Looking back on this still-young century makes clear that 2007 was a major time for cinematic happenings — and, on the basis of this retrospective, one we’re not quite through with ten years on. One’s mind might quickly flash to a few big titles that will be represented, but it is the plurality of both festival and theatrical premieres that truly surprises: late works from old masters, debuts from filmmakers who’ve since become some of our most-respected artists, and mid-career turning points that didn’t necessarily announce themselves as such at the time. Join us as an assembled team, many of whom were coming of age that year, takes on their favorites.
“I can’t figure it out. Do want to be like me or do you want to be me?”
From the opening frames of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Andrew Dominik stokes...
“I can’t figure it out. Do want to be like me or do you want to be me?”
From the opening frames of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Andrew Dominik stokes...
- 9/21/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
HBO’s Westworld quickly attracted a wealth of eager fans when it arrived last fall due to its twisty-turny, high concept plot. With easily-missed clues and easter eggs hidden throughout, the drama about a robotic theme park gone amok encouraged viewers to put the pieces of the puzzle together themselves. And make no mistake about it, people definitely rose to the challenge as, when the time came for some major reveals to be unveiled in the season finale, many fans had already worked out what was to come.
According to Evan Rachel Wood, who plays android host Dolores Abernathy on the series, the viewers are supposed to be able to second guess the narrative as it’s all part of the fun of watching.
“Usually I’m like, “Okay, I think I have an idea of where this is going,” and then the payoff is always so incredible, so much...
According to Evan Rachel Wood, who plays android host Dolores Abernathy on the series, the viewers are supposed to be able to second guess the narrative as it’s all part of the fun of watching.
“Usually I’m like, “Okay, I think I have an idea of where this is going,” and then the payoff is always so incredible, so much...
- 9/15/2017
- by Christian Bone
- We Got This Covered
Last year’s Emmys honored Mr. Robot… will this year’s ceremony honor a Mr. Robot Maker?
The race for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series will crown a new champ on Sunday, Sept. 17, since last year’s winner, Mr. Robot‘s Rami Malek, didn’t get nominated. And Westworld star Anthony Hopkins has to be a top contender for his mesmerizing work as cerebral theme-park architect Dr. Robert Ford on HBO’s sci-fi hit. (It can’t hurt that Hopkins has already won two Emmys, along with his Oscar for Silence of the Lambs.) But he’ll have...
The race for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series will crown a new champ on Sunday, Sept. 17, since last year’s winner, Mr. Robot‘s Rami Malek, didn’t get nominated. And Westworld star Anthony Hopkins has to be a top contender for his mesmerizing work as cerebral theme-park architect Dr. Robert Ford on HBO’s sci-fi hit. (It can’t hurt that Hopkins has already won two Emmys, along with his Oscar for Silence of the Lambs.) But he’ll have...
- 8/15/2017
- TVLine.com
Esteemed thespian Anthony Hopkins has two previous Emmy wins for the TV movies “The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case” (1976) and “The Bunker” (1981). But it is the Oscar winner’s first stint in a dramatic series that brings him to the 2017 Emmys. Hopkins portrays Robert Ford in HBO’s “Westworld.” Ford is the genius director and founder […]...
- 8/11/2017
- by SamEckmann
- Gold Derby
HBO’s “Westworld” and Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” offered two horrifying visions of American dystopia, capturing the zeitgeist of hate and polarization like no other shows this season. But even though their stories and worlds were very different, they shared several elements in common, including arresting visuals and rebellions led by two female protagonists: The android/host Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) and the eponymous June/Offred (Elisabeth Moss).
In re-imagining Michael Crichton’s adult theme park gone berserk, Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy tapped into a philosophical exploration of consciousness, creativity, and destruction. And in re-imagining Margaret Atwood’s allegory of violence, repression, and misogyny, director Reed Morano found solace in maternal unity.
Not surprisingly, drama series “Westworld” led the Emmy field with 12 craft nominations (two for production design, cinematography, costume design, editing, hairstyle, makeup, main title design, special visual effects, main title music, sound editing, and sound...
In re-imagining Michael Crichton’s adult theme park gone berserk, Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy tapped into a philosophical exploration of consciousness, creativity, and destruction. And in re-imagining Margaret Atwood’s allegory of violence, repression, and misogyny, director Reed Morano found solace in maternal unity.
Not surprisingly, drama series “Westworld” led the Emmy field with 12 craft nominations (two for production design, cinematography, costume design, editing, hairstyle, makeup, main title design, special visual effects, main title music, sound editing, and sound...
- 8/2/2017
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
The classical western exists as an ideal sandbox for stories of heroism, in which white hats can immediately separate our protagonists from the black-hatted antagonists. Occasionally, though, we have a revisionist western that questions and defies the well-trodden patriarchal confines of the genre, as if looking at an old image from a tilted perspective and finding something new.
Sometimes, the characters don’t fit into the dusty old boxes occupied by so many western heroes and heroines. The hero robs and kills to stay alive, frightened and overwhelmed by this strange, new frontier. Other times, the stereotypical Western landscape disappears, blanketed in snow. Horses drive their hooves through ice-covered puddles. Wind screams past bone-thin trees — manifest destiny frozen over, encasing the American dream in ice.
In the case of Sofia Coppola’s newest, The Beguiled, gender and power roles reverse: an injured Union soldier (Colin Farrell) turns up at a girl’s school, an arrival which breeds intense sexual tension and rivalry among the women (Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning). According to our review, the movie is “primarily based on the 1966 book by Thomas Cullinan,” and “appears, at first glance, to be a remake of Don Siegel’s 1971 film adaptation rather than any sort of new reading of the original text. Coppola, of course, is far too clever for that.”
In celebration of The Beguiled, we’ve decided to take a look at the finest examples of the revisionist western. Enjoy, and please include your own favorites in the comments.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik)
Robert Ford (Casey Affleck) idolized the legendary outlaw Jesse James (Brad Pitt), growing up hearing campfire stories about the man. Ford loved James so much that he eventually willed himself into the man’s life story. You cannot tell James’s story without also telling Ford’s. These two tragic lives are irrevocably linked by Ford’s betrayal. The film’s dryly antiseptic voiceover narration confides that Ford grew to regret his violent ways. The same goes for James, who at one point beats a child and then weeps into his horse’s neck, unable to live with his own deeds. While James’ propensity for violence is a deeply cut character flaw, Pitt plays the outlaw like an emotionally wounded teenager. His jovial sense of humor cloaks a vindictive and self-loathing interior. Whether Jesse James hurts himself or someone else, there is always a witness looking on with wide eyes. After James’ murder, Ford became a celebrity, touring the country reenacting the shooting. But Ford gained his prominence by killing a beloved folk hero. And so, one day, a man named Edward Kelly walked into Ford’s saloon with a shotgun and took revenge for James’s murder. Unlike the aftermath of Ford’s deed, people leapt to Kelly’s defense, collecting over 7000 signatures for a petition, leading to his pardon. America hated Robert Ford because he killed Jesse James. They loved Edward Kelly because he killed Robert Ford.
Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson (Robert Altman)
Robert Altman’s largely forgotten and often funny western about egotistical showman Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman) treats its lead without respect, eagerly mocking him at every opportunity. Known across America as they best tracker of man and animals alive, Cody runs Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, a rodeo-like performance of cowboy-feats, ranging from simple rope tricks to the trick-shots of the legendary Annie Oakley. However, Cody is a fraud, a walking accumulation of lies and tall-tales. When Cody gets the chance to hire Chief Sitting Bull, the man who defeated General Custer at Little Big Horn, he’s thrilled, until Sitting Bull refuses to participate in his offensive show. Contrasted with phony Buffalo Bill Cody, Sitting Bull drips with dignified authenticity, totally uninterested in living up to the ignorant public’s racist image of his people. While the manufactured “reality” of Cody’s shows gets applause from white audiences, the stoic realness of Sitting Bull initially receives jeers, until something occurs to the crowd: this isn’t showmanship; this is the real thing. Later, when Cody and his gang form a posse, he hastily removes his show attire and searches through his wardrobe, cursing: “Where’s my real jacket?” So utterly consumed by his own public image, Cody can no longer locate his true self. Altman’s film is a rare western with a lead character who never succeeds, changes, or learns from his mistakes, always remaining a hopelessly pompous horse’s ass.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (George Roy Hill)
As we meet the legendary Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) he’s scoping out a bank, recently renovated to include heavy iron bars over every window and bolted-locks on every door. He asks the guard what happened to the old bank, which displayed such architectural beauty. “People kept robbing it,” the guard says. “Small price to pay for beauty,” Butch replies. It’s a running theme in revisionist westerns to reveal the truth behind the legend. The changing times had rendered bandits on horseback obsolete. But Butch Cassidy and his partner, the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) didn’t see the end coming until the future was already upon them. After barely evading a super-posse (to use a term coined by screenwriter William Goldman) led by a ruthless bounty hunter, they escape to Bolivia with Etta (Katherine Ross) Sundance’s girl, where their criminal ways are similarly received. What began as a vacation away from their troubles slowly becomes a permanent getaway run, sowing seeds of inevitable tragedy. Etta sees what Butch and Sundance cannot: the end. “We’re not going home anymore, are we?” Etta tearfully asks Sundance, informing him that she has no plans to stick around to watch them die. George Roy Hill’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a tearful celebration of a pair of old dogs too foolish to learn new tricks.
Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch)
The gorgeous and haunting Dead Man opens with a soot-faced Crispin Glover trilling as he points out the window of a train: “They’re shooting buffalo,” he cries. “Government said, it killed a million of them last year alone.” The American machine greedily consumes the landscape, leaving smoldering devastation in its path, while a stone-faced accountant named William Blake (Johnny Depp) travels to the hellish town of Machine, where he’s promised a job. Unfortunately, there’s no job at the end of the line for this seemingly educated man, blissfully unaware of his namesake, the poet William Blake. After taking a bullet to the chest, Blake wanders this dying western landscape as if in a dream, guided by Nobody (Gary Farmer) a Native American raised in England after getting kidnapped and paraded around as a sideshow attraction for whites. At one point, Blake stumbles upon three hunters by a camp fire, one of which, played by Iggy Pop, wears a muddy dress and bonnet like a twisted schoolmarm. Writer-director Jim Jarmusch’s twist on the western (accompanied by Robby Müller’s flawless cinematography) hums with textured period detail and vivid costume design, the accumulation of which achieves an eerily stylized tone.
Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino)
The spirit of Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained is in the sequence scored by Jim Croce’s “I’ve Got a Name.” Django (Jamie Foxx), now a free man, removes the old saddle from his horse’s back, a saddle originally procured by a white slaver, the animal’s previous owner. He then mounts in its place, his own saddle personalized with an embroidered D. His freedom is still new and unfamiliar but, Django is more than willing to grasp those reigns. What works best about the film is how Tarantino’s screenplay embraces the politics of the Antebellum South in a fashion carefully ignored by every other western of its time. The dialogue, Tarantino’s most applauded talent, wheels a careful turn between a sly comedy-of-manners and a bluntly provocative historical indictment, always landing on a shameless exploitation cinema influenced need for violent catharsis. Tarantino’s channeling of Spaghetti Western violence, with the gore cranked up to a level far beyond that of even Sergio Corbucci’s bloodiest work, delivers tenfold on that catharsis, splattering the pristine white walls of Candyland plantation bright red.
El Topo (Alejandro Jodorowsky)
Dripping with transgressive and bizarre imagery, El Topo embraces every taboo imaginable with a breathless zeal. Existing somewhere between Midnight Movie oddity and art-house epic, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s second feature envisions the west as an unknowable landscape, dotted with peculiar and grotesque characters, such as a legless gunfighter who rides around on the back of an armless man. Describing the film in narrative terms, beat by beat, would be pointless, although we follow a rider in black, the titular El Topo (which means The Mole) who crosses the desert with a naked boy on the saddle. Though we spend more time with El Topo, his son is the heart of the film, this warped and subversive pseudo-fable exploring the cyclical nature of life. Jodorowsky’s painterly eye for composition lends individual shots with arresting and breathtaking resonance. With less than subtle biblical imagery scattered throughout, including a marvelous sequence involving a religion based around the game of Russian Roulette, Jodorowsky’s film feels at times like a twisted celebration of mysticism, sampling notes from Catholicism, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism. It’s ending, a chaotic, dream-like burst of violence, adds a scathing gut-punch to an already overwhelming experience. There is no other western quite like El Topo, to say the least.
Continue >>...
Sometimes, the characters don’t fit into the dusty old boxes occupied by so many western heroes and heroines. The hero robs and kills to stay alive, frightened and overwhelmed by this strange, new frontier. Other times, the stereotypical Western landscape disappears, blanketed in snow. Horses drive their hooves through ice-covered puddles. Wind screams past bone-thin trees — manifest destiny frozen over, encasing the American dream in ice.
In the case of Sofia Coppola’s newest, The Beguiled, gender and power roles reverse: an injured Union soldier (Colin Farrell) turns up at a girl’s school, an arrival which breeds intense sexual tension and rivalry among the women (Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning). According to our review, the movie is “primarily based on the 1966 book by Thomas Cullinan,” and “appears, at first glance, to be a remake of Don Siegel’s 1971 film adaptation rather than any sort of new reading of the original text. Coppola, of course, is far too clever for that.”
In celebration of The Beguiled, we’ve decided to take a look at the finest examples of the revisionist western. Enjoy, and please include your own favorites in the comments.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik)
Robert Ford (Casey Affleck) idolized the legendary outlaw Jesse James (Brad Pitt), growing up hearing campfire stories about the man. Ford loved James so much that he eventually willed himself into the man’s life story. You cannot tell James’s story without also telling Ford’s. These two tragic lives are irrevocably linked by Ford’s betrayal. The film’s dryly antiseptic voiceover narration confides that Ford grew to regret his violent ways. The same goes for James, who at one point beats a child and then weeps into his horse’s neck, unable to live with his own deeds. While James’ propensity for violence is a deeply cut character flaw, Pitt plays the outlaw like an emotionally wounded teenager. His jovial sense of humor cloaks a vindictive and self-loathing interior. Whether Jesse James hurts himself or someone else, there is always a witness looking on with wide eyes. After James’ murder, Ford became a celebrity, touring the country reenacting the shooting. But Ford gained his prominence by killing a beloved folk hero. And so, one day, a man named Edward Kelly walked into Ford’s saloon with a shotgun and took revenge for James’s murder. Unlike the aftermath of Ford’s deed, people leapt to Kelly’s defense, collecting over 7000 signatures for a petition, leading to his pardon. America hated Robert Ford because he killed Jesse James. They loved Edward Kelly because he killed Robert Ford.
Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson (Robert Altman)
Robert Altman’s largely forgotten and often funny western about egotistical showman Buffalo Bill Cody (Paul Newman) treats its lead without respect, eagerly mocking him at every opportunity. Known across America as they best tracker of man and animals alive, Cody runs Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, a rodeo-like performance of cowboy-feats, ranging from simple rope tricks to the trick-shots of the legendary Annie Oakley. However, Cody is a fraud, a walking accumulation of lies and tall-tales. When Cody gets the chance to hire Chief Sitting Bull, the man who defeated General Custer at Little Big Horn, he’s thrilled, until Sitting Bull refuses to participate in his offensive show. Contrasted with phony Buffalo Bill Cody, Sitting Bull drips with dignified authenticity, totally uninterested in living up to the ignorant public’s racist image of his people. While the manufactured “reality” of Cody’s shows gets applause from white audiences, the stoic realness of Sitting Bull initially receives jeers, until something occurs to the crowd: this isn’t showmanship; this is the real thing. Later, when Cody and his gang form a posse, he hastily removes his show attire and searches through his wardrobe, cursing: “Where’s my real jacket?” So utterly consumed by his own public image, Cody can no longer locate his true self. Altman’s film is a rare western with a lead character who never succeeds, changes, or learns from his mistakes, always remaining a hopelessly pompous horse’s ass.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (George Roy Hill)
As we meet the legendary Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) he’s scoping out a bank, recently renovated to include heavy iron bars over every window and bolted-locks on every door. He asks the guard what happened to the old bank, which displayed such architectural beauty. “People kept robbing it,” the guard says. “Small price to pay for beauty,” Butch replies. It’s a running theme in revisionist westerns to reveal the truth behind the legend. The changing times had rendered bandits on horseback obsolete. But Butch Cassidy and his partner, the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) didn’t see the end coming until the future was already upon them. After barely evading a super-posse (to use a term coined by screenwriter William Goldman) led by a ruthless bounty hunter, they escape to Bolivia with Etta (Katherine Ross) Sundance’s girl, where their criminal ways are similarly received. What began as a vacation away from their troubles slowly becomes a permanent getaway run, sowing seeds of inevitable tragedy. Etta sees what Butch and Sundance cannot: the end. “We’re not going home anymore, are we?” Etta tearfully asks Sundance, informing him that she has no plans to stick around to watch them die. George Roy Hill’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a tearful celebration of a pair of old dogs too foolish to learn new tricks.
Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch)
The gorgeous and haunting Dead Man opens with a soot-faced Crispin Glover trilling as he points out the window of a train: “They’re shooting buffalo,” he cries. “Government said, it killed a million of them last year alone.” The American machine greedily consumes the landscape, leaving smoldering devastation in its path, while a stone-faced accountant named William Blake (Johnny Depp) travels to the hellish town of Machine, where he’s promised a job. Unfortunately, there’s no job at the end of the line for this seemingly educated man, blissfully unaware of his namesake, the poet William Blake. After taking a bullet to the chest, Blake wanders this dying western landscape as if in a dream, guided by Nobody (Gary Farmer) a Native American raised in England after getting kidnapped and paraded around as a sideshow attraction for whites. At one point, Blake stumbles upon three hunters by a camp fire, one of which, played by Iggy Pop, wears a muddy dress and bonnet like a twisted schoolmarm. Writer-director Jim Jarmusch’s twist on the western (accompanied by Robby Müller’s flawless cinematography) hums with textured period detail and vivid costume design, the accumulation of which achieves an eerily stylized tone.
Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino)
The spirit of Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained is in the sequence scored by Jim Croce’s “I’ve Got a Name.” Django (Jamie Foxx), now a free man, removes the old saddle from his horse’s back, a saddle originally procured by a white slaver, the animal’s previous owner. He then mounts in its place, his own saddle personalized with an embroidered D. His freedom is still new and unfamiliar but, Django is more than willing to grasp those reigns. What works best about the film is how Tarantino’s screenplay embraces the politics of the Antebellum South in a fashion carefully ignored by every other western of its time. The dialogue, Tarantino’s most applauded talent, wheels a careful turn between a sly comedy-of-manners and a bluntly provocative historical indictment, always landing on a shameless exploitation cinema influenced need for violent catharsis. Tarantino’s channeling of Spaghetti Western violence, with the gore cranked up to a level far beyond that of even Sergio Corbucci’s bloodiest work, delivers tenfold on that catharsis, splattering the pristine white walls of Candyland plantation bright red.
El Topo (Alejandro Jodorowsky)
Dripping with transgressive and bizarre imagery, El Topo embraces every taboo imaginable with a breathless zeal. Existing somewhere between Midnight Movie oddity and art-house epic, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s second feature envisions the west as an unknowable landscape, dotted with peculiar and grotesque characters, such as a legless gunfighter who rides around on the back of an armless man. Describing the film in narrative terms, beat by beat, would be pointless, although we follow a rider in black, the titular El Topo (which means The Mole) who crosses the desert with a naked boy on the saddle. Though we spend more time with El Topo, his son is the heart of the film, this warped and subversive pseudo-fable exploring the cyclical nature of life. Jodorowsky’s painterly eye for composition lends individual shots with arresting and breathtaking resonance. With less than subtle biblical imagery scattered throughout, including a marvelous sequence involving a religion based around the game of Russian Roulette, Jodorowsky’s film feels at times like a twisted celebration of mysticism, sampling notes from Catholicism, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism. It’s ending, a chaotic, dream-like burst of violence, adds a scathing gut-punch to an already overwhelming experience. There is no other western quite like El Topo, to say the least.
Continue >>...
- 6/22/2017
- by Tony Hinds
- The Film Stage
Owen Wilson may be the one voicing the velocity-defying legend Lightning McQueen in the Cars franchise, but in real life, his son is giving him a run for his money.
The actor stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show Thursday to dish about his work on the upcoming Cars 3, his famous family as well as how his two boys — Finn, 3, and Robert Ford, 6 — are developing, personality wise.
“Ford seems like he might even be a little stunt man in training,” says Wilson, 48, of his “fearless” older child, sharing a video of the little guy doing a belly flop into a...
The actor stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show Thursday to dish about his work on the upcoming Cars 3, his famous family as well as how his two boys — Finn, 3, and Robert Ford, 6 — are developing, personality wise.
“Ford seems like he might even be a little stunt man in training,” says Wilson, 48, of his “fearless” older child, sharing a video of the little guy doing a belly flop into a...
- 6/8/2017
- by Jen Juneau
- PEOPLE.com
How important is resemblance, really?
As we mentioned in our newsletter yesterday, Christian Bale is reportedly in talks to star as former vice president Dick Cheney in an Adam McKay helmed biopic, alongside Amy Adams as Lynne Cheney and Steve Carrell as Donald Rumsfeld. The news, broken by Variety, has lead to a host of reactions across the internet, including a number of Dark Knight and American Psycho related jokes because, you know, duh. Front and center in many of these reactions is speculation (though in some cases, anticipatory salivation might be more accurate) over how Bale will transform for the role.
After all, Christian Bale is known for physical metamorphoses that rank just below those of caterpillars on an impressiveness scale; he famously lost 60 pounds for his role in The Machinist (bringing the 6' actor to a skeletal 120-ish pounds), and afterwards went directly to Batman Begins, eating and weight-lifting his way to 220 pounds, which...
As we mentioned in our newsletter yesterday, Christian Bale is reportedly in talks to star as former vice president Dick Cheney in an Adam McKay helmed biopic, alongside Amy Adams as Lynne Cheney and Steve Carrell as Donald Rumsfeld. The news, broken by Variety, has lead to a host of reactions across the internet, including a number of Dark Knight and American Psycho related jokes because, you know, duh. Front and center in many of these reactions is speculation (though in some cases, anticipatory salivation might be more accurate) over how Bale will transform for the role.
After all, Christian Bale is known for physical metamorphoses that rank just below those of caterpillars on an impressiveness scale; he famously lost 60 pounds for his role in The Machinist (bringing the 6' actor to a skeletal 120-ish pounds), and afterwards went directly to Batman Begins, eating and weight-lifting his way to 220 pounds, which...
- 4/7/2017
- by Ciara Wardlow
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
It seems Angela has impressed the Powers That Be over at Delos.
Deadline is reporting that Talulah Riley has been bumped up to a series regular in anticipation of Westworld season 2, which is expected to air via HBO sometime next year. Neither Deadline nor HBO offered up any further details to accompany the announcement, but it does essentially confirm that Riley’s enigmatic Host will enjoy more screentime come 2018.
Without delving into spoilers, Talulah Riley’s impossibly attractive synthetic was introduced early on in Westworld‘s first season, when she lent a helping hand to Jimmi Simpson’s William as he took his first steps onto Robert Ford’s prized creation. From there, Angela’s narrative became intertwined with that of the Man in Black and, by the time Westworld reached its grisly finale – these violent delights have violent ends, remember – her Host was heavily involved in the bloody events...
Deadline is reporting that Talulah Riley has been bumped up to a series regular in anticipation of Westworld season 2, which is expected to air via HBO sometime next year. Neither Deadline nor HBO offered up any further details to accompany the announcement, but it does essentially confirm that Riley’s enigmatic Host will enjoy more screentime come 2018.
Without delving into spoilers, Talulah Riley’s impossibly attractive synthetic was introduced early on in Westworld‘s first season, when she lent a helping hand to Jimmi Simpson’s William as he took his first steps onto Robert Ford’s prized creation. From there, Angela’s narrative became intertwined with that of the Man in Black and, by the time Westworld reached its grisly finale – these violent delights have violent ends, remember – her Host was heavily involved in the bloody events...
- 3/23/2017
- by Michael Briers
- We Got This Covered
Funko's Toy Fair reveals continue with the unveiling of their Pop! vinyl figures based on key characters from HBO's Westworld series.
The box art and official release date for these collectibles have yet to be revealed, but we'll be sure to keep Daily Dead readers updated on further details.
If you're in New York City this weekend, keep an eye out for these collectibles at Funko's Toy Fair booth, and check here for our previous Toy Fair coverage. And, if you missed it, the Digital HD release of Westworld: The Complete First Season has been announced.
From Funko: "Boy, have we got some Pop!s for you!
Collect your favorite hosts and visitors from one of 2016’s biggest breakout shows!
Pop! TV: Westworld – Dr. Robert Ford
Pop! TV: Westworld – Dolores
Pop! TV: Westworld – Man in Black
Pop! TV: Westworld – Bernard
Pop! TV: Westworld – Maeve
Pop! TV: Westworld – Young Ford
Pop!
The box art and official release date for these collectibles have yet to be revealed, but we'll be sure to keep Daily Dead readers updated on further details.
If you're in New York City this weekend, keep an eye out for these collectibles at Funko's Toy Fair booth, and check here for our previous Toy Fair coverage. And, if you missed it, the Digital HD release of Westworld: The Complete First Season has been announced.
From Funko: "Boy, have we got some Pop!s for you!
Collect your favorite hosts and visitors from one of 2016’s biggest breakout shows!
