is his wife, Sophia. It's nothing more than an hour of a woman reading letters and dairies written by Sophia, his young wife, who he didn't seem to love. French actress Nathalie Boutefeu portrays Sophia as a "determined, loving, angry woman who recognizes the limitations of long-term marriage to a man of world-renown." Which is to say that she didn't really understand that she was married to someone who didn't really care about her. It premiered at the 2022 Venice Film Festival,...
- 9/28/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Frederick Wiseman is in his sixth decade as a giant of the documentary film world. But for his first film after emerging from the pandemic, the 92-year-old filmmaker was ready to try something new. While he is best known for his lengthy documentaries such as “Public Housing” and “Belfast, Maine” that meticulously capture portraits of institutions and communities, the director’s latest endeavor is a fictional film with a running time that barely exceeds 60 minutes.
“A Couple,” which premiered in competition at the 2022 Venice International Film Festival, is a dramatization of the marriage between “War and Peace” author Leo Tolstoy and his wife, Sophia Tolstoy. Sophia takes center stage in Wiseman’s film, which unfolds in a series of monologues based on her letters and diary entries. Nathalie Boutefeu plays Sophia in the film, which seeks to recontextualize the Tolstoys’ marriage and explore the sacrifices that she made to support her husband’s writing career.
“A Couple,” which premiered in competition at the 2022 Venice International Film Festival, is a dramatization of the marriage between “War and Peace” author Leo Tolstoy and his wife, Sophia Tolstoy. Sophia takes center stage in Wiseman’s film, which unfolds in a series of monologues based on her letters and diary entries. Nathalie Boutefeu plays Sophia in the film, which seeks to recontextualize the Tolstoys’ marriage and explore the sacrifices that she made to support her husband’s writing career.
- 9/27/2022
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
“Living,” directed by Oliver Hermanus and starring Bill Nighy and Aimee Lou Wood, comes from a screenplay that Kazuo Ishiguro wrote, adapting it into English from Akira Kurosawa’s Japanese film “Ikuru.” (“Ikuru” itself was inspired by Leo Tolstoy’s 1886 Russian novella “The Death of Ivan Ilyich.”) Nighy plays a British bureaucrat in post-World War II London whose cancer diagnosis inspires him to reevaluate his life of solitude and try to make a difference in his community before he dies. Hermanus, Nighy and Wood visited TheWrap and Shutterstock’s Interview and Portrait Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival for a discussion about the filmmaking process.
Nighy plays the bureaucrat, Williams, and he and Hermanus weren’t too worried by the legacy of Kurosawa’s original film looming over their adaptation. Having Kazuo Ishiguro’s screenplay writing helped immensely.
“We had to ask for permission, and the story is that...
Nighy plays the bureaucrat, Williams, and he and Hermanus weren’t too worried by the legacy of Kurosawa’s original film looming over their adaptation. Having Kazuo Ishiguro’s screenplay writing helped immensely.
“We had to ask for permission, and the story is that...
- 9/19/2022
- by Dessi Gomez
- The Wrap
Click here to read the full article.
Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) will open on Oct. 24 with Takahisa Zeze’s postwar drama Fragments of the Last Will, while Oliver Bill Hermanus’s Living, a reinterpretation of an Akira Kurosawa classic, will bring proceedings to a close on Nov. 2.
Takahisa’s film, based on real events, tells the story of a Japanese prisoner of war played by who battles to keep hope alive for himself and his fellow inmates in a Siberian gulag after his nation’s defeat in 1945. Fragments of the Last Will stars Kazunari Ninomiya, former member of boyband Arashi.
Living is set in Britain in 1952, the same year Kurosawa’s Ikiru, on which it is based, was released. Bill Nighy plays a staid bureaucrat who is inspired to change his life after receiving shocking news.
“Living is the story of an ordinary man, reduced by years of oppressive...
Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) will open on Oct. 24 with Takahisa Zeze’s postwar drama Fragments of the Last Will, while Oliver Bill Hermanus’s Living, a reinterpretation of an Akira Kurosawa classic, will bring proceedings to a close on Nov. 2.
Takahisa’s film, based on real events, tells the story of a Japanese prisoner of war played by who battles to keep hope alive for himself and his fellow inmates in a Siberian gulag after his nation’s defeat in 1945. Fragments of the Last Will stars Kazunari Ninomiya, former member of boyband Arashi.
Living is set in Britain in 1952, the same year Kurosawa’s Ikiru, on which it is based, was released. Bill Nighy plays a staid bureaucrat who is inspired to change his life after receiving shocking news.
“Living is the story of an ordinary man, reduced by years of oppressive...
