The 27th annual Excellence in Production Design Awards has announced its nominations in 14 categories, including theatrical motion pictures, television, commercials, music videos and animation features.
Winners will be unveiled at the Adg Awards ceremony on Saturday, February 18, 2023, at the InterContinental Hotel Los Angeles Downtown Hotel. The announcement was made today by Adg President Nelson Coates, Adg, and Awards Producer’s Michael Allen Glover, Adg and Megan Elizabeth Bell, Adg.
Returning as producer of this year’s Adg Awards is Art Director Michael Allen Glover, Adg. Joining the team as coproducer is Production Designer Megan Elizabeth Bell, Adg.
Adg Awards are open only to productions when made within the US by producers signatory to the IATSE agreement. Foreign entries are acceptable without restrictions.
Nominees For Feature Film:
1. Period Feature Film
All Quiet on the Western Front
Production Designer: Christian M. Goldbeck...
Winners will be unveiled at the Adg Awards ceremony on Saturday, February 18, 2023, at the InterContinental Hotel Los Angeles Downtown Hotel. The announcement was made today by Adg President Nelson Coates, Adg, and Awards Producer’s Michael Allen Glover, Adg and Megan Elizabeth Bell, Adg.
Returning as producer of this year’s Adg Awards is Art Director Michael Allen Glover, Adg. Joining the team as coproducer is Production Designer Megan Elizabeth Bell, Adg.
Adg Awards are open only to productions when made within the US by producers signatory to the IATSE agreement. Foreign entries are acceptable without restrictions.
Nominees For Feature Film:
1. Period Feature Film
All Quiet on the Western Front
Production Designer: Christian M. Goldbeck...
- 1/9/2023
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
The Art Directors Guild (IATSE Local 800) announced the nominations for the 27th annual Adg Excellence in Production Design Awards.
Live-action features are divided into three categories: period, fantasy and contemporary film. Nominees for a period film are All Quiet On The Western Front, Babylon, Elvis, The Fabelmans and White Noise. Fantasy film nominees are Avatar: The Way of Water, The Batman, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Everything Everywhere All At Once and Nope. The contemporary film category nominees are Bardo, Bullet Train, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Tár and Top Gun: Maverick.
Over the past five years, the winner of the Adg’s period film prize has gone on to win the Oscar for production design three times: in 2018 for The Shape of Water, in 2020 for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and in 2021 for Mank. The production design Oscar went to the winner of the fantasy category in 2019, for Black Panther; and 2022 for Dune.
Live-action features are divided into three categories: period, fantasy and contemporary film. Nominees for a period film are All Quiet On The Western Front, Babylon, Elvis, The Fabelmans and White Noise. Fantasy film nominees are Avatar: The Way of Water, The Batman, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Everything Everywhere All At Once and Nope. The contemporary film category nominees are Bardo, Bullet Train, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Tár and Top Gun: Maverick.
Over the past five years, the winner of the Adg’s period film prize has gone on to win the Oscar for production design three times: in 2018 for The Shape of Water, in 2020 for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and in 2021 for Mank. The production design Oscar went to the winner of the fantasy category in 2019, for Black Panther; and 2022 for Dune.
- 1/9/2023
- by Carolyn Giardina
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“We had lots of books around my house and lots of Poe,” remembers writer-director Scott Cooper of his earliest encounters with the work of fabled American poet Edgar Allan Poe, who is a central character in the filmmaker’s latest effort, “The Pale Blue Eye.” Over a decade ago, Cooper’s father recommended the novel of the same name by Louis Bayard to him as a “pleasure” read, describing the book as a “most ingenious” work that puts a young Poe at the heart of a grisly murder mystery. The screenwriter felt it would translate well to screen and would offer audiences a unique Poe “origin story.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
Cooper relished the opportunity and “dangerous” challenge of putting the popular figure of Poe on screen. He shares that he hoped to change audiences’ “preconceived notions about who Poe was,” transcending the “dark, brooding, and melancholy” characterizations...
Cooper relished the opportunity and “dangerous” challenge of putting the popular figure of Poe on screen. He shares that he hoped to change audiences’ “preconceived notions about who Poe was,” transcending the “dark, brooding, and melancholy” characterizations...
