Features
Mickey Rourke has filmed an episode of “Inside the Actors Studio” with James Lipton, which should make for fascinating viewing. After all, this is a probing atmosphere and while Rourke can be somewhat forthcoming and certainly a grand storyteller, he can also be guarded about things. Hulu has an exclusive preview of the episode up […]
Entries from August 2009
Previewing Rourke Inside the Actors Studio
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:51 am · August 28th, 2009
Filed in: Daily
Announcing In Contention’s 2009-2010 awards coverage
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:44 am · August 28th, 2009
The summer season is winding down, the festival season is gearing up, and within the month, we’ll be neck-deep in Oscar chatter that won’t let up for roughly 200 days. It’s what you come to the site to read, so here’s what you can expect. First, a new feature at In Contention. Later today I’ll […]
Filed in: Daily
Catching up with the cinema bookshelf
Posted by John Foote · 8:37 am · August 28th, 2009
So much of my life is spent in the dark watching flickering images on a screen. Not that I am complaining; it is a life I wouldn’t trade for the world, but I do enjoy being outdoors. My wife, my two daughters and I live 50 miles outside of Toronto in a small country village […]
Filed in: Daily
8/28 Web Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:13 am · August 28th, 2009
• “Avatar”-izing James Cameron’s past characters. [MTV Movies Blog] • Following “The Hurt Locker,” Kathryn Bigelow aiming for a similar visceral style for “Triple Frontier.” [The Playlist] • Joseph Gordon-Levitt: the new Heath Ledger? [The Guardian]
Filed in: Daily
Brits fall for ‘Hurt Locker,’ ‘Broken Embraces’
Posted by Guy Lodge · 4:48 am · August 28th, 2009
In what is surely the richest weekend of the year for discerning British cinemagoers since the glut of Oscar contenders in January, both Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker” and Pedro Almodovar’s “Broken Embraces” hit UK screens today. You could be forgiven for not knowing that, though. While Almodovar’s film has enjoyed a prominent marketing campaign […]
Filed in: Daily
‘The Men Who Stare at Goats’ trailer
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:26 pm · August 27th, 2009
Filed in: Daily
FIPRESCI names ‘White Ribbon’ best film of the year
Posted by Guy Lodge · 5:35 pm · August 27th, 2009
It’s been a very good week for Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or winner “The White Ribbon.” One day after being selected as Germany’s official entry in the Oscar race, it has received a prestigious addition to its trophy cabinet in the shape of the FIPRESCI Grand Prix for Film of the Year. (Before you complain that […]
Filed in: Daily
Optimum remakes ‘Great Expectations’ and ‘Brighton Rock’
Posted by Guy Lodge · 4:24 pm · August 27th, 2009
Since starting up a decade ago, British outfit Optimum Releasing has done sterling arthouse distribution work in their home country: this year alone his seen them bring “The Hurt Locker,” “The Wrestler,” “Gomorrah” and “In the Loop,” among others, to UK screens. But until now, they haven’t had much profile on the production side of […]
Filed in: Daily
‘Capitalism’ poster
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 3:16 pm · August 27th, 2009
(Courtesy: Fandango)
Filed in: Daily
Lasseter on reviving 2-D animation and Pixar’s “failures”
Posted by Guy Lodge · 2:45 pm · August 27th, 2009
John Lasseter certainly gives good interview. We linked back in June to a candid and very thorough piece in which the Pixar maven talked through his up-and-down (and up again) history with Disney. Now Variety carries a worthwhile profile of the man, in anticipation of the lifetime-achievement Golden Lion he is due to receive at […]
Filed in: Daily
Spielberg and Crichton’s swashbuckler
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 12:43 pm · August 27th, 2009
I’ve been of the mind for quite some time now that a good (operative word) pirate film is way overdue. The “Pirates of the Caribbean” films are fine and all, the first one especially. Blending the mythos of a pirate story with that of, essentially, a ghost yarn was a brilliant way to make the […]
Filed in: Daily
TECH SUPPORT: Best Sound Mixing — Volume I
Posted by gerardkennedy · 9:45 am · August 27th, 2009
A few weeks ago I analyzed the Best Sound Editing category, which awards the creation and integration of artificially created sound effects. Today, we look at sound mixing – the overall composition of all the elements of a movie’s soundscape into a singular soundtrack. The re-recording mixers, who do this work during post-production, are rewarded […]
Filed in: Tech Support
Pearl Jam, as directed by Cameron Crowe
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:03 am · August 27th, 2009
It’s definitely Crowe, stylistically, but it doesn’t work for the band. Good song:
Filed in: Daily
8/27 Web Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 7:32 am · August 27th, 2009
• Steven Spielberg to take on Michael Crichton one more time with “Pirate Latitudes.” [USA Today] • Anne Thompson is on Toronto doc watch. [Thompson on Hollywood] • Mike Leigh starts in on his “Happy Go Lucky” follow-up. [The Hollywood Reporter]
Filed in: Daily
Tarantino to be feted early by Santa Barbara fest
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 5:28 pm · August 26th, 2009
The press release, in part: Santa Barbara, CA – In recognition of his contributions to the world of film, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival is honored to present the fourth annual KIRK DOUGLAS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN FILM to the legendary, Academy Award-winning writer/director/producer/actor Quentin Tarantino. The black-tie Gala dinner, sponsored by Chopin Vodka, […]
Filed in: Daily
‘Hurt Locker’ scribe Mark Boal up for Venice award
Posted by Guy Lodge · 4:30 pm · August 26th, 2009
I had the pleasure of interviewing Mark Boal, the celebrated journalist and screenwriter of “The Hurt Locker,” over a beer in London last week, and was glad to find him as alert and interesting a subject as the film he wrote. (The interview will crop up on these pages soon, by the way.) So as […]
Filed in: Daily
Germany submits ‘White Ribbon’ for Oscar
Posted by Guy Lodge · 3:44 pm · August 26th, 2009
It should come as no surprise to anyone that Germany has selected Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon” (trailer here) as their official candidate for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. No foreign-language Palme d’Or winner has failed to be entered in the race since Japan’s “The Eel” in 1997, and “The White Ribbon” has both […]
Filed in: Daily
Tarantino does Conan
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 1:38 pm · August 26th, 2009
(Part two after the jump.)
Filed in: Daily
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