- 9/12/2022
- by Gavin Blair
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Playing the anti-hero Teresa Mendoza in Telemundo’s hit drama “La Reina del Sur” (Queen of the South) has become second nature to its star, Kate del Castillo. In a way, her hectic career as a producer, actor and entrepreneur, mirrors her character’s upstream struggle against patriarchy — sans the guns and contraband.
Speaking via Zoom from the U.K. where she’s working on the indie film “A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea & Tomorrow” with director Katherine Fairfax Wright, del Castillo reflected on the parallels between managing the challenges of her multi-faceted career with those faced by Mendoza in the show’s long-awaited third season, which premieres Oct. 18 on Telemundo. “La Reina” is a co-production of Telemundo and Netflix, which has international rights to the series.
The new season sees the titular La Reina taking on the brutal male-dominated cartels of South America once again, picking up four years after U.
Speaking via Zoom from the U.K. where she’s working on the indie film “A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea & Tomorrow” with director Katherine Fairfax Wright, del Castillo reflected on the parallels between managing the challenges of her multi-faceted career with those faced by Mendoza in the show’s long-awaited third season, which premieres Oct. 18 on Telemundo. “La Reina” is a co-production of Telemundo and Netflix, which has international rights to the series.
The new season sees the titular La Reina taking on the brutal male-dominated cartels of South America once again, picking up four years after U.
- 9/10/2022
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Paris-based documentary distributor Lucky You is finding plenty of international buyers for its wide-ranging titles that span history, travel, wildlife and science.
Part of French production group Bonne Pioche, Lucky You has seen a slew of recent sales for hit titles like “Science of Emotions,” which examines the impact emotions have not only on people’s well-being but also their entire life. Commissioned by French broadcaster Planète Plus, the doc sold across Europe and North America, including to Zdf in Germany, Rai in Italy and Curiosity Stream in the U.S.
Likewise commissioned by Planète Plus, “Science & Sports” looks at the science, engineering and technology that are helping athletes maximize their performance. A Bonne Pioche title co-produced with Japan’s Nhk, it likewise sold throughout Europe and beyond, including sales to the BBC in the U.K., Belgium’s Rtbf and Canadian channel Ici Explora in addition to deals in China,...
Part of French production group Bonne Pioche, Lucky You has seen a slew of recent sales for hit titles like “Science of Emotions,” which examines the impact emotions have not only on people’s well-being but also their entire life. Commissioned by French broadcaster Planète Plus, the doc sold across Europe and North America, including to Zdf in Germany, Rai in Italy and Curiosity Stream in the U.S.
Likewise commissioned by Planète Plus, “Science & Sports” looks at the science, engineering and technology that are helping athletes maximize their performance. A Bonne Pioche title co-produced with Japan’s Nhk, it likewise sold throughout Europe and beyond, including sales to the BBC in the U.K., Belgium’s Rtbf and Canadian channel Ici Explora in addition to deals in China,...
- 9/7/2022
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Actor Nathalie Boutefeu perambulates around an exquisite garden in full bloom, reciting a monologue in French she cowrote with her director, the words drawn from writings by Sophia Tolstoy, the wife of novelist Leo Tolstoy (whose own letters are also quoted here). The result is an expressive and moving portrait of a tempestuous marriage, one told with elan that feels rich in feeling even if its entire budget probably wouldn’t have covered the cost of croissants on an average film shoot in France.
That bald description might suggest it’s a quirky programming choice for the main competition at the Venice Film Festival unless you knew that the film’s co-writer and director is 92-year-old Frederick Wiseman, the American-born auteur who lives mainly in France now and has directed nearly 50 films in a storied career. There’s something typically puckish and surprising that at this late,...
Actor Nathalie Boutefeu perambulates around an exquisite garden in full bloom, reciting a monologue in French she cowrote with her director, the words drawn from writings by Sophia Tolstoy, the wife of novelist Leo Tolstoy (whose own letters are also quoted here). The result is an expressive and moving portrait of a tempestuous marriage, one told with elan that feels rich in feeling even if its entire budget probably wouldn’t have covered the cost of croissants on an average film shoot in France.
That bald description might suggest it’s a quirky programming choice for the main competition at the Venice Film Festival unless you knew that the film’s co-writer and director is 92-year-old Frederick Wiseman, the American-born auteur who lives mainly in France now and has directed nearly 50 films in a storied career. There’s something typically puckish and surprising that at this late,...
- 9/3/2022
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
by Cláudio Alves
Day 3 at the Venice Film festival finds a nonfiction master dipping his foot into the murky waters of fictionalized narrative. Frederick Wiseman's A Couple purports to dramatize the correspondence between Leo Tolstoy and his wife, starring Nathalie Boutefeu, working from a script made from documented letters. Elsewhere in the official competition, Luca Guadagnino helms Bones & All, a cannibal romance starring Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell. Finally, Romain Gavras brings Athena to the festivities, working alongside Ladj Ly, who co-wrote the film.