- 1/6/2023
- by David Buchanan
- Gold Derby
With a filmography of muscular acting showcases, patient tempos, and emphasis on brooding atmosphere, it’s evident Scott Cooper has been influenced by the endearingly ramshackle character studies of 1970s American cinema. In an era where this particular kind of film seems to be the lowest priority for every studio, it’s also refreshing to find a director who can amass the resources to pull one off. As noble as those intentions may be, however, Cooper has continually struggled to develop a vision that, if not original, at least bears the formal prowess and screenwriting wit to elevate derivate veneers. After jumping from crime drama to western to the supernatural, The Pale Blue Eye finds him in gothic murder mystery territory for a conceptually inventive piece of Edgar Allan Poe historical fiction that succumbs to tendencies of a familiarly tedious variety.
In adapting Louis Bayard’s 2003 novel of the same name,...
In adapting Louis Bayard’s 2003 novel of the same name,...
- 12/22/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Last year, we heard that the filmmaking duo of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead were “returning to their DIY indie origins” with a new project called Something in the Dirt. Now a teaser trailer for Something in the Dirt has arrived online – and along with that comes the information that the movie is going to receive a theatrical release on November 4th!
Benson and Moorhead directed Something in the Dirt from a script written by Benson. The duo also produced the film and star in it… and the movie was actually filmed in their apartments during the pandemic shutdown. Here’s the story they’re telling with this one:
Two new neighbors witness what seems to be a supernatural event in one of their apartments. At first terrified, they realize that documenting this phenomenon could provide them the lives they’ve always dreamed of.
Benson and Moorhead are joined in...
Benson and Moorhead directed Something in the Dirt from a script written by Benson. The duo also produced the film and star in it… and the movie was actually filmed in their apartments during the pandemic shutdown. Here’s the story they’re telling with this one:
Two new neighbors witness what seems to be a supernatural event in one of their apartments. At first terrified, they realize that documenting this phenomenon could provide them the lives they’ve always dreamed of.
Benson and Moorhead are joined in...
- 8/22/2022
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
“They really do respect and collaborate and include the visual effects team as part of the creative process,” reveals Oscar-nominated visual effects supervisor Sean Faden (“Mulan”) about the upside of working on a high-profile Marvel Studios project. For our recent webchat, he adds that “it really felt like we were along for the ride the entire time and we were giving our ideas, and sometimes they were bad ones and sometimes they were good ones, but there was always a back and forth and we would kind of all reach the final look of things together.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
“Moon Knight” was created by Jeremy Slater, based on the Marvel comics featuring the character of the same name. Slater’s vision as head writer was then shepherded during production by Egyptian helmer Mohamed Diab (who directed four of the six episodes) with collaborators Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson...
“Moon Knight” was created by Jeremy Slater, based on the Marvel comics featuring the character of the same name. Slater’s vision as head writer was then shepherded during production by Egyptian helmer Mohamed Diab (who directed four of the six episodes) with collaborators Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson...
- 6/11/2022
- by Rob Licuria
- Gold Derby
“I was terrified to do something, that had a statue-like look, like a prop,” admits acclaimed Italian production designer Stefania Cella on creating something unique and authentic for the sci-fi action thriller “Moon Knight .” For our recent webchat she adds, “that was the most terrifying thing to me,” she proclaims; “suddenly entering into a place, if it doesn’t look good, it’s becoming grotesque, and that was more frightening than anything.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
See over 300 interviews with 2022 Emmy contenders
“Moon Knight” was created by Jeremy Slater (“The Umbrella Academy”), based on the Marvel comics featuring the character of the same name. Slater collaborated with Egyptian helmer Mohamed Diab (who shepherded four of the six episodes) on the Disney Plus limited series, the sixth TV production in Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, following “WandaVision,” “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” “Loki,” “What If…?” and “Hawkeye.
See over 300 interviews with 2022 Emmy contenders
“Moon Knight” was created by Jeremy Slater (“The Umbrella Academy”), based on the Marvel comics featuring the character of the same name. Slater collaborated with Egyptian helmer Mohamed Diab (who shepherded four of the six episodes) on the Disney Plus limited series, the sixth TV production in Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, following “WandaVision,” “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” “Loki,” “What If…?” and “Hawkeye.
