Features
Headlines
Search
Archives
It’s probably largely to do with the inherent sense of understanding, but there’s also something universal about it, about the tragically imperfect’s search for perfection. In any case, I find this to be one of the best, if simplest, slices of genius on the page in our time. Anyway, as you were. I’m just bored [...]
Blank
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 12:14 am · August 6th, 2011
Filed in: Daily
5/20 Web Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:26 am · May 20th, 2009
• Peter Sciretta asks for your most hated uses of CGI in movie history. [/Film] • Charlie Kaufman talks “Synecdoche, New York,” his “mutant horro film,” across the pond. [Daily Telegraph] • IMAX plans to cozy up next to James Cameron’s “Avatar” for an extended run. [The Carpetbagger] • Donna Freydkin chats up “Terminator Salvation” [...]
Filed in: Daily
Charlie Kaufman on Charlie Kaufman
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 1:08 pm · May 18th, 2009
Flipping through Empire Online’s typically entertaining list of features recently, I stumbled across this portrait of filmmaker Charlie Kaufman (whose brilliant “Synecdoche, New York” opened in the UK this weekend) giving one-offs on the six features sprung from his twisted mind to date. There’s talk of his working relationship with director Michel Gondry on their [...]
Filed in: Daily
The Brits get it
Posted by Guy Lodge · 8:43 am · May 15th, 2009
Of course, the film is very old news to all of you Stateside, but allow me a moment to say how proud I am that my fellow Englishmen — well, the critics among them, at least — have embraced Charlie Kaufman’s stunning “Synecdoche, New York” with open arms. The film opens today in the UK [...]
Filed in: Daily
A pleasure deferred
Posted by Guy Lodge · 12:23 pm · May 4th, 2009
As I walked past my local cinema (that would be my beloved Dalston Rio, if there are any other fans out there) en route to the supermarket this morning, I was rather struck by this new poster for Charlie Kaufman’s masterpiece “Synecdoche, New York.” After spending a moment admiring the one-sheet and wondering why I [...]
Filed in: Daily
1/19 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 6:37 am · January 19th, 2009
(It’s kind of hard to find anything with meat on its bones amid all the boring, derivative Sundance coverage.) • David Poland spends 30 minutes with genius Charlie Kaufman. [The Hot Blog] • Patrick Goldstein comes to Edward Zwick’s defence over a wrong-headed, borderline moronic assessment of his recent film “Defiance.” [The Big Picture] • [...]
Filed in: Daily
INTERVIEW: Michelle Williams
Posted by Guy Lodge · 8:27 am · December 31st, 2008
Fate can have a bittersweet sense of timing, and Michelle Williams understands this better than most. A 2008 that started bleakly with the passing of Heath Ledger, her former partner and the father of her daughter, has ended as a professional banner year for the 28 year-old actress. A triptych of startling performances in a [...]
Filed in: Interviews
“Agonized and beautiful”
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 7:32 pm · December 21st, 2008
At the risk of sounding stoned on hope, I offer the following heresy: The movies are fine. Sometimes they’re great; occasionally they’re magnificent. The twelfth-graph opener in Manohla Dargis’s recent year-end wrap-up. The sentiment would be a nice reference to Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York,” which Dargis calls “a grievously underloved film about life and [...]
Filed in: Daily
Best in show: the year in superlatives
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:22 am · December 19th, 2008
The year is slowly coming to a close, and after this week’s year-in-review pieces, I’m happy to see so much healthy and spirited discussion on my humble picks for the year’s best films. Today I’m wrapping all of that up with a list of superlatives, some of them in your usual categories, the staples, some [...]
Filed in: Daily
10/26 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 5:46 am · October 26th, 2008
• Tom O’Neil ponders Angelina Jolie’s Oscar hopes yet again… [Gold Derby] • …and rather pointlessly takes a shot at Sean Penn. [Gold Derby] • Peter Bart is charmed by Clint Eastwood’s development through the years. [Peter Bart] • Eastwood, meanwhile, offers up 12 key influences on his life in movies. [Entertaiment Weekly] • Peter [...]
Filed in: Daily
On ‘Synecdoche’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 5:54 pm · October 24th, 2008
I’ve been pretty silent about my feelings on Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York” ever since I first saw the film a month ago. I haven’t been coy, I just haven’t known how to qualify a film like this in a review format, and while I respect those whose job it is to convey such sentiments [...]
Filed in: Daily
10/21 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 5:05 am · October 20th, 2008
• Jeffrey Wells passes along further second-hand indication that “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is the one to beat this year. [Hollywood Elsewhere] • Steven Zeitchick responds to the suddenly wide open acting races. [Risky Biz Blog] • Some folks think Robert Downey Jr. can’t score a Best Supporting Actor nomination…emphatically. I beg to [...]
Filed in: Daily
Best Original Screenplay: beyond the obvious
Posted by Guy Lodge · 8:11 am · September 21st, 2008
Everyone has a favourite Oscar category, and Best Original Screenplay is mine. It’s partly because I’m a screenwriter myself, so I feel a little more invested in the outcome. My evaluation of the category often comes down to the question: “Which screenplay do I most wish I’d written first?” More importantly, however, it’s the category [...]
Filed in: Daily
9/8 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 6:36 am · September 8th, 2008
• Jen Yamato wonders what the hell happened to Oscar-winner Cuba Gooding Jr. [Rotten Tomatoes] • Jeffrey Wells puts up a positive review of Kevin Smith’s “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” philosophizes on the photographical approach to actually shooting a porno. [Hollywood Elsewhere] • Logan Hill profiles “The Brothers Bloom” star Rachel Weisz back [...]
Filed in: Daily
Which film will take the Palme d’Or?
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:40 am · May 23rd, 2008
Wells is already speculating and Foote is ready to move on, but let’s think it out here. In a festival that has been a bit underwhelming to most, both artistically for the critics and fiscally for the buyers, someone’s still gotta win best in show. Matteo Garrone’s “Gomorra” and Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s “Three Monkeys” might [...]
Filed in: Daily
A.O. Scott on ‘Che’ and ‘Synecdoche’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:21 am · May 23rd, 2008
Thankfully SOMEONE took some time to properly respond to Steven Soderbergh’s one-two punch of “The Argentine” and “Guerrilla” — “Che,” for the Cannes world premiere. I respect as much as anyone the need to get the reaction out there fast, but more than a few critics were a bit hasty in rounding up extended thoughts [...]
Filed in: Daily
Festival-goers file out of ‘Synecdoche’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 3:32 am · May 23rd, 2008
UPDATE (5:38 a.m.): Allan Hunter of Screen International has written the first full review out of the fest I’ve come across. He raves the effort as follows: Synecdoche is about one man’s lifelong struggle to understand the meaning of his existence. Unadventurous audiences may feel the film is a two hour struggle to understand the [...]
Filed in: Daily
‘Synecdoche, New York’ — another makeup contender?
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 1:48 am · May 10th, 2008
Rope of Silicon recently posted a series of stills from upcoming releases, including Steven Soderbergh’s “Che” films and Fernando Meirelles’s “Blindness.” But this image from Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York” has me wondering if we don’t have another major contender for Best Makeup, a category shaping up to be more competitive than in years past. [...]
Filed in: Daily