As we wait for these movies to become more readily available, let's consider their directors' previous works, including an ode to museums, a fashionable short, and a Scarface revision…...
Day 3 at the Venice Film festival finds a nonfiction master dipping his foot into the murky waters of fictionalized narrative. Frederick Wiseman's A Couple purports to dramatize the correspondence between Leo Tolstoy and his wife, starring Nathalie Boutefeu, working from a script made from documented letters. Elsewhere in the official competition, Luca Guadagnino helms Bones & All, a cannibal romance starring Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell. Finally, Romain Gavras brings Athena to the festivities, working alongside Ladj Ly, who co-wrote the film.
As we wait for these movies to become more readily available, let's consider their directors' previous works, including an ode to museums, a fashionable short, and a Scarface revision…...
- 9/3/2022
- by Cláudio Alves
- FilmExperience
Frederick Wiseman, a voracious reader, doesn’t watch television. In fact, he’d never really gotten through a whole series until recently, when he watched HBO’s “The Wire.”
“I don’t know why, but it was interesting,” he tells Variety drily.
Every couple of years, the 92-year-old master documentarian behind such seminal films as “Titicut Follies” and “Juvenile Court” has churned out a sprawling documentary fixated on a microcosm of society or some sort of social issue, but when the pandemic paused those efforts for two and a half years, it’s Wiseman’s literary proclivities that drew him to Sofia Tolstoy’s writing for his new fiction film “Un Couple,” which premiered Friday in Venice’s Competition section.
Wiseman and sometimes collaborator, the French actor and writer Nathalie Boutefeu, were brainstorming small-scale projects that could be made in pandemic-proof conditions, when they landed on the diaries of Leo Tolstoy...
“I don’t know why, but it was interesting,” he tells Variety drily.
Every couple of years, the 92-year-old master documentarian behind such seminal films as “Titicut Follies” and “Juvenile Court” has churned out a sprawling documentary fixated on a microcosm of society or some sort of social issue, but when the pandemic paused those efforts for two and a half years, it’s Wiseman’s literary proclivities that drew him to Sofia Tolstoy’s writing for his new fiction film “Un Couple,” which premiered Friday in Venice’s Competition section.
Wiseman and sometimes collaborator, the French actor and writer Nathalie Boutefeu, were brainstorming small-scale projects that could be made in pandemic-proof conditions, when they landed on the diaries of Leo Tolstoy...
- 9/3/2022
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
There are two clear themes that have emerged by now at this year’s Venice Film Festival: one is the concept of the lost soul and the other is the sometimes perilous consequence of letting big-name directors cut loose on their dream projects. At 92, Frederick Wiseman has earned the right to do whatever he wants, but anyone getting over-excited about the prospect of this, his fiction debut, ought to know that Un Couple a) isn’t strictly fiction at all, and b) is very much of a piece with his famously unhurried longform documentaries.
The lost soul in his Venice Competition film is Leo Tolstoy’s wife Sophia, played by French actress Nathalie Boutefeu reading a text assembled from various letters between her and her famous literary husband. Aside from Sophia’s hairstyle and dress, there aren’t really any clues to period,...
The lost soul in his Venice Competition film is Leo Tolstoy’s wife Sophia, played by French actress Nathalie Boutefeu reading a text assembled from various letters between her and her famous literary husband. Aside from Sophia’s hairstyle and dress, there aren’t really any clues to period,...
- 9/2/2022
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
At the age of 92, Frederick Wiseman, the creator of long documentaries, has made a short fiction feature. This begs the question of whether his “A Couple” marks a break from a style established over nearly 60 years, or whether it is a continuation in every way, bar genre technicalities. Wiseman is known for his unobtrusive long takes, naturalistic observations, meticulous focus, and gentle humanism. Faith and patience is required of the viewer as he uses a method comparable to mosaic-building to, piece by piece, assemble a bigger picture of people, places, or institutions.
“’A Couple’ follows a long-term relationship between a man and a woman,” reads the film’s logline. This concept is distilled down into episodes of monologue assembled from diary entries by Sophia Tolstoy, wife of the legendary Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy. Their relationship is entirely constructed through her eyes, with his part in things conveyed through the impression...
“’A Couple’ follows a long-term relationship between a man and a woman,” reads the film’s logline. This concept is distilled down into episodes of monologue assembled from diary entries by Sophia Tolstoy, wife of the legendary Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy. Their relationship is entirely constructed through her eyes, with his part in things conveyed through the impression...