- 6/2/2022
- by Rob Licuria
- Gold Derby
The world of "Moon Knight" is rich and detailed, and much of the responsibility for making those details look great falls to production designer Stefania Cella. Everything from small props like Harrow's cane to the massive Egyptian tomb sets has to be created from scratch, and not only does it have to look good on camera, but it has to contribute to the story. Easter eggs are a huge deal in Marvel, after all, and "Moon Knight" is chock full of them.
I had the opportunity to sit down via Zoom and chat with Cella, whose impressive career includes design work on projects ranging from indie...
The post Moon Knight Production Designer Stefania Cella Hid References to Egypt Everywhere [Interview] appeared first on /Film.
I had the opportunity to sit down via Zoom and chat with Cella, whose impressive career includes design work on projects ranging from indie...
The post Moon Knight Production Designer Stefania Cella Hid References to Egypt Everywhere [Interview] appeared first on /Film.
- 4/26/2022
- by Danielle Ryan
- Slash Film
This article contains Moon Knight episode 2 spoilers.
At the end of Marvel’s Moon Knight episode 2, “Summon the Suit,” the man known alternately as Steven Grant and Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac) finds himself in a hotel room, throws open the curtains and shows us that he’s in the land where the show must inevitably lead: Egypt.
As fans old and new know, Grant/Spector is the earthly avatar of the Egyptian god Khonshu, tasked with carrying out the deity’s mission of delivering justice for those who are denied it. Grant has only recently found out that he is sharing a body with Spector, and understandably resents the fact that Spector carries out violence and murder in Khonshu’s name. But in order to stop a greater evil in the form of Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke), who wants to awaken the Egyptian demon goddess Ammit, Grant must temporarily let...
At the end of Marvel’s Moon Knight episode 2, “Summon the Suit,” the man known alternately as Steven Grant and Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac) finds himself in a hotel room, throws open the curtains and shows us that he’s in the land where the show must inevitably lead: Egypt.
As fans old and new know, Grant/Spector is the earthly avatar of the Egyptian god Khonshu, tasked with carrying out the deity’s mission of delivering justice for those who are denied it. Grant has only recently found out that he is sharing a body with Spector, and understandably resents the fact that Spector carries out violence and murder in Khonshu’s name. But in order to stop a greater evil in the form of Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke), who wants to awaken the Egyptian demon goddess Ammit, Grant must temporarily let...
- 4/6/2022
- by Don Kaye
- Den of Geek
Dr. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) in Columbia Pictures’ Morbius.
One of the most compelling and conflicted characters in Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters comes to the big screen as Oscar® winner Jared Leto transforms into the enigmatic antihero Michael Morbius. Dangerously ill with a rare blood disorder and determined to save others suffering his same fate, Dr. Morbius attempts a desperate gamble. While at first it seems to be a radical success, a darkness inside him is unleashed. Will good override evil – or will Morbius succumb to his mysterious new urges?
In his new film Morbius, based on the Marvel antihero, Leto brings all of these together for his performance as Dr. Michael Morbius, a brilliant doctor with a rare and fatal blood disease, determined to find the cure. Morbius’s genius finds a way not only to cure the illness but to give him unimaginable strength and powers,...
One of the most compelling and conflicted characters in Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters comes to the big screen as Oscar® winner Jared Leto transforms into the enigmatic antihero Michael Morbius. Dangerously ill with a rare blood disorder and determined to save others suffering his same fate, Dr. Morbius attempts a desperate gamble. While at first it seems to be a radical success, a darkness inside him is unleashed. Will good override evil – or will Morbius succumb to his mysterious new urges?
In his new film Morbius, based on the Marvel antihero, Leto brings all of these together for his performance as Dr. Michael Morbius, a brilliant doctor with a rare and fatal blood disease, determined to find the cure. Morbius’s genius finds a way not only to cure the illness but to give him unimaginable strength and powers,...
- 3/23/2022
- by Michelle Hannett
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The 21st annual Art Directors Guild Awards took place on Saturday (Jan. 27). These kudos have a stellar record at previewing the outcome of the Best Production Design race at the Academy Awards. Over the first two decades of these prizes, the eventual Oscar winner has always numbered among the Adg nominees in the various categories.