Pop! TV: Westworld – Dr. Robert Ford
Pop! TV: Westworld – Dolores
Pop! TV: Westworld – Man in Black
Pop! TV: Westworld – Bernard
Pop! TV: Westworld – Maeve
Pop! TV: Westworld – Young Ford
Pop!
- 2/18/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Jeffrey Wright, who has been acting for over 25 years in such films as Basquiat, The Manchurian Candidate, Casino Royale and, most recently, the Hunger Games franchise, is staking his claim on television with HBO’s popular sci-fi series Westworld, which was recently nominated for a Golden Globe for Best TV Series -- Drama. While he’s appeared in a handful of TV episodes over the years and won an Emmy for his performance on the 2003 HBO miniseries Angels in America, it wasn’t until he had a major recurring role on Boardwalk Empire during its final two seasons that TV became a real possibility for him.
“The Boardwalk experience really opened my eyes to the possibility of these longform dramas,” Wright tells Et. Assuming he would be bored by playing the same character season after season, Wright admits he would have balked at the idea of doing TV years ago. But his time...
“The Boardwalk experience really opened my eyes to the possibility of these longform dramas,” Wright tells Et. Assuming he would be bored by playing the same character season after season, Wright admits he would have balked at the idea of doing TV years ago. But his time...
- 12/26/2016
- Entertainment Tonight
As the era of “peak TV” continues, plenty of movie stars are making the leap to series television. Click on to see some of the biggest names who’ve made the jump. Movie stars coming to TV, in other words. Woody Allen, the famously neurotic “Manhattan” filmmaker, may not seem like a TV guy. But his comedy “Crisis in Six Scenes” premiered on Amazon – with costar Miley Cyrus. Anthony Hopkins is the Oscar-winning eminence behind such prestige films as “The Remains of the Day” and “Silence of the Lambs.” But he came to TV as Robert Ford, the ominous creator of.
- 12/21/2016
- by Scott Collins
- The Wrap
HBO’s Westworld may now be off the air – at least, until we get a second season – but that hasn’t stopped it from still being the hottest topic of discussion almost everywhere you turn. With the network giving us the chance to revisit the mind-bending series thanks to a special marathon this weekend, the chatter around the show is still going strong as fans attempt to figure out all of the questions that the rather excellent finale left us with.
It’s going to be a long wait for Westworld to return unfortunately, as it probably won’t be back until 2018, but thankfully, the creators and cast have already begun teasing us with what to expect. Evan Rachel Wood mentioned that the show won’t even really begin until its second outing, while showrunners Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan have been chatting up the expanded universe that we’ll soon begin to see.
It’s going to be a long wait for Westworld to return unfortunately, as it probably won’t be back until 2018, but thankfully, the creators and cast have already begun teasing us with what to expect. Evan Rachel Wood mentioned that the show won’t even really begin until its second outing, while showrunners Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan have been chatting up the expanded universe that we’ll soon begin to see.
- 12/10/2016
- by Michael Briers
- We Got This Covered
Catherine Pearson Dec 9, 2016
The violent delights of Westworld have come to an end, for now. Spoilers ahead as we look back and ask what's to come...
Warning: contains major spoilers for Westworld season 1.
See related Power Rangers, boob armour, and impractical costumes
Dolores fires another shot, the discordant music draws to a close and there is a cut to black. A brief moment of silence. What now? Westworld season 1 is over and while the show has settled a number of the major fan theories circulating the internet, the series finale has handed us mere humans some fresh, new, tantalising narrative threads that are nowhere near tied up in a neat bow.
This series has exhibited meticulous attention to detail in its scriptwriting and visuals so it would be wise to accept that the filming of the next instalment could take some time. With season 2 predicted for 2018 at the earliest, what...
The violent delights of Westworld have come to an end, for now. Spoilers ahead as we look back and ask what's to come...
Warning: contains major spoilers for Westworld season 1.
See related Power Rangers, boob armour, and impractical costumes
Dolores fires another shot, the discordant music draws to a close and there is a cut to black. A brief moment of silence. What now? Westworld season 1 is over and while the show has settled a number of the major fan theories circulating the internet, the series finale has handed us mere humans some fresh, new, tantalising narrative threads that are nowhere near tied up in a neat bow.
This series has exhibited meticulous attention to detail in its scriptwriting and visuals so it would be wise to accept that the filming of the next instalment could take some time. With season 2 predicted for 2018 at the earliest, what...
- 12/8/2016
- Den of Geek
David Crow Dec 5, 2016
The Westworld season finale opens its mystery box, giving us a violent, delightful gift. Major spoilers ahead...
This review contains spoilers.
See related Doctor Who series 10: Utopia and Class director comes aboard Doctor Who Christmas special: brief snippets appear in BBC Christmas advert Doctor Who: looking back at Chris Chibnall's episodes
1.10 The Bicameral Mind
Of all the films that the Nolan brothers have collaborated on over the years, The Prestige is perhaps the most flawlessly and intricately designed. It seems to effortlessly place narrative layer atop narrative layer until, finally, the end result is the viewer traversing the ever-dizzying design of the movie’s structure without a sense of confusion… yet you’d probably be lying if you said that you knew for certain what was exactly going on the first time that you watched it. The point is that all of the threads...
The Westworld season finale opens its mystery box, giving us a violent, delightful gift. Major spoilers ahead...
This review contains spoilers.
See related Doctor Who series 10: Utopia and Class director comes aboard Doctor Who Christmas special: brief snippets appear in BBC Christmas advert Doctor Who: looking back at Chris Chibnall's episodes
1.10 The Bicameral Mind
Of all the films that the Nolan brothers have collaborated on over the years, The Prestige is perhaps the most flawlessly and intricately designed. It seems to effortlessly place narrative layer atop narrative layer until, finally, the end result is the viewer traversing the ever-dizzying design of the movie’s structure without a sense of confusion… yet you’d probably be lying if you said that you knew for certain what was exactly going on the first time that you watched it. The point is that all of the threads...
- 12/5/2016
- Den of Geek
We've reached the center of the Maze. It's not a physical location, a place in the park where the safety catch comes off and the guests can play for keeps. It's a metaphor for consciousness, the inward journey required for an android to become truly alive. In the case of Dolores, it's also the downward spiral to her buried identity, i.e. Wyatt, the genocidal maniac destined to create a new robot-friendly world from the human blood of the old.
But tonight's movie-length season finale – "The Bicameral Mind" – proves that...
But tonight's movie-length season finale – "The Bicameral Mind" – proves that...
- 12/5/2016
- Rollingstone.com
Warning: This post contains major spoilers from last Sunday’s Westworld.
Westworld‘s Bernard is dead… long live Bernard?
Sunday’s episode of the sci-fi series found Jeffrey Wright‘s Bernard learning that he was an android clone of park co-founder Arnold, created by Dr. Robert Ford to (among other duties) help keep his fellow robotic “hosts” in line. And when Bernard threatened to have his creator killed, Ford thwarted him — and then instructed Bernard to kill himself via gunshot wound to the head, which he then did.
RelatedWestworld Recap: Meet Your Maker
In advance of the HBO drama’s 90-minute season finale (Sunday,...
Westworld‘s Bernard is dead… long live Bernard?
Sunday’s episode of the sci-fi series found Jeffrey Wright‘s Bernard learning that he was an android clone of park co-founder Arnold, created by Dr. Robert Ford to (among other duties) help keep his fellow robotic “hosts” in line. And when Bernard threatened to have his creator killed, Ford thwarted him — and then instructed Bernard to kill himself via gunshot wound to the head, which he then did.
RelatedWestworld Recap: Meet Your Maker
In advance of the HBO drama’s 90-minute season finale (Sunday,...
- 11/30/2016
- TVLine.com
See Full Gallery Here
Nine weeks ago, Westworld made its grand debut with the promise that Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan’s long-in-development TV series could stand alongside Game of Thrones in HBO’s pantheon of top-tier television. Granted, many balked at such a comparison, but after a mind-bending trip into Robert Ford’s extravagant theme park, few would disagree that the inaugural season has delivered an arresting story built on smart writing and scenery-chewing performances.
That all comes to a head this Sunday, December 4, with the premiere of “The Bicameral Mind,” the tenth and final episode of Westworld‘s freshman year. Fans are still reeling from the revelations unearthed in last week’s “The Well-Tempered Clavier,” and truth be told, there are many, many questions still to be answered going into Sunday’s super-sized finale. Will these violent delights really have violent ends?
In order to keep viewers firmly on tenterhooks,...