- 9/2/2022
- by Sophie Monks Kaufman
- Indiewire
Six decades into a career of over 40 films, the last thing you might request of a new feature from 92-year-old documentarian Frederick Wiseman is that it surprise us. Yet after a run of expansive, richly process-oriented observations of mostly American institutions and communities, his new film, “A Couple,” upends expectations of his work in what feels an almost mirthfully perverse number of ways. For starters, it’s laser-focused on just one person, not a heaving collective of human labor and activity. It’s short — very much so, in fact, barely stretching past an hour. Also, lest we be burying the lede, it’s not a documentary. Wiseman’s first ever narrative feature sees him collaborating with French actor-writer Nathalie Boutefeu on a biopic of sorts: a portrait of Leo Tolstoy’s anguished wife Sophia, dramatizing her marital dissatisfaction and psychic pain with with a lyrical, literate ear.
For viewers going in with that knowledge,...
For viewers going in with that knowledge,...
- 9/2/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
After highlighting 40 titles confirmed to hit theaters this fall, we now turn our attention to the festival-bound films either without distribution or a release date. Looking over Venice, Toronto, and New York Film Festival selections, we’ve rounded up 20––most of which we’ll be checking out over the next few weeks––we can’t wait to see.
Check out our 20 most-anticipated festival premieres below, and return for our reviews.
A Cooler Climate (James Ivory and Giles Gardner; NYFF)
After debuting at NYFF’s third edition in 1965 with the Merchant-Ivory production Shakespeare Wallah, James Ivory returns this year for a world premiere. A Cooler Climate, co-directed with Giles Gardner, finds the filmmaker poetically revisiting a formative trip to Afghanistan through self-shot film he recovered. Featuring music by Alexandre Desplat and clocking in at 75 minutes, we’re curious what the 94-year-old Oscar winner has cooked up. – Jordan R.
A Compassionate Spy...
Check out our 20 most-anticipated festival premieres below, and return for our reviews.
A Cooler Climate (James Ivory and Giles Gardner; NYFF)
After debuting at NYFF’s third edition in 1965 with the Merchant-Ivory production Shakespeare Wallah, James Ivory returns this year for a world premiere. A Cooler Climate, co-directed with Giles Gardner, finds the filmmaker poetically revisiting a formative trip to Afghanistan through self-shot film he recovered. Featuring music by Alexandre Desplat and clocking in at 75 minutes, we’re curious what the 94-year-old Oscar winner has cooked up. – Jordan R.
A Compassionate Spy...
- 8/30/2022
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
In “My Neighbor Adolf,” a Polish Holocaust survivor living in South America suspects that the belligerent German who’s just moved in next door could be none other than der Führer himself. How could that be? Hitler shot himself in his bunker at the end of the war. Or did he? Director Leon Prudovsky’s middling mind game pits David Hayman and prolific German character actor Udo Kier against one another in what could have been a sly, “Sleuth”-style two-hander. But the tonally uneven movie isn’t prepared for its own premise: If the man’s hunch is correct, what are the implications of making friends/enemies with evil?
Years earlier, Malek Polsky (Hayman) sat opposite Hitler at the World Chess Championship in Berlin. He swears he’d recognize “those dead blue eyes” anywhere — and now they’re staring right back at him over the rickety wooden fence that separates their properties.
Years earlier, Malek Polsky (Hayman) sat opposite Hitler at the World Chess Championship in Berlin. He swears he’d recognize “those dead blue eyes” anywhere — and now they’re staring right back at him over the rickety wooden fence that separates their properties.
- 8/5/2022
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Festival
Ana de Armas will be honored with the Hollywood Rising-Star Award at the Deauville American Film Festival (Sept. 2-11). After it debuts at Venice, her latest film “Blonde,” where she plays Marilyn Monroe, will have its French premiere at the festival, with her and director Andrew Dominik in attendance.
Cuban born actor de Armas’s star has been in the ascendant and she has worked with several noted filmmakers including Denis Villeneuve (“Blade Runner 2049”), Rian Johnson (“Knives Out”), Olivier Assayas (“Wasp Network), Cary Joji Fukunaga (“No Time to Die”) and the Russo Brothers (“The Gray Man”).
Past winners of the award include Ryan Gosling (2011), Jessica Chastain (2011), Paul Dano (2012), Robert Pattinson (2015), Elizabeth Olsen (2015), Chloé Grace Moretz (2016), Daniel Radcliffe (2016), Shailene Woodley (2018), Elle Fanning (2018), Sophie Turner (2019) and Dylan Penn (2021).
Meanwhile, the Edinburgh International Film Festival has added Cannes titles, Owen Kline’s “Funny Pages” and Annie Ernaux and David Ernaux-Briot’s...
Ana de Armas will be honored with the Hollywood Rising-Star Award at the Deauville American Film Festival (Sept. 2-11). After it debuts at Venice, her latest film “Blonde,” where she plays Marilyn Monroe, will have its French premiere at the festival, with her and director Andrew Dominik in attendance.