Period film contender “The Shape of Water” is locked in a tight race with fantasy film nominee “Blade Runner 2049” to win the Oscar for Best Production Design according to our predictions. Two other period film nominees that are set in WWII — “Darkest Hour” and “Dunkirk” — sit in third and fourth place respectively — while fantasy contender “Beauty and the Beast” rounds out our top five predicted Oscar nominees.
Already the frontrunner for Best Production Design at the Oscars, “The Shape of Water” won in period over fellow Oscar nominees “Darkest Hour” and “Dunkirk.” That race...
Period film contender “The Shape of Water” is locked in a tight race with fantasy film nominee “Blade Runner 2049” to win the Oscar for Best Production Design according to our predictions. Two other period film nominees that are set in WWII — “Darkest Hour” and “Dunkirk” — sit in third and fourth place respectively — while fantasy contender “Beauty and the Beast” rounds out our top five predicted Oscar nominees.
Already the frontrunner for Best Production Design at the Oscars, “The Shape of Water” won in period over fellow Oscar nominees “Darkest Hour” and “Dunkirk.” That race...
- 1/28/2018
- by Zach Laws
- Gold Derby
Animated feature films were included for the first time this year, Coco among them.
The Art Directors Guild has announced nominations for the 22nd Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards in multiple categories including features, television, and commercials.
Nominees in the feature film categories include Darkest Hour, The Shape Of Water, Downsizing, Get Out, and Lady Bird.
Among the television nominees are this year’s Emmy stand-outs The Handmaid’s Tale and Game Of Thrones.
Animated feature films were included in the nominations for the first time this year and include top-earning titles Cars 3, Coco, and Despicable Me 3.
The Awards Gala is set for January 27 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood and Highland.
Excellence In Production Design For A Feature Film Period Film
Darkest Hour, Sarah Greenwood
Dunkirk, Nathan Crowley
Murder On The Orient Express, Jim Clay
The Post, Rick Carter
The Shape Of Water, Paul Denham Austerberry
Fantasy Film
Beauty And The Beast, Sarah...
The Art Directors Guild has announced nominations for the 22nd Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards in multiple categories including features, television, and commercials.
Nominees in the feature film categories include Darkest Hour, The Shape Of Water, Downsizing, Get Out, and Lady Bird.
Among the television nominees are this year’s Emmy stand-outs The Handmaid’s Tale and Game Of Thrones.
Animated feature films were included in the nominations for the first time this year and include top-earning titles Cars 3, Coco, and Despicable Me 3.
The Awards Gala is set for January 27 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood and Highland.
Excellence In Production Design For A Feature Film Period Film
Darkest Hour, Sarah Greenwood
Dunkirk, Nathan Crowley
Murder On The Orient Express, Jim Clay
The Post, Rick Carter
The Shape Of Water, Paul Denham Austerberry
Fantasy Film
Beauty And The Beast, Sarah...
- 1/5/2018
- by Elbert Wyche
- ScreenDaily
Alexander Payne, one of our best and most inventive filmmakers, is thinking big about being small. In Downsizing, a bracing comedy of shocking gravity, Payne and longtime writing partner Jim Taylor posit a future where human beings are offered the chance to shrink down to about five-inches in size and thereby be less of a burden on the besieged environment. And the money part's not bad either in a world where a little truly does go a long way. Any volunteers?
Paul Safranek (Matt Damon at his Everyman finest ) is intrigued.
Paul Safranek (Matt Damon at his Everyman finest ) is intrigued.
- 12/19/2017
- Rollingstone.com
While “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Shape of Water” are mighty competitors for the Best Production Design Oscar, Dennis Gassner’s mind-blowing collaboration with director Denis Villeneuve and cinematographer Roger Deakins on “Blade Runner 2049” will be the one to beat this year.
Frontrunners:
Sarah Greenwood (“Beauty and the Beast”)
Dennis Gassner (“Blade Runner 2049”)
Sarah Greenwood (“Darkest Hour”)
Nathan Crowley (“Dunkirk”)
Paul D. Austerberry (“The Shape of Water”)
Contenders:
Rick Carter (“The Post”)
Jim Clay (“Murder on the Orient Express”)
Nathan Crowley (“The Greatest Showman”)
Mark Friedberg (“Wonderstruck”)
Rick Heinrichs (“Star Wars: The Last Jedi”)
Long Shots:
David J. Bomba (“Mudbound”)
Stefania Cella (“Downsizing”)
Santo Loquasto (“Wonder Wheel”)
Related stories2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Editing2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Costume DesignOscar 2017: It's Hans Zimmer's 'Dunkirk' vs. 'Blade Runner 2049' for Best Original Score...