Nine weeks ago, Westworld made its grand debut with the promise that Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan’s long-in-development TV series could stand alongside Game of Thrones in HBO’s pantheon of top-tier television. Granted, many balked at such a comparison, but after a mind-bending trip into Robert Ford’s extravagant theme park, few would disagree that the inaugural season has delivered an arresting story built on smart writing and scenery-chewing performances.
That all comes to a head this Sunday, December 4, with the premiere of “The Bicameral Mind,” the tenth and final episode of Westworld‘s freshman year. Fans are still reeling from the revelations unearthed in last week’s “The Well-Tempered Clavier,” and truth be told, there are many, many questions still to be answered going into Sunday’s super-sized finale. Will these violent delights really have violent ends?
In order to keep viewers firmly on tenterhooks,...
- 11/30/2016
- by Michael Briers
- We Got This Covered
Everyone’s focused on getting answers in the Season 1 finale of “Westworld,” but first we need to make sure we’re asking the right questions. Amidst the speculation about Dr. Ford’s new narrative, converging timelines, and secret identities, it’s easy to lose focus about what really matters: humanity.
After all, isn’t the central question of HBO’s expansive sci-fi drama what makes a human being, you know, human? Between the moral tests facing each guest and the complex awakenings of select hosts is the quest for meaning; purpose; value as determined not by the appearance of being a member of the human race but by feelings that drive human decisions.
Thus the central question facing the finale — which must be answered in the affirmative for Season 1 to prove successful — is, “Will ‘Westworld’ rediscover its humanity?”
While we all instinctively hope to be shocked and awed by the...
After all, isn’t the central question of HBO’s expansive sci-fi drama what makes a human being, you know, human? Between the moral tests facing each guest and the complex awakenings of select hosts is the quest for meaning; purpose; value as determined not by the appearance of being a member of the human race but by feelings that drive human decisions.
Thus the central question facing the finale — which must be answered in the affirmative for Season 1 to prove successful — is, “Will ‘Westworld’ rediscover its humanity?”
While we all instinctively hope to be shocked and awed by the...
- 11/30/2016
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
David Crow Nov 28, 2016
The penultimate episode of Westworld season one
This review contains spoilers.
See related Marvel Studios movies: UK release date calendar Thor: Ragnarok - will John Cena make an appearance? Guardians Of The Galaxy 2: Sean Gunn talks Ravager revenge
1.9 The Well-Tempered Clavier
It’s the mark of a well-made series that when a “twist” or major story point is correctly predicted, one feels a sense of satisfaction as opposed to disappointment. And better still, it’s a testament to the quality of a truly fantastic story if instead of just satisfaction, a major revelation (surprising or not) is greeted with exhilaration and the cathartic release that comes from weeks and weeks of narrative crescendo.
So it was tonight in the ninth episode of Westworld when the truth of Bernard, Arnold, and especially Robert Ford came tumbling out like so many poorly kept secrets. Not to brag...
The penultimate episode of Westworld season one
This review contains spoilers.
See related Marvel Studios movies: UK release date calendar Thor: Ragnarok - will John Cena make an appearance? Guardians Of The Galaxy 2: Sean Gunn talks Ravager revenge
1.9 The Well-Tempered Clavier
It’s the mark of a well-made series that when a “twist” or major story point is correctly predicted, one feels a sense of satisfaction as opposed to disappointment. And better still, it’s a testament to the quality of a truly fantastic story if instead of just satisfaction, a major revelation (surprising or not) is greeted with exhilaration and the cathartic release that comes from weeks and weeks of narrative crescendo.
So it was tonight in the ninth episode of Westworld when the truth of Bernard, Arnold, and especially Robert Ford came tumbling out like so many poorly kept secrets. Not to brag...
- 11/28/2016
- Den of Geek
On paper, it's a can't-miss proposition. The penultimate episode of an HBO genre thriller, shot by Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad veteran Michelle MacLaren, arguably the finest director working in television today? History teaches us this should be some amazing, jaw-dropping, first-rate TV. So what is it about Westworld's second-to-last installment of the season – "The Well-Tempered Clavier" – that inspires more "huh?" than awe.
Before you even suggest it, let's set aside the fact that the evening's biggest "secrets" were anything but. Yes, online theorists sussed out long ago that Bernard Lowe,...
Before you even suggest it, let's set aside the fact that the evening's biggest "secrets" were anything but. Yes, online theorists sussed out long ago that Bernard Lowe,...
- 11/28/2016
- Rollingstone.com
HBO hasn't released the official description for next week's season one finale of Westworld, but it's probably not a stretch to assume it's going to be show's wildest hour yet as we finally get some major answers and, well, probably a lot more questions to take us into next year (or the year after that). Check out the preview for the season finale, titled "The BIcameral Mind," below: Episode #10: “The Bicameral Mind” Debut date: Sunday, Dec. 4 (9:00-10:00 p.m.) Directed by Jonathan Nolan. The one-hour drama series Westworld is a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin. Set at the intersection of the near future and the reimagined past, it explores a world in which every human appetite, no matter how noble or depraved, can be indulged. Westworld features: Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Robert Ford Ed Harris as The Gunslinger Evan Rachel Wood...
- 11/28/2016
- ComicBookMovie.com
Alec Bojalad Dec 5, 2016
Westworld and Battlestar Galactica share many similarities, beyond merely the search for robots in disguise...
Warning: contains spoilers for Westworld episodes 1 to 9, and the entirety of Battlestar Galactica.
See related Rillington Place episode 1 review: Ethel Samantha Morton interview: The Last Panthers Dark Angel episode 1 review Inside the homes of 5 movie serial killers
“Every story needs a beginning,” Anthony Hopkins' Robert Ford tells a newly “awoken” host (the show’s terminology for humanoid cyborgs) during the eighth episode of Westworld. “Your imagined suffering makes you life-like.”
“Life-like but not alive,” the host responds. “Pain only exists in the mind. What’s the difference between my pain and yours? Between you and me?”
“The answer always seemed obvious to me,” Ford answers. “There is no threshold that makes us greater than the sum of our parts - no inflection point at which we become fully alive. We can...
Westworld and Battlestar Galactica share many similarities, beyond merely the search for robots in disguise...
Warning: contains spoilers for Westworld episodes 1 to 9, and the entirety of Battlestar Galactica.
See related Rillington Place episode 1 review: Ethel Samantha Morton interview: The Last Panthers Dark Angel episode 1 review Inside the homes of 5 movie serial killers
“Every story needs a beginning,” Anthony Hopkins' Robert Ford tells a newly “awoken” host (the show’s terminology for humanoid cyborgs) during the eighth episode of Westworld. “Your imagined suffering makes you life-like.”
“Life-like but not alive,” the host responds. “Pain only exists in the mind. What’s the difference between my pain and yours? Between you and me?”
“The answer always seemed obvious to me,” Ford answers. “There is no threshold that makes us greater than the sum of our parts - no inflection point at which we become fully alive. We can...
- 11/23/2016
- Den of Geek
David Crow Nov 21, 2016
After last week's shocking revelations, Westworld slows down for a breather before the final two episodes...
This review contains spoilers
See related The Missing series 2: the writers on episode 5’s revelation The Missing series 2 episode 6 review: Saint John The Missing series 2 episode 5 review: Das Vergessen The Missing series 2 episode 4 review: Statice
1.8 Trace Decay
With the shocking revelation that Bernard Lowe is a host—an elaborately designed and superbly engineered masterpiece of Robert Ford’s sickeningly perverse genius at that—it seemed the world had changed. At least as far as Westworld is concerned, the die had been thrown and there was no going back to the way things were.
Which is why it’s a bit of a surprise that Trace Decay did exactly that… it went back to the status quo. At least on the surface. And given how much the Man in Black has...
After last week's shocking revelations, Westworld slows down for a breather before the final two episodes...
This review contains spoilers
See related The Missing series 2: the writers on episode 5’s revelation The Missing series 2 episode 6 review: Saint John The Missing series 2 episode 5 review: Das Vergessen The Missing series 2 episode 4 review: Statice
1.8 Trace Decay
With the shocking revelation that Bernard Lowe is a host—an elaborately designed and superbly engineered masterpiece of Robert Ford’s sickeningly perverse genius at that—it seemed the world had changed. At least as far as Westworld is concerned, the die had been thrown and there was no going back to the way things were.
Which is why it’s a bit of a surprise that Trace Decay did exactly that… it went back to the status quo. At least on the surface. And given how much the Man in Black has...
- 11/21/2016
- Den of Geek
See Full Gallery Here
If HBO’s Westworld has been guilty of spinning its wheels in recent weeks, last Sunday’s episode, “Trompe L’Oeil,” had viewers rooted to the edge of their seats after delivering what is perhaps the show’s most shocking revelation yet.
