• Steve Pond talks to AMPAS executive director Bruce Davis about the Oscars’ “crisis point.” [The Odds] • Redefining the cinema alien with “District 9.” [Daily Telegraph] • Spike Jonze and his latest gets close to 7,500 words in the Grey Lady. [New York Times]
9/4 Web Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 7:23 am · September 4th, 2009
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Korea selects ‘Mother’ for Oscars, bypasses ‘Thirst’
Posted by Guy Lodge · 4:30 pm · August 12th, 2009
Thanks to The Film Experience for pointing out this news nugget: a month after Sri Lanka kicked off the convoluted, multi-tiered contest for Best Foreign Language Film by selecting their official entry, we have our first relatively high-profile submission, as Korea has entered Bong Joon-ho’s “Mother” into the race. Some might be surprised that the […]
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8/3 Web Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:06 am · August 3rd, 2009
• Steven Miessner, the Academy’s white-gloved “keeper of the Oscars,” dead at 48. [USA Today] • Steve Weintraub talks “The Princess and the Frog” with directors Ron Clements and John Musker (at Comic-Con). [Collider] • The unmade films of Stanley Kubrick, including “Foucault’s Pendulum,” “Napoleon” and “Perfume.” [Empire]
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Got blood?
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 1:04 pm · July 14th, 2009
When a milkshake arrived on my doorstep two years ago, that was one thing. But shipping me a pouch of O positive to herald the forthcoming vampire flick “Thirst” from director Park Chan-Wook? That’s crossing the line. Okay, I’m only kidding. It’s fruit punch or something, with a straw. But it’s a pretty nifty swag […]
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Haneke lands Palme d’Or, Gainsbourg takes Best Actress
Posted by Guy Lodge · 10:41 am · May 24th, 2009
As it turned out, the most logical on-paper prediction turned out the be the right one. After emerging as the bridesmaid from several festivals past — winning the Grand Prix in 2001, Best Director in 2005 — the venerable Austrian auteur Michael Haneke has finally won the Palme d’Or for his stark moral drama “The […]
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Cannes: sizing up the Competition, part two
Posted by Guy Lodge · 5:54 am · May 12th, 2009
Continuing yesterday’s survey of the runners and riders in the race for the Palme d’Or… “ANTICHRIST” (Lars Von Trier) The pitch: You’ve seen the trailer. Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe star as bereaved parents who retreat to a remote woodland cottage to nurse their grief, only to be terrorised by unnamed forces of evil. (English […]
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Early rave for Cannes entry ‘Thirst’
Posted by Guy Lodge · 3:03 pm · May 11th, 2009
Park Chan-wook’s erotic vampire film “Thirst” opened over a week ago in its native South Korea, but it will soon make its international bow at Cannes, where it’s one of several adventurous-looking films in the competition. Screen International, however, has got a head start and offered this review — and the news is good. Park […]
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Troublemakers united
Posted by Guy Lodge · 2:11 pm · May 11th, 2009
Yours truly began a two-part Cannes preview this morning, but there is plenty more such coverage around if you’re beginning to get festival fever. I particularly liked Jonathan Romney’s rundown in the Independent, in which the critic points out an interesting trend in this year’s lineup: namely the convergence of several renowned enfants terribles in […]
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