Frontrunners:
Sarah Greenwood (“Beauty and the Beast”)
Dennis Gassner (“Blade Runner 2049”)
Sarah Greenwood (“Darkest Hour”)
Nathan Crowley (“Dunkirk”)
Paul D. Austerberry (“The Shape of Water”)
Contenders:
Rick Carter (“The Post”)
Jim Clay (“Murder on the Orient Express”)
Nathan Crowley (“The Greatest Showman”)
Mark Friedberg (“Wonderstruck”)
Rick Heinrichs (“Star Wars: The Last Jedi”)
Long Shots:
David J. Bomba (“Mudbound”)
Stefania Cella (“Downsizing”)
Santo Loquasto (“Wonder Wheel”)
Related stories2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Editing2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Costume DesignOscar 2017: It's Hans Zimmer's 'Dunkirk' vs. 'Blade Runner 2049' for Best Original Score...
- 11/16/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
While Downsizing‘s protagonist, Paul (Matt Damon), is shrunk down to five centimeters in height in the pursuit of a better life, Italian production designer Stefania Cella found herself creatively stretched on her first Alexander Payne-directed project. Employing forced perspective tricks and a complex interplay of cinematography, production design and visual effects, Payne’s latest satire is a departure from his traditional style, playing nonetheless as a human…...
- 11/13/2017
- Deadline
With a sneaky comic tone swerving between earnest compassion and snarky derision, a middle-aged protagonist chewed up by ennui, and a colorful array of character actors populating a kitsch-Americana setting, “Downsizing” has all the hallmarks of an Alexander Payne film. And yet, his latest work plays just as much like a blown-up, fun home image of Mike Judge’s “Idiocracy,” as it too uses the conventions of science fiction to mount a caustic social satire. And like Judge’s 2006 dystopian comedy (which feels less and far fetched each passing day, as the meme goes), “Downsizing” is rife with witty visual touches and inspired comic premises but never quite comes together as fully successful whole.
The premise itself is a gem. In some not-so-far-off future, forward-thinking Norwegians have discovered a way shrink objects down to 1/12th scale and have embarked on a global campaign to convince us that it’s time to “get small.
The premise itself is a gem. In some not-so-far-off future, forward-thinking Norwegians have discovered a way shrink objects down to 1/12th scale and have embarked on a global campaign to convince us that it’s time to “get small.
- 8/30/2017
- by Ben Croll
- Indiewire
"The Great Beauty," Paolo Sorrentino's splashy valentine to Roman high society, was the most lauded foreign-language film of the last awards season -- it ruled the European Film Awards, and scooped Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Oscars. (At all but the last of these, it beat out its Cannes conqueror, "Blue is the Warmest Color.") So you'd think it'd be a shoo-in at Italy's own Academy Awards, right? Wrong. At yesterday's David di Donatello Awards, handed out annually by the Academy of Italian Cinema, Sorrentino's film was the night's biggest winner in terms of numbers -- taking nine awards, including Best Director and Best Actor for Toni Servillo. But its other wins were limited to below-the-line categories -- trust the Italians to have separate awards for Best Makeup and Best Hairstyling -- as Paolo Virzi's "Human Capital" took Best Picture. Virzi's film, a blend...
- 6/11/2014
- by Guy Lodge
- Hitfix
(L-r) Johnny Depp as Whitey Bulger and director Scott Cooper on the set of the as-yet-untitled Whitey Bulger film, which has begun filming on location in Boston. Photo credit: Claire Folger
Principal photography is underway on the as-yet-untitled drama based on the book Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob, about the infamous gangster Whitey Bulger.
The film stars Oscar nominee Johnny Depp (“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” “Finding Neverland,” the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films) as Whitey Bulger and Joel Edgerton (“The Great Gatsby,” “Zero Dark Thirty”) as FBI Agent John Connolly.
Filming began in Boston under the direction of Scott Cooper (“Out of the Furnace,” “Crazy Heart”).