Such was the magnitude of said twist that fans are not only speculating on how it impacts the future of Westworld going forward, they’re also beginning to question everything they’ve laid eyes on so far. But the show must go on, quite literally, and Sunday will herald the premiere of episode 8, “Trace Decay.” It goes without saying, but unless you’re fully up to speed with Westworld, avoid the promo below like the plague.
Having debuted in the aftermath of “Trompe L’Oeil,” HBO has now pumped out a series of still images for episode 8, showcasing Bernard, the cunning Robert Ford and Delos Executive Director Charlotte Hale,...
If HBO’s Westworld has been guilty of spinning its wheels in recent weeks, last Sunday’s episode, “Trompe L’Oeil,” had viewers rooted to the edge of their seats after delivering what is perhaps the show’s most shocking revelation yet.
Such was the magnitude of said twist that fans are not only speculating on how it impacts the future of Westworld going forward, they’re also beginning to question everything they’ve laid eyes on so far. But the show must go on, quite literally, and Sunday will herald the premiere of episode 8, “Trace Decay.” It goes without saying, but unless you’re fully up to speed with Westworld, avoid the promo below like the plague.
Having debuted in the aftermath of “Trompe L’Oeil,” HBO has now pumped out a series of still images for episode 8, showcasing Bernard, the cunning Robert Ford and Delos Executive Director Charlotte Hale,...
- 11/17/2016
- by Michael Briers
- We Got This Covered
Are androids really thinking? That’s the big-and-sexy question looming over HBO’s new series “Westworld” — the one that showrunners keep spoon-feeding viewers as the robot Maeve (Thandie Newton) “realizes” her perceived reality that is “experienced” within a western landscape is not reality at all. It’s the question Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) comes close to answering when he claims that the androids are “free under my control,” and also the one raised when Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) is inspired to venture beyond her programmed loop after disturbing memories surface inside her robot mind. Also Read: HBO Renews 'Westworld,...
- 11/16/2016
- by Meriah Doty
- The Wrap
[Warning: This story contains spoilers from episode seven of HBO's Westworld.] "That doesn't look like anything to me." As Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) utters these words, staring at schematics for a robot that looks an awful lot like the man himself — schematics that he himself can't even see — the truth quickly becomes apparent: the brilliant programmer of hosts is actually a host himself. It's easily the biggest turn yet for Jonathan "Jonah" Nolan and Lisa Joy's genre-bending thriller, not only in its revelation of Bernard's true nature, but also in how it reveals Robert Ford (Anthony
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- 11/15/2016
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
[Warning: This story contains massive spoilers for the seventh episode of HBO's Westworld.] "Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality?" It's a question posed all throughout Westworld, as technicians and scientists analyze and diagnose the hosts. Indeed, it's a question often posed by Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright), the park's main scientific mind second only to founder Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins). It's not a question he often asks himself, however — and based on the ending of the show's seventh episode, it's certainly one he'll be asking himself a lot moving forward. In the episode, "Trompe L'Oeil,"
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- 11/14/2016
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
It wasn't Theresa's greatest day at Westworld.
Then again, Westworld Season 1 Episode 7 proved many at the park are deceived on a daily basis. There's only one man who knows everything, and he doesn't seem all that willing to share his secrets.
In fact, if he dies, the entirety of Westworld may go up in smoke with Robert Ford.
As I write these reviews prior to seeing previews for the coming episode (and this week don't have another installment to watch in advance), I can't help but wonder how much of what I say will be wiped clean by a simple 30 look into what lies ahead.
Because we were treated a confirmation and a lot of conjecture with "Trompe L'Oeil." It's impossible to keep the brain from spinning out of control. I feel a bit like Bernard at the moment, poor, far too free Bernard.
I'm not one. I can't be.
Then again, Westworld Season 1 Episode 7 proved many at the park are deceived on a daily basis. There's only one man who knows everything, and he doesn't seem all that willing to share his secrets.
In fact, if he dies, the entirety of Westworld may go up in smoke with Robert Ford.
As I write these reviews prior to seeing previews for the coming episode (and this week don't have another installment to watch in advance), I can't help but wonder how much of what I say will be wiped clean by a simple 30 look into what lies ahead.
Because we were treated a confirmation and a lot of conjecture with "Trompe L'Oeil." It's impossible to keep the brain from spinning out of control. I feel a bit like Bernard at the moment, poor, far too free Bernard.
I'm not one. I can't be.
- 11/14/2016
- by Carissa Pavlica
- TVfanatic
[Warning: This story contains massive spoilers for episode seven of HBO's Westworld.] "And in that sleep, what dreams may come." Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) evokes the words of William Shakespeare, as he closes the book on the latest episode of Westworld, and opens a new chapter for the story moving forward. With one single scene, the HBO series from Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy leaps forward onto a dangerous new path, completely shattering two characters — one of them dead, and another transformed forevermore. The big Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) and Theresa (Sidse Babett Knudsen) scene certainly stands out
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- 11/14/2016
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Behind every great man is a great android.
That's the shocking secret at the heart of this week's aptly titled Westworld episode, "Trompe L'Oeil." Bernard Lowe, the melancholy, mild-mannered heir apparent to mad genius Dr. Robert Ford, is in fact the scientist's creation, and not his protégé at all. Unfortunately for Theresa Cullen, who's staged a coup against both men (er, one man and one machine), she only has minutes to process this revelation before the park's founder orders his mechanical minion to kill her. Live by the droid, die by the droid.
That's the shocking secret at the heart of this week's aptly titled Westworld episode, "Trompe L'Oeil." Bernard Lowe, the melancholy, mild-mannered heir apparent to mad genius Dr. Robert Ford, is in fact the scientist's creation, and not his protégé at all. Unfortunately for Theresa Cullen, who's staged a coup against both men (er, one man and one machine), she only has minutes to process this revelation before the park's founder orders his mechanical minion to kill her. Live by the droid, die by the droid.
- 11/14/2016
- Rollingstone.com
"What door?" Well, one character isn't who we thought they were and others may have been changed forever. Next week's episode will see Maeve attempting to change her story, Teddy haunted by disturbing memories of the past, and Bernard struggling with his situation. Check out the promo for episode eight, titled "Trace Decay" below: Episode #8: “Trace Decay” Debut date: Sunday, Nov. 20 (9:00-10:00 p.m.) Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) struggles with a mandate; Maeve (Thandie Newton) looks to change her script; Teddy (James Marsden) is jarred by dark memories. Written by Charles Yu & Lisa Joy; directed by Stephen Williams. The one-hour drama series Westworld is a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin. Set at the intersection of the near future and the reimagined past, it explores a world in which every human appetite, no matter how noble or depraved, can be indulged.
- 11/14/2016
- ComicBookMovie.com
See Full Gallery Here
Drama, revelations and a challenging dose of probing, philosophical questions – all elements that course through the veins of “The Adversary,” the sixth episode of Westworld, and here we get an early glimpse of how those story beats carry over into Sunday’s all-new installment.
Entitled “Trompe L’Oeil,” the title alone is a nod to the French term coined to describe an “art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions.” So, Westworld, essentially.
Completing the one-two punch following Monday’s sneak peek, HBO has now lifted the lid on a series of images for Westworld episode 7, shedding light on a pensive Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins), Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) and Maeve, who has fast become one of the most interesting characters over the past few episodes.
More News From The Web
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What started as...
Drama, revelations and a challenging dose of probing, philosophical questions – all elements that course through the veins of “The Adversary,” the sixth episode of Westworld, and here we get an early glimpse of how those story beats carry over into Sunday’s all-new installment.
Entitled “Trompe L’Oeil,” the title alone is a nod to the French term coined to describe an “art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions.” So, Westworld, essentially.
Completing the one-two punch following Monday’s sneak peek, HBO has now lifted the lid on a series of images for Westworld episode 7, shedding light on a pensive Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins), Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) and Maeve, who has fast become one of the most interesting characters over the past few episodes.
More News From The Web
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What started as...
- 11/9/2016
- by Michael Briers
- We Got This Covered
Warning: Spoilers For Westworld Ahead. How old is Robert Ford? It’s a question that has been plaguing me since Anthony Hopkins first appeared on screen, talking to the broken down host Old Bill (Michael Wincott), in the Westworld premiere. The confusion has only deepened with each successive piece of information revealed about Ford’s past. We know Sir Anthony himself is 78, but that means little and less in a future where we’ve cured any and all ailments that currently control the human population. But now that we know the child robot (Oliver Bell) is indeed a young version of Ford, I’m more convinced than ever that the creator of Westworld is older than he appears. There are many incongruities to Robert Ford’s life. The fact his robot family is dressed in ‘ye olden’ clothes despite little chance* of them running into other guests or hosts. Ford...
