Since its formation in 2019, All Elite Wrestling has put an emphasis on in-ring action, creating a much-needed alternative to WWE. Some would even say that there is too much emphasis on the wrestling itself and not enough flashy storytelling. But while the promotion is far from perfect, there are still many great arcs and rivalries that have come from Tony Khan smashing his action figures together.
Here is a look at the best storylines in Aew’s short history, from alcoholic cowboys to angry dinosaur men..
10. Jon Moxley Dismantles the Inner Circle
As inaugural Aew World Champion, Chris Jericho was able to survive challengers for months thanks in part to his faction, the Inner Circle. When it came time for Jon Moxley to step up and make a go for the belt, he had no allies to back him up. There was no faction warfare. It was just one man...
Here is a look at the best storylines in Aew’s short history, from alcoholic cowboys to angry dinosaur men..
10. Jon Moxley Dismantles the Inner Circle
As inaugural Aew World Champion, Chris Jericho was able to survive challengers for months thanks in part to his faction, the Inner Circle. When it came time for Jon Moxley to step up and make a go for the belt, he had no allies to back him up. There was no faction warfare. It was just one man...
- 4/18/2024
- by John Saavedra
- Den of Geek
Welcome to this week’s review of Aew: Dynamite, which was broadcast live from the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. We’ve just got Excalibur, Tony Schiavone and Taz on commentary this week, so let’s get into the review!
Match #1: Aew World Championship Match – Mjf def. Daniel Garcia The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Mjf locked up with Garcia and then taunted Garcia by doing Garcia’s dance. Garcia grappled Mjf to the mat. Mjf offered his hand to Garcia as a sign of sportsmanship. Garcia slapped it away and Mjf thumbed Garcia in the eyes. Mjf began to work over Garcia’s arm, concentrating his offense there. Garcia fired back with a flurry of forearms and strikes. Garcia followed up with a high release German Suplex. Garcia nailed Mjf with a brainbuster for a near fall. Mjf double stomped on Garcia’s elbow. Mjf rocked Garcia with a shoulder breaker.
Match #1: Aew World Championship Match – Mjf def. Daniel Garcia The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Mjf locked up with Garcia and then taunted Garcia by doing Garcia’s dance. Garcia grappled Mjf to the mat. Mjf offered his hand to Garcia as a sign of sportsmanship. Garcia slapped it away and Mjf thumbed Garcia in the eyes. Mjf began to work over Garcia’s arm, concentrating his offense there. Garcia fired back with a flurry of forearms and strikes. Garcia followed up with a high release German Suplex. Garcia nailed Mjf with a brainbuster for a near fall. Mjf double stomped on Garcia’s elbow. Mjf rocked Garcia with a shoulder breaker.
- 11/10/2023
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
One of the pleasures of Telluride is watching a master auteur accept the Silver Medallion. Telluride Executive Director Julie Huntsinger was shocked to discover that in the 50 years of the festival, no Silver Medallion was ever awarded to German filmmaker Wim Wenders. So this year, he brought his two Cannes selections, 3D documentary “Anselm” (Sideshow and Janus) and Competition title “Perfect Days” (Neon), whose star Koji Yakusho (“Shall We Dance?”) won Best Actor at Cannes. Despite its German director, Japan has chosen to submit the film for the Oscar.
At Thursday night’s first tribute, Werner Herzog dug into his pocket to fish out the Silver Medallion, and placed it around his old friend’s neck. “The same time several years ago Tom Luddy put this on my neck,” said Herzog. “I kept thinking, ‘this is an injustice if you hadn’t received this medallion in 1978, and 1981, and 1995, and 2015.’ Because...
At Thursday night’s first tribute, Werner Herzog dug into his pocket to fish out the Silver Medallion, and placed it around his old friend’s neck. “The same time several years ago Tom Luddy put this on my neck,” said Herzog. “I kept thinking, ‘this is an injustice if you hadn’t received this medallion in 1978, and 1981, and 1995, and 2015.’ Because...
