Features
• In the week’s most dramatic news, Universal rather cleared its awards slate by bumping both “The Wolf Man” and Paul Greengrass’s “Green Zone” to 2010. • Against expectations, we were won over by Meryl Streep’s latest bid for that elusive third Oscar, “Julie & Julia.” • The Venice Film Festival unveiled a typically well-planned […]
Entries from July 2009
WEEKLY WRAP: Festivals, foxes and funny people
Posted by Guy Lodge · 5:27 pm · July 31st, 2009
Filed in: Daily
Tell us what you thought of ‘Funny People’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 1:03 pm · July 31st, 2009
I’m briefly on the record with some thoughts on Judd Apatow’s “Funny People,” but I’m really looking forward to hearing what everyone else thinks of this film. Viewers ought to be trickling out of matinees by now, so cut loose with your reactions in the comments section below.
Filed in: Daily
Thompson shifts to indieWIRE this weekend
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:10 am · July 31st, 2009
A couple of weeks ago the news dropped that Anne Thompson would be pulling up the stakes on her Thompson on Hollywood Variety blog and shifting it over to indieWIRE. My immediate reaction was that the fit was better. Thompson always seemed like an outsider at Variety, an awkward figment of a newer, fresher approach […]
Filed in: Daily
Remembering ‘Raging Bull’
Posted by John Foote · 8:08 am · July 31st, 2009
The first time I saw “Raging Bull” was in 1980, the second day the film was in theater after release. I was an acting student at the time, heading to the theater with my friend Kevin McDonald, who went on to fame as one of the “Kids in the Hall” stars and film roles in […]
Filed in: Daily
Back East with the ladies of ‘Julie & Julia’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:05 am · July 31st, 2009
Earlier in the week I offered up my (surprisingly) positive assessment of Nora Ephron’s “Julie & Julia,” a shrewdly adapted narrative that features two of my favorite performances of the year from Meryl Streep (as famed chef Julia Child) and Stanley Tucci (as her loving husband, Paul). Today in the pages of USA Today, Susan […]
Filed in: Daily
7/31 Web Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:03 am · July 31st, 2009
• Rose Byrne, leading lady at last. [Daily Telegraph] • More on the story that won’t go away as the “Moneyball” drama spills into the pages of Vanity Fair. [Hollywood Elsewhere] • Stephanie Zacharek wonders whether the “Judd Apatow moment” might be over. [Salon]
Filed in: Daily
Lennon biopic ‘Nowhere Boy’ to close London fest
Posted by Guy Lodge · 1:32 am · July 31st, 2009
UPDATE: “Nowhere Boy” producer, Kevin Loader, addresses Jeff Wells’s concerns about the film’s non-appearance at earlier autumn festivals quite reasonably. He explains that the post-production schedule means the film simply won’t be complete in time for Venice or Toronto. I thought as much. This is an interesting development. Lately, the London Film Festival has chosen […]
Filed in: Daily
Diablo Cody star-struck by Stan Lee at Comic-Con
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 5:07 pm · July 30th, 2009
(via Awards Daily)
Filed in: Daily
‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ trailer
Posted by Guy Lodge · 4:44 pm · July 30th, 2009
Gee, they weren’t kidding when they said this is a Wes Anderson film in every respect apart from the lack of human beings. As for Anderson’s recent claim that this is “a British film … set in the UK” … well, perhaps it’s just set in the tourist district, but it looks American as apple […]
Filed in: Daily
‘Where the Wild Things Are’ featurette
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:57 am · July 30th, 2009
It originally appeared at Apple and I’m just getting around to posting it. A nice discussion with author Maurice Sendak with added commentary from Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers:
Filed in: Daily
TECH SUPPORT: Best Costume Design — Volume I
Posted by gerardkennedy · 11:51 am · July 30th, 2009
Movie stars are often given much attention for the fashion that they sport off-screen. Seldom does the on-screen attire garner as much publicity. Nevertheless, the Academy Award for Best Costume Design recognizes those talented men and women who design the threads actors wear on screen. Not only does this work add to the elegance and […]
Filed in: Tech Support
UK ‘Informant!’ poster
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:47 am · July 30th, 2009
(Courtesy: Empire)
Filed in: Daily
Check out the full Daft Punk ‘Tron Legacy’ theme song
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:41 am · July 30th, 2009
(Courtesy: Latino Review)
Filed in: Daily
7/30 Web Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:40 am · July 30th, 2009
• Jeremy Piven would like to see an “Entourage” film. Who wouldn’t? [CNN] • Vincent Cassel refuses to court Hollywood. Who needs it when you’ve got Monica Bellucci at home? [Daily Telegraph] • Robert Levin sits down with “In the Loop” director Armando Iannucci. [Film School Rejects]
Filed in: Daily
‘A Serious Man’ trailer
Posted by Guy Lodge · 8:52 am · July 30th, 2009
It’s seldom these days that you get a trailer constructed with such care and wit — this does a bang-up job of sharply conveying tone and essence, while leaving the gift-wrap on the plot for a change. As for the film, I’m sensing a hybrid of the sober bleakness and self-reflexive zaniness that (respectively) characterized […]
Filed in: Daily
Venice lineup includes ‘The Road,’ ‘Capitalism: A Love Story’
Posted by Guy Lodge · 8:01 am · July 30th, 2009
(UPDATE: For whatever reason, my initial source failed to mention that George A. Romero’s latest zombie opus, “Survival of the Dead,” is also in competition.) In years past, the Venice Film Festival has unveiled several titles that went on to figure significantly in the awards season ahead — “Brokeback Mountain,”The Queen,” “Far From Heaven” and […]
Filed in: Daily
Venice finalizes jury, readies lineup
Posted by Guy Lodge · 12:48 am · July 30th, 2009
The competition lineup for the 66th Venice Film Festival is due later today, but ahead of that major announcement, other bits and bobs relating to to yesterday’s fest have been trickling through recently. Yesterday organisers announced the complete (and pleasantly eccentric) jury lineup. It’s been known for some time that it will be headed by Ang […]
Filed in: Daily
Draw it out, you ‘Basterd’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:14 pm · July 29th, 2009
I’ll get to Quentin Tarantino’s latest misfire in due time, but for now, this David Poland video review of the film is its own special kind of brilliance, even if it provides no insight at all as to why Poland liked the film:
Filed in: Daily
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