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With two days to go until wrap-up, and a host of journalists having defected to Toronto, one can feel the air not-so-slowly hissing out of the Venice balloon. And while this certainly has its upsides — it no longer takes half an hour to get an espresso as the festival café, for example — it’s […]
VENICE: ‘Killer Joe,’ ‘The Exchange,’ ‘4:44: Last Day on Earth’
Posted by Guy Lodge · 10:11 am · September 8th, 2011
WEEKLY WRAP: ‘Lovely Bones’ bows, ‘New Moon’ reigns
Posted by Guy Lodge · 4:25 pm · November 29th, 2009
• “The Lovely Bones” finally landed this week, to decidedly mixed reviews. • Kris and Anne offered their thoughts on the film (among others) in this week’s Oscar Talk. • In Off the Carpet, we combed through the Best Adapted Screenplay contenders (which now include “District 9”). • “New Moon” surprised nobody with a record-breaking […]
Filed in: Daily
INTERVIEW: Willem Dafoe
Posted by John Foote · 7:30 am · November 23rd, 2009
I have thought about little else since seeing Lars Von Trier’s “Antichrist” at TIFF a few months ago. The astonishing, beautiful images are in my head once a day, the performances have never strayed from my mind. At this writing I still do not know if I liked the film, but I do feel it […]
Filed in: Interviews
The Great Performances: 2000
Posted by John Foote · 7:14 pm · November 13th, 2009
Michael Douglas was robbed. The already Oscar-christened actor gave a career-best performance in 2000 in Curtis Hanson’s “Wonder Boys,” but he got no love from the Academy. Worse, his performance was easily among the five best of the year and won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Actor prize. That having been said, I […]
Filed in: Daily
Academy members weigh in on The Ten
Posted by Guy Lodge · 3:59 pm · October 30th, 2009
In the four months since the Academy announced its controversial switch from five to 10 Best Picture nominees, you’ve heard a lot of griping (and occasional enthusing) from assorted critics, industry-watchers and schmoes like me. What we haven’t heard is too much perspective on the issues from the voters themselves. So USA Today’s Susan Wloszczyna […]
Filed in: Daily
10/29 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:12 am · October 29th, 2009
• John Horn dutifully writes up the pre-release buzz of “2012.” [Los Angeles Times] • Pete Hammond on how legends Orson Welles and Tennessee Williams could figure into this year’s Oscar race. [Notes on a Season] • Years that could have used 10 Best Picture nominees. [Variety]
Filed in: Daily
10/26 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:16 am · October 26th, 2009
• Steve Pond chimes in on the rarity of tandem Oscarcast producing teams. [The Odds] • Peter Knegt reports from a women-in-film panel at London fest. [indieWIRE] • David Poland sits down with Paul Schneider to talk “Bright Star.” [Movie City News]
Filed in: Daily
10/22 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:02 am · October 22nd, 2009
• Steve Pond takes note of an Oscar milestone regarding Adam Shankman: the first tweeting Oscarcast producer! [The Odds] • Tom O’Neil stirs the pot, says there might be a “Precious” backlash in the works. [Gold Derby] • He does so in response to Lou Lumenick, who wonders whether Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey are […]
Filed in: Daily
10/21 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Guy Lodge · 8:56 am · October 21st, 2009
• Pete Hammond joins the speculation that yesterday’s Oscarcast producer announcement bodes well for a Jackman repeat. [Notes on a Season] • Nathaniel Rogers is awed in the presence of Tilda Swinton at the New Yorker Festival. (Where, apparently, “Michael Clayton” was never mentioned. Huh.) [Tribeca Film] • David Poland brands the Gotham Awards “meaningless” […]
Filed in: Daily
10/19 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:28 am · October 19th, 2009
• Perpetuating the false myth that this is a weak year for leading ladies. Not everything should be viewed through the prism of Oscar… [Awards Campaign] • Following up on our Oscar Talk discussion, Anne Thompson considers the awards prospects of Oren Moverman’s “The Messenger.” [Thompson on Hollywood] • Amidst his fully-in-the-tank review of “Where […]
Filed in: Daily
The Great Performances: 1996
Posted by John Foote · 10:15 am · October 16th, 2009
1996 was an odd year, a year when the independent cinema dominated the weak product emerging out of Hollywood. I am going to confess right off the top of this article (as I have numerous times before) that I was not a fan of “The English Patient,” which for me remains one of the most […]
Filed in: Daily
TORONTO: Settling in, ‘Antichrist’
Posted by John Foote · 9:41 am · September 11th, 2009
I left home at 6:30am yesterday to make an early check-in to my hotel at 8:30. One bummer, my youngest daughter, Ariana, has a flu bug and I hate leaving Sherri with her on her own. She assured me it was cool, so I managed to get out the door without being overwhelmed with guilt. […]
Filed in: Daily
7/23 Web Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 7:26 am · July 23rd, 2009
• Kim Voynar wonders where the Brat Pack for today’s generation is. [Movie City News] • Judd Apatow gets the MOMA treatment in NYC. [Movieline] • Andrew O’Hehir talks “Shrink” with actor Kevin Spacey. [Beyond the Multiplex]
Filed in: Daily
7/20 Web Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:30 am · July 20th, 2009
• Edgar Arce talks “The Cove” with documentarian Louie Psihoyos. [Latino Review] • With Judd Apatow’s “Funny People” on the brain, Saul Austerlitz takes a look at the “dramedy” through the years. [Chicago Tribune] • Meanwhile, Patrick Goldstein looks at the mystifying missed opportunity of the film’s one-sheet. [The Big Picture]
Filed in: Daily
REVIEW: “Antichrist” (***1/2)
Posted by Guy Lodge · 10:01 am · June 23rd, 2009
Edinburgh International Film Festival “I am the greatest director in the world,” Lars von Trier declared in an already notorious Cannes press conference following the unveiling of “Antichrist” in May. Unable to resist such shameless baiting, most critics either responded with affectionate exasperation (“Oh, Lars!”) or, as one suspects von Trier preferred, tomato-faced indignation. What […]
Filed in: Reviews
REVIEW: “Inside Man” (**)
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 3:23 pm · March 20th, 2006
Spike Lee’s “Inside Man” is an embarrassment of devices from start to painstakingly anti-climactic finish. As a run-of-the-mill heist romp, it still falls prey to a dedicated intention to distinguish itself, both thematically and stylistically. Thinking it over, I’ve come to the conclusion that it is rather impossible to write a negative review of “Inside […]
Filed in: Reviews