Cuban born actor de Armas’s star has been in the ascendant and she has worked with several noted filmmakers including Denis Villeneuve (“Blade Runner 2049”), Rian Johnson (“Knives Out”), Olivier Assayas (“Wasp Network), Cary Joji Fukunaga (“No Time to Die”) and the Russo Brothers (“The Gray Man”).
Past winners of the award include Ryan Gosling (2011), Jessica Chastain (2011), Paul Dano (2012), Robert Pattinson (2015), Elizabeth Olsen (2015), Chloé Grace Moretz (2016), Daniel Radcliffe (2016), Shailene Woodley (2018), Elle Fanning (2018), Sophie Turner (2019) and Dylan Penn (2021).
Meanwhile, the Edinburgh International Film Festival has added Cannes titles, Owen Kline’s “Funny Pages” and Annie Ernaux and David Ernaux-Briot’s...
- 8/2/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Marcel The Shell With Shoes On director/co-writer/co-editor Dean Fleischer-Camp discusses some of his favorite movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Marcel The Shell With Shoes On (2022)
Marcel The Shell With Shoes On (2010)
The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)
San Andreas (2015)
Airplane! (1980) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Ghost (1990)
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)
Beetlejuice (1988) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s review
Batman (1989)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Batman Returns (1992) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s review
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Ed Wood (1994)
Mars Attacks (1996)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Planet of the Apes (2001)
The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
8 ½ (1963) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Westworld (1973) – Ed Neumeier’s trailer commentary
Robocop (1987) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray reviews
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
Alien (1979) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings
Aliens (1986) – Glenn Erickson’s...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Marcel The Shell With Shoes On (2022)
Marcel The Shell With Shoes On (2010)
The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)
San Andreas (2015)
Airplane! (1980) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Ghost (1990)
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)
Beetlejuice (1988) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s review
Batman (1989)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Batman Returns (1992) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s review
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Ed Wood (1994)
Mars Attacks (1996)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Planet of the Apes (2001)
The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
8 ½ (1963) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Westworld (1973) – Ed Neumeier’s trailer commentary
Robocop (1987) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray reviews
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
Alien (1979) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings
Aliens (1986) – Glenn Erickson’s...
- 7/19/2022
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 classic Ikiru––which we recently highlighted in our feature exploring the best films about mortality––is getting an English-language adaptation. The original film, partially inspired by Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich, follows Takashi Shimura’s character, who receives a terminal diagnosis of stomach cancer and attempts to come to terms with his impending death.
THR reports that acclaimed writer Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of The Day and Never Let Me Go) has now scripted a new take on the story, which will be directed by Oliver Hermanus and set to star Bill Nighy and Aimee Lou Wood. The English-language version will be titled Living, which takes from the original’s translation of To Live, and will move the story to 1952 in London. Check out the synopsis below.
Nighy will play William, a veteran civil servant who has become a small cog in the bureaucracy...
THR reports that acclaimed writer Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of The Day and Never Let Me Go) has now scripted a new take on the story, which will be directed by Oliver Hermanus and set to star Bill Nighy and Aimee Lou Wood. The English-language version will be titled Living, which takes from the original’s translation of To Live, and will move the story to 1952 in London. Check out the synopsis below.
Nighy will play William, a veteran civil servant who has become a small cog in the bureaucracy...
- 10/15/2020
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Danny Huston in Ivansxtc will be available on Blu-ray September 29th From Arrow Video
Danny Huston, Peter Weller and Lisa Enos star in this biting satire on the behind-the-scenes of the Hollywood film industry, with all its drink and drug-fueled excess, from director Bernard Rose.
Opening with the death of its titular protagonist, ivansxtc goes back in time to chart the final days of hot-shot Tinseltown agent Ivan Beckman (Huston) and his fast-paced, wheeler-dealer lifestyle, which will ultimately lead him to an early grave after a shock cancer diagnosis.
Loosely based on Leo Tolstoy’s celebrated 1886 novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich, and featuring a searing performance by Danny Huston at its core and wonderfully sleazy turn from Peter Weller as Ivan s biggest client, ivansxtc is a powerful meditation on life, death and morality set against the glitzy backdrop of La La Land.
Special Edition Contents
High-Definition Blu-ray (1080p...
Danny Huston, Peter Weller and Lisa Enos star in this biting satire on the behind-the-scenes of the Hollywood film industry, with all its drink and drug-fueled excess, from director Bernard Rose.
Opening with the death of its titular protagonist, ivansxtc goes back in time to chart the final days of hot-shot Tinseltown agent Ivan Beckman (Huston) and his fast-paced, wheeler-dealer lifestyle, which will ultimately lead him to an early grave after a shock cancer diagnosis.
Loosely based on Leo Tolstoy’s celebrated 1886 novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich, and featuring a searing performance by Danny Huston at its core and wonderfully sleazy turn from Peter Weller as Ivan s biggest client, ivansxtc is a powerful meditation on life, death and morality set against the glitzy backdrop of La La Land.