The film also stars Benedict Cumberbatch (“Twelve Years a Slave”) as Whitey’s brother, Billy Bulger, who is a Massachusetts State Senator; Jesse Plemons (AMC’s “Breaking Bad...
Principal photography is underway on the as-yet-untitled drama based on the book Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob, about the infamous gangster Whitey Bulger.
The film stars Oscar nominee Johnny Depp (“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” “Finding Neverland,” the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films) as Whitey Bulger and Joel Edgerton (“The Great Gatsby,” “Zero Dark Thirty”) as FBI Agent John Connolly.
Filming began in Boston under the direction of Scott Cooper (“Out of the Furnace,” “Crazy Heart”).
The film also stars Benedict Cumberbatch (“Twelve Years a Slave”) as Whitey’s brother, Billy Bulger, who is a Massachusetts State Senator; Jesse Plemons (AMC’s “Breaking Bad...
- 5/22/2014
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Johnny Depp as Whitey Bulger and director Scott Cooper on the set of the as-yet-untitled Whitey Bulger film.
Principal photography is underway on the as-yet-untitled drama based on the book Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob, about the infamous gangster Whitey Bulger. The film stars Oscar® nominee Johnny Depp (“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” “Finding Neverland,” the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films) as Whitey Bulger and Joel Edgerton (“The Great Gatsby,” “Zero Dark Thirty”) as FBI Agent John Connolly. Filming began in Boston under the direction of Scott Cooper (“Out of the Furnace,” “Crazy Heart”).
The film also stars Benedict Cumberbatch (“Twelve Years a Slave”) as Whitey’s brother, Billy Bulger, who is a Massachusetts State Senator; Jesse Plemons (AMC’s “Breaking Bad”) as Whitey’s longtime partner in crime, Kevin Weeks; Sienna Miller (HBO’s...
Principal photography is underway on the as-yet-untitled drama based on the book Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob, about the infamous gangster Whitey Bulger. The film stars Oscar® nominee Johnny Depp (“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” “Finding Neverland,” the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films) as Whitey Bulger and Joel Edgerton (“The Great Gatsby,” “Zero Dark Thirty”) as FBI Agent John Connolly. Filming began in Boston under the direction of Scott Cooper (“Out of the Furnace,” “Crazy Heart”).
The film also stars Benedict Cumberbatch (“Twelve Years a Slave”) as Whitey’s brother, Billy Bulger, who is a Massachusetts State Senator; Jesse Plemons (AMC’s “Breaking Bad”) as Whitey’s longtime partner in crime, Kevin Weeks; Sienna Miller (HBO’s...
- 5/22/2014
- by Kellvin Chavez
- LRMonline.com
First of, have I told you how much I love this film? It's Super-funny! But, the greatest comedies have underlying tones of despair, and the characters in "The Goods" certainly have lots of those, hence, the funnies :happy
Make it the super funnies!
From the folks who gave us "Talladega Nights" and "Stepbrothers," "The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard" is one of the best comedies of the summer, perhaps the year!
Directed by Neil Brennan from the script by Andy Stock and Rick Stempson, this film ain't a clunker! Paramount has great timing with the whole Cash for Clunkers program.
You'll find a new, perhaps, respect for used car salesman! "The Goods" opens this Friday, Aug. 14th, so don't miss it!
So I attended the press junket for "The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard" and sat down with the cast. Here they are (click on pictures to see video):...
Make it the super funnies!
From the folks who gave us "Talladega Nights" and "Stepbrothers," "The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard" is one of the best comedies of the summer, perhaps the year!
Directed by Neil Brennan from the script by Andy Stock and Rick Stempson, this film ain't a clunker! Paramount has great timing with the whole Cash for Clunkers program.
You'll find a new, perhaps, respect for used car salesman! "The Goods" opens this Friday, Aug. 14th, so don't miss it!
So I attended the press junket for "The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard" and sat down with the cast. Here they are (click on pictures to see video):...