- 11/8/2016
- by Donna Dickens
- Hitfix
From the coarse sand littering the artificial plains to the countless layers of secrets buried deep beneath the park itself, Westworld is an attraction that’s very much built on illusion.
It’s rather fitting, then, that the title for the show’s seventh episode, “Trompe L’Oeil,” is a French term coined to describe an “art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions.” That is, in a nutshell, the fundamental philosophy governing Robert Ford’s grand vision, and it appears that coming off the back of last night’s “The Adversary,” Westworld‘s enigmatic park owner continues to push full steam ahead on that massive new narrative.
More News From The Web
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Up above, you’ll see the first promo for next week’s episode and, in building on the bubbling tension and anomalies that have cropped up in recent installments,...
It’s rather fitting, then, that the title for the show’s seventh episode, “Trompe L’Oeil,” is a French term coined to describe an “art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions.” That is, in a nutshell, the fundamental philosophy governing Robert Ford’s grand vision, and it appears that coming off the back of last night’s “The Adversary,” Westworld‘s enigmatic park owner continues to push full steam ahead on that massive new narrative.
More News From The Web
-->
Up above, you’ll see the first promo for next week’s episode and, in building on the bubbling tension and anomalies that have cropped up in recent installments,...
- 11/7/2016
- by Michael Briers
- We Got This Covered
David Crow Nov 7, 2016
Thandie Newton continues to shine in Westworld, which delivers a revelatory but uneven episode in The Adversary. Spoilers...
This review contains spoilers.
See related Marvel Studios: how long is left on everyone’s contracts?
1.6 The Adversary
More than any hour of Westworld to date, The Adversary was a showcase for Thandie Newton’s bravura performance as Maeve.
There’s the obvious fearlessness in the physical requirements of Maeve’s scenes, which frequently mean frank close-ups of nudity, suggesting an almost clinical objectification of her body. Yet, this episode is also, paradoxically, the strongest repudiation of the reading that Westworld is an excuse for exploitation and subjugation of its female performers. To be sure, Newton was required to be nude for most of her scenes, and in her first sequence where she was clothed, she provoked a hulking, stinky guest to first try to rape her and then strangle her to death.
Thandie Newton continues to shine in Westworld, which delivers a revelatory but uneven episode in The Adversary. Spoilers...
This review contains spoilers.
See related Marvel Studios: how long is left on everyone’s contracts?
1.6 The Adversary
More than any hour of Westworld to date, The Adversary was a showcase for Thandie Newton’s bravura performance as Maeve.
There’s the obvious fearlessness in the physical requirements of Maeve’s scenes, which frequently mean frank close-ups of nudity, suggesting an almost clinical objectification of her body. Yet, this episode is also, paradoxically, the strongest repudiation of the reading that Westworld is an excuse for exploitation and subjugation of its female performers. To be sure, Newton was required to be nude for most of her scenes, and in her first sequence where she was clothed, she provoked a hulking, stinky guest to first try to rape her and then strangle her to death.
- 11/7/2016
- Den of Geek
Need to catch up? Check out last week’s Westworld recap here.
As it turns out, Westworld‘s Dr. Robert Ford is a real family man.
One caveat: The reclusive scientist’s “family” is a bunch of offline hosts based on his deceased relatives (and, as we guessed earlier, himself), living in a far-off sector of the park, who ignore all voice commands except for his. He calls them “ghosts,” and the eccentric designer prides himself on the fact that he added a bit of jerkiness/menace to his father-figure ‘bot (which was designed by his old partner, Arnold) in...
As it turns out, Westworld‘s Dr. Robert Ford is a real family man.
One caveat: The reclusive scientist’s “family” is a bunch of offline hosts based on his deceased relatives (and, as we guessed earlier, himself), living in a far-off sector of the park, who ignore all voice commands except for his. He calls them “ghosts,” and the eccentric designer prides himself on the fact that he added a bit of jerkiness/menace to his father-figure ‘bot (which was designed by his old partner, Arnold) in...
- 11/7/2016
- TVLine.com
[Warning: This story contains spoilers through episode six of HBO's Westworld.] Two episodes ago, Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) told Delos board representative Theresa Cullen (Sidse Babett Knudsen) that his new narrative would not be a retrospective: "I'm not the sentimental type." But perhaps Ford does not know his own heart as well as he knows the ins and outs of the world he's created. The sixth episode of Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy's series, called "The Adversary," reveals that Ford owns host versions of his own family — including a young version of himself, the same android
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- 11/7/2016
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Westworld is a show about androids, but the titular theme park's biggest problem is – let's face it – its H.R. department. Delos, the corporation behind the theme resort, has based its staffing structure around a system of checks and balances – though in practice it's more like Republican and Democrat zero-sum party politics, or a Hobbesian war of all against all. The boffin-y behavioral scientists, the temperamental artists who craft storylines, the hardcases who handle security, the grunts in the basement chop shop: They work against each other far, far more than they work together.
- 11/7/2016
- Rollingstone.com
We've just crossed the halfway point of Westworld's first season and it doesn't look like the show plans on slowing down anytime soon. Next week, Dolores & William make their way into some treacherous terrain where danger lurks. Meanwhile, Bernard contemplates his next move while Maeve delivers a deadly ultimatum. Check out the preview for the next episode, titled "Trompe L'Oeil," below: Episode #7: “Trompe L’Oeil” Debut date: Sunday, Nov. 13 (9:00-10:00 p.m.) Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) and William (Jimmi Simpson) journey into treacherous terrain; Maeve (Thandie Newton) delivers an ultimatum; Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) considers his next move. Written by Halley Gross & Jonathan Nolan; directed by Frederick E.O. Toye. The one-hour drama series Westworld is a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin. Set at the intersection of the near future and the reimagined past, it explores a world in which every human appetite,...
- 11/7/2016
- ComicBookMovie.com
We’ve officially reached the halfway mark on HBO’s thrilling new series “Westworld” and things are getting even more compelling inside the Western themed amusement park.
Last week’s episode had Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) experience a new awakening, as well as revealed that someone was broadcasting satellite data out of the park. What was probably one of the most enticing moments was when Maeve (Thandie Newton) once again woke herself up while she was getting fixed. In anticipation of episode 6, HBO released six new images to give viewers some insight on what’s to come.
Read More: ‘Westworld’ Review: ‘Contrapasso’ Searches for Purpose in Between the Orgies
The new episode, titled “The Adversary,” will feature more of Maeve as she charms technician Lutz (Leonardo Nam) and begins to ask questions. The new images also show Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) inside the park and reuniting with the mysterious little boy,...
Last week’s episode had Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) experience a new awakening, as well as revealed that someone was broadcasting satellite data out of the park. What was probably one of the most enticing moments was when Maeve (Thandie Newton) once again woke herself up while she was getting fixed. In anticipation of episode 6, HBO released six new images to give viewers some insight on what’s to come.
Read More: ‘Westworld’ Review: ‘Contrapasso’ Searches for Purpose in Between the Orgies
The new episode, titled “The Adversary,” will feature more of Maeve as she charms technician Lutz (Leonardo Nam) and begins to ask questions. The new images also show Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) inside the park and reuniting with the mysterious little boy,...
- 11/3/2016
- by Liz Calvario
- Indiewire
See Full Gallery Here
Another week, another batch of Westworld photos to peruse in anticipation of Sunday’s new episode.
This time, they’re pulled from “The Adversary,” the sixth episode of HBO’s sci-fi Western series, and feature Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright), Maeve (Thandie Newton) and Robert Ford himself (Anthony Hopkins) no doubt musing about the nature (and future?) of the park with his young confidant. We’ve included the episode synopsis after the jump, so if you’re yet to fully catch up with Westworld, we’d advise bookmarking this page and returning when you’ve done so.
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No stranger to a diagnostics test deep within the bowels of Westworld, we know from Sunday’s outrageous “Contrapasso” episode that Maeve has become aware of the park’s artificial nature – all of those dream sequences were leading somewhere, right? Judging by these pictures,...
Another week, another batch of Westworld photos to peruse in anticipation of Sunday’s new episode.
This time, they’re pulled from “The Adversary,” the sixth episode of HBO’s sci-fi Western series, and feature Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright), Maeve (Thandie Newton) and Robert Ford himself (Anthony Hopkins) no doubt musing about the nature (and future?) of the park with his young confidant. We’ve included the episode synopsis after the jump, so if you’re yet to fully catch up with Westworld, we’d advise bookmarking this page and returning when you’ve done so.
More News From The Web
-->
No stranger to a diagnostics test deep within the bowels of Westworld, we know from Sunday’s outrageous “Contrapasso” episode that Maeve has become aware of the park’s artificial nature – all of those dream sequences were leading somewhere, right? Judging by these pictures,...