- 9/3/2023
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Salt Of The EarthPhoto: Public Domain
Salt Of The Earth is a movie that sees around corners. Partly—but only partly— because of the current Hollywood writers’ strike, it also speaks loudly to our time. A strike movie about labor unrest in a mining town, Salt Of The Earth was...
Salt Of The Earth is a movie that sees around corners. Partly—but only partly— because of the current Hollywood writers’ strike, it also speaks loudly to our time. A strike movie about labor unrest in a mining town, Salt Of The Earth was...
- 5/23/2023
- by Ray Greene
- avclub.com
Salt of the earth Midwesterners Irene and Franklin York (Oscar winners Sissy Spacek and J.K. Simmons) believe they’re in the twilight of their half-century marriage. So, maybe, they’re not entirely Mr. and Mrs. Typical, and their lives hew closer to “The Twilight Zone.” Some nights, they slip away from the dinner dishes and TV to their backyard shed. Once there, they teleport to a mysterious chamber with a stunning view of what is perhaps a distant, empty but awe-inducing planet-scape. It’s magical, but the Yorks have yet to crack the code of what this incredible interstellar overlook means.
“Night Sky,” created by Holden Miller, gets off to a slow yet intimate start. We dive into the joys and sorrows of Spacek’s sickly former English teacher and her retired carpenter husband. We learn how the Yorks met, married and had an only son who fathered an only daughter.
“Night Sky,” created by Holden Miller, gets off to a slow yet intimate start. We dive into the joys and sorrows of Spacek’s sickly former English teacher and her retired carpenter husband. We learn how the Yorks met, married and had an only son who fathered an only daughter.
- 5/19/2022
- by Thelma Adams
- The Wrap
The 2022 Tribeca Festival announced its lineup of world premieres of new and returning television including ESPN’s The Captain, about iconic New York Yankee Derek Jeter and Amazon Prime Video’s A League of Their Own, inspired by the 1992 film, with Abbi Jacobson.
The fest, which unspools June 8-19, announced its film slate earlier this week.
The nine series premieres and two first looks at returning favorites feature Hulu’s Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons, an exposé of Victoria’s Secret; HBO Max’s Menudo: Forever Young, a behind-the-scenes look at the multi-generational pop sensation; FX’s The Bear, a ride through the culinary world; Time Studios for A&e Network’s Right to Offend, a docuseries about Black comedians; Epix’s Bridge and Tunnel, which follows a group of Long Islanders pursuing Manhattan dreams, written and directed by Edward Burns; and the mid-season premiere of the final season...
The fest, which unspools June 8-19, announced its film slate earlier this week.
The nine series premieres and two first looks at returning favorites feature Hulu’s Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons, an exposé of Victoria’s Secret; HBO Max’s Menudo: Forever Young, a behind-the-scenes look at the multi-generational pop sensation; FX’s The Bear, a ride through the culinary world; Time Studios for A&e Network’s Right to Offend, a docuseries about Black comedians; Epix’s Bridge and Tunnel, which follows a group of Long Islanders pursuing Manhattan dreams, written and directed by Edward Burns; and the mid-season premiere of the final season...
- 4/21/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
The 2022 Tribeca Festival announced its TV lineup featuring world premieres of new and returning shows, original scripted audio, and original indie episodic series.
The Festival takes place from June 8-19 and will open with Jennifer Lopez documentary “Halftime.” The features program spans 10 categories and showcases 110 feature films and 16 online premieres from 151 filmmakers across 40 countries.
This year’s TV lineup include nine series premieres and two first looks at returning favorites. Emmy-winning AMC series “Better Call Saul” debuts its mid-season premiere of the final season, followed by a special conversation with lead stars Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn and showrunner, executive producer, and co-creator Peter Gould. Edward Burns’ Epix dramedy “Bridge and Tunnel,” following Long Island college grads grappling with adulthood, also premieres.