- 8/12/2009
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
New images in the gallery for Magnolia Pictures' "What Just Happened" starring Robert De Niro, Bruce Willis, Stanley Tucci, John Turturro, Kristen Stewart, Lili Rabe, Catherine Keener, Robin Wright Penn and Sean Penn. Barry Levinson directs the 2929 and Tribeca Productions release distributed by Magnolia Pictures. The film made its debut this January at the Sundance Film Festival. Art Linson, producer of powerful films including "Into the Wild," "Imaginary Heroes," "Spartan," "The Untouchables" and so many more fine works, adapts his own material for the screen. This is Linson's second attempt at writing, his last? 30 years ago for "American Hot Wax." See images now. What's this about? What Just Happened is a winningly sharp comedy about two nail-biting, back-stabbing, roller-coaster weeks in the world of a middle-aged Hollywood producer -- as he tries to juggle an actual life with an outrageous series of crises in his day job.Academy Award...
- 10/14/2008
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Man of the Year is a comedy about a comic who gets elected president of the U.S. -- or rather that's how the film starts out, only writer-director Barry Levinson gets sidetracked. He diverts his film into a political thriller with its own conspiracy theory, an improbable romance and a curious subplot that feels like an anti-smoking ad. Little wonder his bewildered star, Robin Williams, looks confused much of the time.
Levinson once built a fairly unstable comedy around Williams' manic personality in Good Morning, Vietnam, and everyone laughed so hard that few noticed. But here confusion and mixed messages work against a coherent viewpoint -- and laughs.
The film wants to focus on the intersection of media and politics, which Levinson did in his very similar though much better movie, Wag the Dog. For that matter, Warren Beatty's Bulworth does a superior job of satirizing the fallout from a political candidate who actually tells voters what he thinks with brutal honesty rather than stay on a message designed by political consultants.
One problem here is that those consultants must have sat by Levinson's computer as he wrote. He is oh-so-careful not to make a movie that is too liberal or too conservative. No real issue is at stake, and Iraq and the war on terror do not exist. The result is a generic political movie without any real politics. So Man of the Year will offend nobody but just as likely will entertain very few. Boxoffice does not look promising after the opening weekend.
A popular TV pundit/comic, Tom Dobbs (Williams), cracks one too many jokes about running for president, only to discover that the Internet effectively has drafted him as an independent candidate. When Tom decides to run, this throws his entourage -- his chain-smoking, pragmatic manager Jack Menken (Christopher Walken) and rumpled, crusty head writer Eddie Langston (Lewis Black) -- into a tizzy. The film then imagines that in the electronic age a comic like Tom can buy no ads and wage a campaign via celebrityhood and the Internet and still get on the ballot in 17 key states.
Meanwhile, an evil software company has sold the U.S. on a too-easy-to-be-true national voting system. (Let's ignore the fact voting systems are run by states, not the federal government.) A diligent software analyst, Eleanor Green (Laura Linney) -- discovers a huge glitch in the system only weeks before the election, a discovery that the firm's legal counsel, Alan Stewart (Jeff Goldblum), will go to any length to bury.
Tom then gets elected president because of the glitch. So the rest of the movie focuses not on the real story -- what would happen were an intelligent and political savvy comic to ascend to the Oval Office -- but rather on a third-rate thriller about a corporation trying to destroy, corrupt or smear a disgruntled employee. Throw in an unconvincing romance between Tom and Eleanor along with Jack's smoking-related illness and you've pretty much blunted any satirical sharpness.
This confusion is reflected in the movie's look. Cinematographer Dick Pope shoots in a documentary style as if this were All the President's Men. Yet designer Stefania Cella's sets are from that not-quite-real world of Wag the Dog.
Toward the end, Levinson inserts speeches into his dialogue, as if suddenly realizing his message is getting lost: In one instance, Eddie erupts into a diatribe about how TV makes everything feel credible, elevating a Nazi apologist and a Holocaust historian to the same debate platform before undiscerning cameras.
Williams fluctuates between his sentimental/serious side and outrageous manic comedy, so you never quite know who this character is. Linney and Goldblum are playing serious melodrama, while Walken and Black are Woody Allen-esque showbiz creatures, constantly urging their protege to stick to comedy.
Too bad Man of the Year didn't have the courage of its convictions -- to say something meaningful and shrug off the fallout from the outraged extremes of the political spectrum. A feel-good political satire is not what the nation needs at this moment.