Special Edition Contents
High-Definition Blu-ray (1080p...
- 9/4/2020
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
“All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” You wouldn’t expect that quote from Russian author Leo Tolstoy, who died in 1910, to apply to a hip family living in Australia in the here and now. But Tolstoy knew his stuff. And in Babyteeth, available on demand on June 19th, his truth courses through the lives of the Finlay clan.
Psychiatrist Henry Finlay (Ben Mendelsohn) and his wife Anna (Essie Davis), once a music prodigy, enjoy their posh life in Sydney. That is...
Psychiatrist Henry Finlay (Ben Mendelsohn) and his wife Anna (Essie Davis), once a music prodigy, enjoy their posh life in Sydney. That is...
- 6/18/2020
- by Peter Travers
- Rollingstone.com
Exclusive: Celebrated Russian filmmaker Sergei Bondarchuk, whose classic 1966 adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s War And Peace was an Oscar and Golden Globe winner, will be the subject of a documentary telling the story of his life. He also helmed the 1970 epic Waterloo, produced by Dino De Laurentiis.
The feature comes from Art Pictures Studio, the production, sales and distribution company run by his son, the actor and filmmaker Fedor Bondarchuk. The doc is shooting in Russia, France, the UK, Italy, and Los Angeles and counts figures including Jean-Luc Godard, Martha De Laurentiis, and Katharina Kubrick as interviewees. Anton Zhelnov and Denis Kataev are directing.
The project is just one of a number being introduced by Art Pictures to buyers at the upcoming Russian Virtual Content Market, which will showcase the country’s latest productions to international distributors in an online event kicking off June 8. The event, run by national body Roskino,...
The feature comes from Art Pictures Studio, the production, sales and distribution company run by his son, the actor and filmmaker Fedor Bondarchuk. The doc is shooting in Russia, France, the UK, Italy, and Los Angeles and counts figures including Jean-Luc Godard, Martha De Laurentiis, and Katharina Kubrick as interviewees. Anton Zhelnov and Denis Kataev are directing.
The project is just one of a number being introduced by Art Pictures to buyers at the upcoming Russian Virtual Content Market, which will showcase the country’s latest productions to international distributors in an online event kicking off June 8. The event, run by national body Roskino,...
- 5/18/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
This The Simpsons review contains spoilers.
The Simpsons Season 31 Episode 19
The Simpsons season 31, episode 19, “Warrin’ Priests (Part One),” promises, or threatens to be an epic. The episode is named for the Russian masterwork War and Peace. Leo Tolstoy’s prose poem about the French Revolution runs almost 600,000 words. But let’s be honest. A lot of those words are used more than once. This will be a two-part story, which The Simpsons has done more than once. The plot focuses on the Reverend Lovejoy being out-pulpeted by a hipper and more charismatic pastor. This is a conflict the series has explored quite a few more times than once.
By dragging out a premise which has been done before over two weeks, The Simpsons can either make this interesting or rapture us now. Even the saints have been known to walk out of Timothy Lovejoy, Jr.’s ministrations and making an...
The Simpsons Season 31 Episode 19
The Simpsons season 31, episode 19, “Warrin’ Priests (Part One),” promises, or threatens to be an epic. The episode is named for the Russian masterwork War and Peace. Leo Tolstoy’s prose poem about the French Revolution runs almost 600,000 words. But let’s be honest. A lot of those words are used more than once. This will be a two-part story, which The Simpsons has done more than once. The plot focuses on the Reverend Lovejoy being out-pulpeted by a hipper and more charismatic pastor. This is a conflict the series has explored quite a few more times than once.
By dragging out a premise which has been done before over two weeks, The Simpsons can either make this interesting or rapture us now. Even the saints have been known to walk out of Timothy Lovejoy, Jr.’s ministrations and making an...
- 4/27/2020
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
While the live-action Disney’s Mulan has been delayed due to Covid-19, why not revisit the classic animated movie with these fun facts?
“In 1998, Disney broke from its own mold by introducing Mulan, an independent, resilient heroine who isn’t fond of frilly dresses and doesn’t want (or need) to be saved. With a riveting story about risking it all for your family and a rousing soundtrack featuring Lea Salonga and Donny Osmond, Mulan quickly became a modern animated classic. In honor of Disney’s live-action remake, revisit the wonder and magic of Mulan with these inspiring facts.”
Read more at Mental Floss.
Check out these iconic musicals about social distancing in these trying times!
“You’re shut in at home, doing your social distancing duty, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the best thing in the world: musicals! Not only are there lots of musicals...