Docuseries including ESPN’s “The Captain” about iconic New York Yankee All-Star Derek Jeter, Hulu’s exposé “Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons,” HBO Max’s “Menudo: Forever Young,...
The Festival takes place from June 8-19 and will open with Jennifer Lopez documentary “Halftime.” The features program spans 10 categories and showcases 110 feature films and 16 online premieres from 151 filmmakers across 40 countries.
This year’s TV lineup include nine series premieres and two first looks at returning favorites. Emmy-winning AMC series “Better Call Saul” debuts its mid-season premiere of the final season, followed by a special conversation with lead stars Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn and showrunner, executive producer, and co-creator Peter Gould. Edward Burns’ Epix dramedy “Bridge and Tunnel,” following Long Island college grads grappling with adulthood, also premieres.
Docuseries including ESPN’s “The Captain” about iconic New York Yankee All-Star Derek Jeter, Hulu’s exposé “Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons,” HBO Max’s “Menudo: Forever Young,...
- 4/21/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
The Tribeca Festival has announced the television premieres for its upcoming 2022 edition.
The festival, which takes place each year in New York City, features screenings and premieres of notable films, television series and audio storytelling. For its television slate, the festival will premiere nine new series and screen the returns of two series.
The television lineup includes six docuseries: Hulu’s “Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons,” an exposé of the lingerie retail chain; HBO Max’s “Menudo: Forever Young,” a look behind-the-scenes of the titular Puerto Rican boy band; Peacock’s “The End is Nye,” which sees celebrity scientist and TV host Bill Nye examine potential global disasters; Showtime’s “Supreme Team,” an examination of a real-life Queens gang co-directed by rapper Nas; A&e Network’s “Right to Offend,” a Time Studios production that looks at the history of Black comedians using their comedy to push for social...
The festival, which takes place each year in New York City, features screenings and premieres of notable films, television series and audio storytelling. For its television slate, the festival will premiere nine new series and screen the returns of two series.
The television lineup includes six docuseries: Hulu’s “Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons,” an exposé of the lingerie retail chain; HBO Max’s “Menudo: Forever Young,” a look behind-the-scenes of the titular Puerto Rican boy band; Peacock’s “The End is Nye,” which sees celebrity scientist and TV host Bill Nye examine potential global disasters; Showtime’s “Supreme Team,” an examination of a real-life Queens gang co-directed by rapper Nas; A&e Network’s “Right to Offend,” a Time Studios production that looks at the history of Black comedians using their comedy to push for social...
- 4/21/2022
- by Wilson Chapman
- Variety Film + TV
Jon Hamm is set to star as an FBI agent trying to shut down Salt of the Earth, the only movie named to the Hollywood Blacklist, in a new scripted podcast series.
Audible has ordered The Big Lie, a seven-part audio drama series created by John Mankiewicz, a relative of Citizen Kane co-screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz.
Kate Mara, Ana de la Reguera, John Slattery, Bradley Whitford, Lisa Edelstein, Giancarlo Esposito and David Strathairn also star.
Mankiewicz, a co-exec producer on House of Cards and Bosch, will exec produce alongside Hamm. It comes from a story by blacklisted Salt of the Earth producer Paul Jarrico, co-written by Jamie Napoli and directed by Aaron Lipstadt. Fresh Produce Media produces.
The Big Lie is set in 1950s Hollywood at the height of the “Red Scare,” as a trio of outcast filmmakers try to make a movie that dramatized their pro-labor, pro-feminist beliefs while suffering...
Audible has ordered The Big Lie, a seven-part audio drama series created by John Mankiewicz, a relative of Citizen Kane co-screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz.
Kate Mara, Ana de la Reguera, John Slattery, Bradley Whitford, Lisa Edelstein, Giancarlo Esposito and David Strathairn also star.