- 11/2/2016
- by Michael Briers
- We Got This Covered
Following the premiere of last night’s “Contrapasso,” Westworld has barrelled past the half-way point in its inaugural season, and as HBO slowly begins to ramp up the tension in anticipation of the finale – a finale that will floor us all, apparently – an extended promo has found its way online that looks to the weeks ahead with a mixture of excitement and trepidation.
Featuring Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright), Maeve (Thandie Newton) and Robert Ford himself (Anthony Hopkins), much of the footage appears to be pulled from “The Adversary,” the sixth episode of Westworld that’s expected to arrive on Sunday, November 6. Unless you’re fully caught up to date with Westworld, bookmark this page and check back at a later date to negate the risk of spoilers.
Westworld Gallery 1 of 55
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Still with us? Now that she’s twigged on to the park’s artificial nature,...
Featuring Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright), Maeve (Thandie Newton) and Robert Ford himself (Anthony Hopkins), much of the footage appears to be pulled from “The Adversary,” the sixth episode of Westworld that’s expected to arrive on Sunday, November 6. Unless you’re fully caught up to date with Westworld, bookmark this page and check back at a later date to negate the risk of spoilers.
Westworld Gallery 1 of 55
Click to skip More From The Web
Still with us? Now that she’s twigged on to the park’s artificial nature,...
- 10/31/2016
- by Michael Briers
- We Got This Covered
David Crow Oct 31, 2016
At the halfway point in season one, we consider the fan theories as to what’s going on under the surface in Westworld. Spoilers…
Read David's spoiler-filled review of Westworld episode 5, here.
See related Crazyhead episode 2 review: A Pine Fresh Scent Crazyhead episode 1 review: A Very Trippy Horse Buffy The Vampire Slayer: an episode roadmap for beginners Wolfblood: Buffy for the Cbbc generation
Warning: contains spoilers.
The layers have become so thick in Westworld’s multiplying mysteries that I decided it’s time to break down some of the fan theories, and to posit my own using the numerous revelations from episode five Contrapasso.
Increasingly, fans continue to speculate that the show is divided into several timelines. Most notably, there is the idea that William and Ed Harris’ Man in Black are the same character from different eras: one his first white-hatted sojourn into the theme...
At the halfway point in season one, we consider the fan theories as to what’s going on under the surface in Westworld. Spoilers…
Read David's spoiler-filled review of Westworld episode 5, here.
See related Crazyhead episode 2 review: A Pine Fresh Scent Crazyhead episode 1 review: A Very Trippy Horse Buffy The Vampire Slayer: an episode roadmap for beginners Wolfblood: Buffy for the Cbbc generation
Warning: contains spoilers.
The layers have become so thick in Westworld’s multiplying mysteries that I decided it’s time to break down some of the fan theories, and to posit my own using the numerous revelations from episode five Contrapasso.
Increasingly, fans continue to speculate that the show is divided into several timelines. Most notably, there is the idea that William and Ed Harris’ Man in Black are the same character from different eras: one his first white-hatted sojourn into the theme...
- 10/31/2016
- Den of Geek
Tonight's episode, which featured an orgy of epic proportions, just may have put HBO's other hit fantasy drama Game of Thrones to shame. HBO has released an extended promo for next week's installment, which also previews the latter half of the season, showcasing some very interesting developments. We also see Dolores in the next step of her transformation. Check it out below: Live without limits. The one-hour drama series Westworld is a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin. Set at the intersection of the near future and the reimagined past, it explores a world in which every human appetite, no matter how noble or depraved, can be indulged. Westworld features: Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Robert Ford Ed Harris as The Gunslinger Evan Rachel Wood as Dolores Abernathy James Marsden as Teddy Flood Thandie Newton as Maeve Millay Jeffrey Wright as Bernard Lowe Tessa Thompson...
- 10/31/2016
- ComicBookMovie.com
We are digging ever deeper into the truth about Westworld, but I feel dumber than ever after watching "Contrapasso."
I'm on a two-day hiatus from caffeine, and that's never easy. But Westworld Season 1 Episode 5 was also a lesson in subtleties. Nothing came out and smacked you in the face with its meaning.
What I took away from the hour is that in the middle of the maze not only will we find Arnold, but the key to why he wanted to end Westworld 35 years ago. Maybe. Or maybe 100 million other beautiful parts which have been in hiding, similar to how The Man in Black saw and now sees the hosts.
How do you like to watch television?
Do you just sit back, watch and enjoy the surprises as they come, or do you like to theorize about everything that might have meaning?
If you haven't noticed, I definitely fall into the latter category.
I'm on a two-day hiatus from caffeine, and that's never easy. But Westworld Season 1 Episode 5 was also a lesson in subtleties. Nothing came out and smacked you in the face with its meaning.
What I took away from the hour is that in the middle of the maze not only will we find Arnold, but the key to why he wanted to end Westworld 35 years ago. Maybe. Or maybe 100 million other beautiful parts which have been in hiding, similar to how The Man in Black saw and now sees the hosts.
How do you like to watch television?
Do you just sit back, watch and enjoy the surprises as they come, or do you like to theorize about everything that might have meaning?
If you haven't noticed, I definitely fall into the latter category.
- 10/31/2016
- by Carissa Pavlica
- TVfanatic
The remote town of Pariah – "city of outcasts, delinquents, thieves, whores, and murderers" – located below the border, where die-hard Southern "Confederados" wage war against Mexican revolutionaries. The buried memories of the past, where the dead inventor called Arnold continues to command his android army. The Maze, the late co-founder's mysterious magnum opus, and the secret at its center. It seems like every character in this week's episode of Westworld – "Contrapasso" – is trying to get as far as possible from where they started. But the show's biggest problems remain way closer to home.
- 10/31/2016
- Rollingstone.com
Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) built Westworld. The Man in Black (Ed Harris) aims to break it. At the center of their conflict: a third party, Arnold, the park's co-creator who died long ago, and has long since been forgotten — if only by the history books. The two flesh-and-blood figures, as well as the ghost that haunts them both, are finally set to share the stage together in the coming episode of the HBO series. While every fan hoped that an on-screen collision between legendary actors Hopkins and Harris was inevitable, most of those fans likely
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- 10/29/2016
- by Josh Wigler
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
David Crow Oct 24, 2016
Is Westworld risking following in the footsteps of Lost? The mysteries and riddles keep coming in the latest episode, Dissonance Theory...
This review contains spoilers.
See related Arrow season 5: trailer for episode 4, Penance Legends Of Tomorrow season 2: trailer heads to Feudal Japan Supergirl season 2: episode 4 trailer teases alien fight club
1.4 Dissonance Theory
When I watched the series premiere of Westworld, a friend remarked to me, “If I went to Westworld, I’d be evil.” This occurred during the scene where viewers were lulled into believing James Marsden’s Teddy Floods was a newcomer, and thus a guest. Someone on the train was speaking about how going “villain” was the best two weeks of his life. And many viewers, I suspect, nodded in agreement. For what fun is Grand Theft Auto if you obey the traffic lights and only play the story missions while making the “moral” choice every time?...
Is Westworld risking following in the footsteps of Lost? The mysteries and riddles keep coming in the latest episode, Dissonance Theory...
This review contains spoilers.
See related Arrow season 5: trailer for episode 4, Penance Legends Of Tomorrow season 2: trailer heads to Feudal Japan Supergirl season 2: episode 4 trailer teases alien fight club
1.4 Dissonance Theory
When I watched the series premiere of Westworld, a friend remarked to me, “If I went to Westworld, I’d be evil.” This occurred during the scene where viewers were lulled into believing James Marsden’s Teddy Floods was a newcomer, and thus a guest. Someone on the train was speaking about how going “villain” was the best two weeks of his life. And many viewers, I suspect, nodded in agreement. For what fun is Grand Theft Auto if you obey the traffic lights and only play the story missions while making the “moral” choice every time?...
- 10/24/2016
- Den of Geek
Is Westworld a show to be watched, or a puzzle to be solved? Could it be both? Does it matter? As is becoming customary for a series this driven by metacommentary about itself and the genres to which it belongs – science fiction, prestige television, HBO blockbusters – the best place to look for answers is in the story itself.
Take the menacing Man in Black. A 30-year veteran of the theme park, he's convinced that its narrative possibilities have been exhausted. "This whole world is a story," he tells Lawrence, his hapless companion.
Take the menacing Man in Black. A 30-year veteran of the theme park, he's convinced that its narrative possibilities have been exhausted. "This whole world is a story," he tells Lawrence, his hapless companion.
- 10/24/2016
- Rollingstone.com
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