“In 1998, Disney broke from its own mold by introducing Mulan, an independent, resilient heroine who isn’t fond of frilly dresses and doesn’t want (or need) to be saved. With a riveting story about risking it all for your family and a rousing soundtrack featuring Lea Salonga and Donny Osmond, Mulan quickly became a modern animated classic. In honor of Disney’s live-action remake, revisit the wonder and magic of Mulan with these inspiring facts.”
Read more at Mental Floss.
Check out these iconic musicals about social distancing in these trying times!
“You’re shut in at home, doing your social distancing duty, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the best thing in the world: musicals! Not only are there lots of musicals...
- 3/20/2020
- by Ivan Huang
- Den of Geek
Italian producer Grazia Volpi, best known for bringing many works by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani to the big and small screens, including their Berlin Golden Bear winner “Caesar Must Die,” has died.
Volpi was 79, according to Italian press reports. The cause of death has not been disclosed.
Born in the Tuscan town of Pontedera, Volpi during the early 1960s started working as a production assistant in Rome, subsequently becoming a casting agent and line producer, and then setting up her own production company during the mid 1970s. She became a rare case of a woman producer in Italy’s male-dominated industry.
Volpi started working with the Taviani brothers in 1969 as a casting agent on the drama “Under The Sign of Scorpio,” their fourth work and the first feature they shot in color. The close rapport she forged with Italy’s prominent directorial duo is testified by a cameo she played...
Volpi was 79, according to Italian press reports. The cause of death has not been disclosed.
Born in the Tuscan town of Pontedera, Volpi during the early 1960s started working as a production assistant in Rome, subsequently becoming a casting agent and line producer, and then setting up her own production company during the mid 1970s. She became a rare case of a woman producer in Italy’s male-dominated industry.
Volpi started working with the Taviani brothers in 1969 as a casting agent on the drama “Under The Sign of Scorpio,” their fourth work and the first feature they shot in color. The close rapport she forged with Italy’s prominent directorial duo is testified by a cameo she played...
- 2/10/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
There’s no shortage of great movies coming to Netflix in February 2020, as the streaming giant’s typically eclectic release slate runs the gamut from recent favorites like “Good Time” and “Anna Karenina” to unimpeachable ’90s classics like “Jerry Maguire” and “Starship Troopers.” And while Netflix’s library of older films continues to dry up, the addition of must-see ’80s movies like “Blade Runner” and “Purple Rain” might help to ease the pain, or at least keep you busy while you figure out what to watch next on The Criterion Channel.
This month will also see the release of a recent Sundance premiere (Jeff Baena’s “Horse Girl”) along with a few highly anticipated Netflix originals such as “To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You” and of course “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon,” and at this point we can only assume that Lana Condor and Aardman Animations won’t let us down.
This month will also see the release of a recent Sundance premiere (Jeff Baena’s “Horse Girl”) along with a few highly anticipated Netflix originals such as “To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You” and of course “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon,” and at this point we can only assume that Lana Condor and Aardman Animations won’t let us down.
- 2/6/2020
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Director, screenwriter, literary theorist and author of poetry and philosophy texts Dmitry Mamuliya graduated from Tbilisi State University’s Faculty of Philosophy and went on to study Directing in Moscow. He is the author of the films Moscow (short), Another Sky – which marked his debut feature – and The Criminal Man.
On the occasion of “The Criminal Man” screening at Thessaloniki International Film Festival, we speak with him about the inspiration behind the film and Giorgi, the unnoticeable people of the world, becoming a criminal, and many other topics.
What was the inspiration behind The Criminal Man and how did you create the character of Giorgi?
I was interested in genealogy of a crime, how a person steps into the darkness, into the night, how their soul gets sick and starts a feud with the world around. I suddenly discovered that all that is happening to this sick soul has visual nature.
On the occasion of “The Criminal Man” screening at Thessaloniki International Film Festival, we speak with him about the inspiration behind the film and Giorgi, the unnoticeable people of the world, becoming a criminal, and many other topics.
What was the inspiration behind The Criminal Man and how did you create the character of Giorgi?
I was interested in genealogy of a crime, how a person steps into the darkness, into the night, how their soul gets sick and starts a feud with the world around. I suddenly discovered that all that is happening to this sick soul has visual nature.
- 11/11/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The Goldbergs are going on vacay with some special guest stars this fall.
The ABC comedy’s Season 7 premiere — an homage to National Lampoon’s Vacation — will feature Anthony Michael Hall and Christie Brinkley in unspecified roles, it was announced Monday. Hall co-starred in the 1983 film as Russell “Rusty” Griswold, while Brinkley appeared as the Girl in the Red Ferrari.
More from TVLineSchitt's Creek Finally Gets Emmy LoveSchitt's Creek's Daniel Levy Promises Fans 'a Whole Lot of Love Coming' as Season 6 -- and the Series -- WrapsTVLine Items: Veronica Mars' New Theme, Big Brother Twist and More
In the episode,...