MAN OF THE YEAR
Universal Pictures
Morgan Creek
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Barry Levinson
Producers: James G. Robinson, David Robinson
Executive producers: Guy McElwaine, David Coatsworth, Rob Fried
Director of photography: Dick Pope
Production designer: Stefania Cella
Music: Graeme Revell
Costume designer: Delphine White
Editor: Steven Weisberg, Blair Daily
Cast:
Tom Dobbs: Robin Williams
Jack Menken: Christopher Walken
Eleanor: Laura Linney
Eddie: Lewis Black
Stewart: Jeff Goldblum
Danny: David Alpay
Moderator: Faith Daniels
Running time -- 115 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Levinson once built a fairly unstable comedy around Williams' manic personality in Good Morning, Vietnam, and everyone laughed so hard that few noticed. But here confusion and mixed messages work against a coherent viewpoint -- and laughs.
The film wants to focus on the intersection of media and politics, which Levinson did in his very similar though much better movie, Wag the Dog. For that matter, Warren Beatty's Bulworth does a superior job of satirizing the fallout from a political candidate who actually tells voters what he thinks with brutal honesty rather than stay on a message designed by political consultants.
One problem here is that those consultants must have sat by Levinson's computer as he wrote. He is oh-so-careful not to make a movie that is too liberal or too conservative. No real issue is at stake, and Iraq and the war on terror do not exist. The result is a generic political movie without any real politics. So Man of the Year will offend nobody but just as likely will entertain very few. Boxoffice does not look promising after the opening weekend.
A popular TV pundit/comic, Tom Dobbs (Williams), cracks one too many jokes about running for president, only to discover that the Internet effectively has drafted him as an independent candidate. When Tom decides to run, this throws his entourage -- his chain-smoking, pragmatic manager Jack Menken (Christopher Walken) and rumpled, crusty head writer Eddie Langston (Lewis Black) -- into a tizzy. The film then imagines that in the electronic age a comic like Tom can buy no ads and wage a campaign via celebrityhood and the Internet and still get on the ballot in 17 key states.
Meanwhile, an evil software company has sold the U.S. on a too-easy-to-be-true national voting system. (Let's ignore the fact voting systems are run by states, not the federal government.) A diligent software analyst, Eleanor Green (Laura Linney) -- discovers a huge glitch in the system only weeks before the election, a discovery that the firm's legal counsel, Alan Stewart (Jeff Goldblum), will go to any length to bury.
Tom then gets elected president because of the glitch. So the rest of the movie focuses not on the real story -- what would happen were an intelligent and political savvy comic to ascend to the Oval Office -- but rather on a third-rate thriller about a corporation trying to destroy, corrupt or smear a disgruntled employee. Throw in an unconvincing romance between Tom and Eleanor along with Jack's smoking-related illness and you've pretty much blunted any satirical sharpness.
This confusion is reflected in the movie's look. Cinematographer Dick Pope shoots in a documentary style as if this were All the President's Men. Yet designer Stefania Cella's sets are from that not-quite-real world of Wag the Dog.
Toward the end, Levinson inserts speeches into his dialogue, as if suddenly realizing his message is getting lost: In one instance, Eddie erupts into a diatribe about how TV makes everything feel credible, elevating a Nazi apologist and a Holocaust historian to the same debate platform before undiscerning cameras.
Williams fluctuates between his sentimental/serious side and outrageous manic comedy, so you never quite know who this character is. Linney and Goldblum are playing serious melodrama, while Walken and Black are Woody Allen-esque showbiz creatures, constantly urging their protege to stick to comedy.
Too bad Man of the Year didn't have the courage of its convictions -- to say something meaningful and shrug off the fallout from the outraged extremes of the political spectrum. A feel-good political satire is not what the nation needs at this moment.
MAN OF THE YEAR
Universal Pictures
Morgan Creek
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Barry Levinson
Producers: James G. Robinson, David Robinson
Executive producers: Guy McElwaine, David Coatsworth, Rob Fried
Director of photography: Dick Pope
Production designer: Stefania Cella
Music: Graeme Revell
Costume designer: Delphine White
Editor: Steven Weisberg, Blair Daily
Cast:
Tom Dobbs: Robin Williams
Jack Menken: Christopher Walken
Eleanor: Laura Linney
Eddie: Lewis Black
Stewart: Jeff Goldblum
Danny: David Alpay
Moderator: Faith Daniels
Running time -- 115 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 10/9/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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