Features
The warning signs were there for “360.” An umpteenth reworking of “La Ronde” didn’t seem an obvious fit for either Fernando Meirelles or Peter Morgan — a pretty dispassionate writer even on his best form, he came badly unstuck last year when he veered from his fact-based template with “Hereafter.” Meirelles, too, is seeking to […]
Toronto reception takes ‘360’ back to zero
Posted by Guy Lodge · 6:10 am · September 12th, 2011
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Meirelles’s ‘360’ to open London fest
Posted by Guy Lodge · 9:20 am · August 24th, 2011
I’m trying not to think too much about my hometown film festival right now — with the chaos of Venice only a week away, the idea of diving into another five-films-a-day fortnight shortly afterwards seems somewhat deadly. Still, with this week essentially amounting to the calm before the storm, now is as good a time […]
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10/20 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: ‘Complete Metropolis’ coming to TCM, buzz for Leo, Cameron on the usual talking points
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:09 am · October 20th, 2010
• Jeffrey Wells reminds of the forthcoming TCM airing of the restored “Metropolis” and one hour documentary “Metropolis Refound.” I’ll…be…there. [Hollywood Elsewhere] • Steve Pond conveys positive word on Christian Bale and (as reported for months here) Melissa Leo’s performances in “The Fighter” from ShoEast. [The Odds] • Naomi Watts on “Fair Game,” Valerie Plame […]
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10/15 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: An unpolished ‘Hereafter,’ women dominate doc shorts, CGI in story-driven contenders
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:26 am · October 15th, 2010
• Melissa Silverstein on female dominance in the documentary shorts field. [Women and Hollywood] • Turns out Clint Eastwood filmed an early, unpolished draft of Peter Morgan’s “Hereafter.” Well…it shows. [Vulture] • Speaking of which, David Cohen spotlights the impact of digital wizardry on that story-driven film as well as Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan.” [Variety]
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Step away from the Blair
Posted by Guy Lodge · 4:46 pm · September 14th, 2010
Regular readers (or Twitter followers) may have gathered by now that Peter Morgan isn’t my favorite high-end screenwriter on the scene — I’ve found his recent run of factional biopics, resulting in a pair of Oscar nods for “The Queen” and “Frost/Nixon,” increasingly smug and samey, and was pleased to see him attempting something a […]
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TIFF: ‘Hereafter’ reviews reflect split opinions but indicate a potential Oscar player
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:44 pm · September 12th, 2010
Yesterday’s knee-jerk reactions to Clint Eastwood’s “Hereafter” fell in the overwhelming negative following an afternoon press screening. At the time, I noted that festival quick takes should be taken in context and that perhaps more measured responses could tell another tale. Well, the embargo lifted roughly 45 minutes ago. Variety’s Justin Chang has fired off […]
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Eastwood’s “spiritual chick flick”
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:45 am · September 9th, 2010
You’ve probably read the countless link-backs to Geoff Boucher’s Hero Complex item about Clint Eastwood and how the actor turned down roles like Superman and James Bond in the 1970s. Well, you wouldn’t know it, but those quotes actually came in the context of an interview concerning “Hereafter,” Eastwood’s 32nd directorial effort which is set […]
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Hope Davis is Hillary Clinton
Posted by Guy Lodge · 11:23 am · July 10th, 2009
You may recall, a few months ago, Kris confessing his undying love for one Ms. Hope Davis, a crush I fully understand even if I don’t entirely share in it. (My heart is still yours, Ms. Keener.) Bottom line: quirky-beautiful woman, wonderful actress, all-round fox. So I’m curious to know how Kris feels about the […]
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‘Let the Right One In’ director Alfredson goes British
Posted by Guy Lodge · 4:52 pm · July 9th, 2009
Is a John Le Carré adaptation now some kind of rite of passage for lauded foreign directors crossing over to English-speaking audiences? Okay, I’m stretching. Still, it’s interesting that a few years after Fernando Meirelles made the switch with his take on Le Carré’s “The Constant Gardener,” we now have “Let the Right One In” […]
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Peter Morgan to join Bond team
Posted by Guy Lodge · 3:01 am · June 13th, 2009
Sometimes wishes really do come true in the movies. After March’s depressing (to me, at least) announcement that writer Peter Morgan was returning to the biopic well once more with a third take on Tony Blair, these were the exact words I wrote: I’d love to see his evident grace and wit as a dramatist […]
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Enough already
Posted by Guy Lodge · 9:51 am · March 26th, 2009
Right, so Michael Sheen obviously ignored my career advice to lay off the biopics for a while. That’s okay. He’s a lot more famous and successful than I am, so I guess he probably knows best. But seriously, a third go-round playing Tony Blair in yet another factional Peter Morgan-scripted project? If you haven’t heard […]
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‘The Damned United’
Posted by Guy Lodge · 11:51 am · March 9th, 2009
In a recent interview, Michael Sheen bristles at being labelled an impressionist. Understandably so — he’s a fine actor. However, the answer may be to stop doing quite so many biopics of figures from recent British history: so far, we’ve had Tony Blair (twice), David Frost, Kenneth Williams and now Brian Clough, the controversial British […]
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New to DVD, the real Frost/Nixon Watergate interviews
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:46 am · December 16th, 2008
As Ron Howard’s “Frost/Nixon” continues to step up during the film awards season this year, it might be worth noting that Liberation Entertainment has gone to the trouble of putting together a hell of a study guide: “Frost/Nixon: The Original Watergate Interviews,” currently available on DVD. Patching together the Watergate portion of Sir David Frost’s […]
Globe cheers, jeers and predictions
Posted by Guy Lodge · 6:56 pm · December 11th, 2008
As ever, this morning’s Golden Globe announcement provided a mixed bag of talking points, with some pleasantly zany curveballs at one end of the scale, and a couple of yawnsome autopilot nominees at the other. Like most awards bodies, they’re never going to get it completely right: for every inspired inclusion or omission there’s an […]
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12/8 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 5:50 am · December 8th, 2008
• Lou Lumenick runs down his 10-best list… [Lumenick on Film] • …and calls “Mamma Mia!” the guilty pleasure of the year. [Lumenick on Film] • Peter Sciretta gets a juicy tid-bit on the “Forrest Gump” sequel “Gump & Co.” from screenwriter Eric Roth: 9/11 killed the idea and all the principles decided it wasn’t […]
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Eastwood/Spielberg team up with Peter Morgan on ‘Hereafter’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:05 am · November 14th, 2008
The day-to-day deal signings and rumored particulars that end up in the trades are generally no interest to me. I like to wait until we get a little further down the road, but this project really caught my attention. Peter Morgan is sure to leap further toward the head of the writing class this year […]
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REVIEW: “Frost/Nixon” (**)
Posted by Guy Lodge · 9:17 am · October 15th, 2008
London Film Festival For director Ron Howard and screenwriter Peter Morgan, “Frost/Nixon” was always going to be a tricky beast to handle. A film adaptation of Morgan’s own stage play that was itself very much about the powers of television, the relationship between text, medium and audience has shifted in ways I’m not sure the […]
International ‘Frost’ trailer lands
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 7:21 pm · August 20th, 2008
The site filmtrailer.dk (link via Awards Daily) has posted what appears to be the international trailer for Ron Howard’s upcoming “Frost/Nixon.” No comment really. Looks “safe,” I guess. The meat of the thing will be the interview sequences, of course. And we’ll see if Peter Morgan has opened the story up from the stage in […]
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