The ABC comedy’s Season 7 premiere — an homage to National Lampoon’s Vacation — will feature Anthony Michael Hall and Christie Brinkley in unspecified roles, it was announced Monday. Hall co-starred in the 1983 film as Russell “Rusty” Griswold, while Brinkley appeared as the Girl in the Red Ferrari.
More from TVLineSchitt's Creek Finally Gets Emmy LoveSchitt's Creek's Daniel Levy Promises Fans 'a Whole Lot of Love Coming' as Season 6 -- and the Series -- WrapsTVLine Items: Veronica Mars' New Theme, Big Brother Twist and More
In the episode,...
- 8/5/2019
- TVLine.com
Exclusive: In a competitive situation, HBO Max has landed Anna K, a TV series adaptation of Jenny Lee’s upcoming Ya novel, with a put pilot commitment. The project, now in early development, is a modern-day, empowering, multicultural retelling of Leo Tolstoy’s classic Anna Karenina. It hails from Entertainment One, Scooter Braun’s Sb Projects and Drew Comins’ Creative Engine Entertainment.
Described as Gossip Girl and 13 Reasons Why meets Crazy Rich Asians, Anna K is set between Manhattan and Greenwich, Ct. It follows a Korean-American “it” girl caught between her picture-perfect, family-approved boyfriend and the guy who might just be her one true love, along with her high-flying cast of friends and family.
Lee will adapt her book as creator and writer of the series. Besides an author, Lee is a TV writer who has worked on Bet’s Boomerang, IFC’s Brockmire, Freeform’s Young & Hungry and the...
Described as Gossip Girl and 13 Reasons Why meets Crazy Rich Asians, Anna K is set between Manhattan and Greenwich, Ct. It follows a Korean-American “it” girl caught between her picture-perfect, family-approved boyfriend and the guy who might just be her one true love, along with her high-flying cast of friends and family.
Lee will adapt her book as creator and writer of the series. Besides an author, Lee is a TV writer who has worked on Bet’s Boomerang, IFC’s Brockmire, Freeform’s Young & Hungry and the...
- 8/5/2019
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina is set for another small-screen remake with The Girl writer Gwyneth Hughes developing an adaptation with British producer Expectation.
Deadline understands that the BBC Studios-backed producer, which is run by former Endemol Shine chief Tim Hincks and ex-ITV content boss Peter Fincham, is in the early stages of developing the project.
Hughes is best known for the 2012 HBO/BBC movie The Girl, which starred Sienna Miller as Tippi Hedren and explored Alfred Hitchcock’s obsession with the actress. She also recently adapted William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair into a seven-part Olivia Cooke-fronted series for ITV and Amazon, and is currently working on two-part drama Honour starring Keeley Hawes for ITV.
Anna Karenina, first published in 1878, is a complex story with dozens of major characters. It tells the story of the eponymous lead, who has an affair with a dashing cavalry...
Deadline understands that the BBC Studios-backed producer, which is run by former Endemol Shine chief Tim Hincks and ex-ITV content boss Peter Fincham, is in the early stages of developing the project.
Hughes is best known for the 2012 HBO/BBC movie The Girl, which starred Sienna Miller as Tippi Hedren and explored Alfred Hitchcock’s obsession with the actress. She also recently adapted William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair into a seven-part Olivia Cooke-fronted series for ITV and Amazon, and is currently working on two-part drama Honour starring Keeley Hawes for ITV.
Anna Karenina, first published in 1878, is a complex story with dozens of major characters. It tells the story of the eponymous lead, who has an affair with a dashing cavalry...
- 7/3/2019
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
For many film fans the name Bernard Rose is usually connected to perhaps his most famous film “Candyman”. However, the English director has also made a name for himself directing many period films, for example, about the life of musician Niccolo Paganini (“The Devil’s Violinist”), Ludvig van Beethoven (“Immortal Beloved”) as well as an adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina”. His new film “Samurai Marathon” takes place during the time and age of the samurai.
Tokyo native Nana Komatsu was born in 1996 and began her career starring in a short film, called Tadaima, before immediately graduating to movies like Close Range Love and The World Of Kanako. Prior to these, however, she was a popular account holder on Instagram and a model. By 2015 she had already won the 38th Japan Academy Prize: Newcomers Of The Year award. She has since added several awards to her roster. Her credits...
Tokyo native Nana Komatsu was born in 1996 and began her career starring in a short film, called Tadaima, before immediately graduating to movies like Close Range Love and The World Of Kanako. Prior to these, however, she was a popular account holder on Instagram and a model. By 2015 she had already won the 38th Japan Academy Prize: Newcomers Of The Year award. She has since added several awards to her roster. Her credits...
- 6/30/2019
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
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