Mankiewicz, a co-exec producer on House of Cards and Bosch, will exec produce alongside Hamm. It comes from a story by blacklisted Salt of the Earth producer Paul Jarrico, co-written by Jamie Napoli and directed by Aaron Lipstadt. Fresh Produce Media produces.
The Big Lie is set in 1950s Hollywood at the height of the “Red Scare,” as a trio of outcast filmmakers try to make a movie that dramatized their pro-labor, pro-feminist beliefs while suffering...
- 4/19/2022
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
The Rolling Stones will roll out their previously unreleased 1989 concert film Steel Wheels Live – Atlantic City, New Jersey on multiple formats on Sept. 25. The next day, Record Store Day’s second drop date of the year, they will also release a double A-sided 10” picture disc exclusively to independent record stores all over the world. The picture disc will include the singles “Almost Hear You Sigh” which was recorded live at the Tokyo Dome, and “Rock and a Hard Place,” which was recorded live from Atlantic City.
The whole world is currently stuck between a rock and a hard place. By the very definition of their name, the Rolling Stones should retain some wriggle room, but they can’t move mountains. Sometimes even a legendary band can’t get what they want. It’s not only the “people poorer than dirt who are caught in the crossfire.” In spite of a historic virtual live performance,...
The whole world is currently stuck between a rock and a hard place. By the very definition of their name, the Rolling Stones should retain some wriggle room, but they can’t move mountains. Sometimes even a legendary band can’t get what they want. It’s not only the “people poorer than dirt who are caught in the crossfire.” In spite of a historic virtual live performance,...
- 8/13/2020
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
The Rolling Stones have just announced a previously unreleased concert film, Steel Wheels Live, which documents a 1989 show in Atlantic City, New Jersey, with cameos from Eric Clapton, Axl Rose and more. The film drops September 25th via Eagle Rock Entertainment.
At the end of December 1989, the Stones played three gigs at the Convention Center in Atlantic City to wrap up an extensive trek — their first in North America since 1981 — that had begun in August in support of their latest LP Steel Wheels. The penultimate gig, on December 19th, was...
At the end of December 1989, the Stones played three gigs at the Convention Center in Atlantic City to wrap up an extensive trek — their first in North America since 1981 — that had begun in August in support of their latest LP Steel Wheels. The penultimate gig, on December 19th, was...
- 7/30/2020
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
The Rolling Stones will reissue their famed Rock and Roll Circus concert as a massive multi-media box set June 7th via Abkco.
The Stones hosted the Rock and Roll Circus in December 1968, performing alongside an all-star lineup that also featured the Who, Yoko Ono, Jethro Tull, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull and the impromptu supergroup the Dirty Mac, comprising John Lennon, Keith Richards, Mitch Mitchell and Eric Clapton. Director Michael Lindsay-Hogg filmed the performance for a planned BBC special, though it never aired due to Brian Jones’ departure from the band...
The Stones hosted the Rock and Roll Circus in December 1968, performing alongside an all-star lineup that also featured the Who, Yoko Ono, Jethro Tull, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull and the impromptu supergroup the Dirty Mac, comprising John Lennon, Keith Richards, Mitch Mitchell and Eric Clapton. Director Michael Lindsay-Hogg filmed the performance for a planned BBC special, though it never aired due to Brian Jones’ departure from the band...
- 4/30/2019
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
When Marcus King was 15, he talked his way into the Asheville, North Carolina, club the Orange Peel to slip a demo to Allman Brothers guitarist Warren Haynes — and nearly got himself arrested.
“I snuck in with the caterers,” says King. “Now the owner and I are good friends, but at the time he wanted to throw me in jail.”
That was seven years ago. These days, the 22-year-old guitarist doesn’t have to do much sneaking around concert stages: King has established himself as an electrifying performer, especially in the jam-rock world,...
“I snuck in with the caterers,” says King. “Now the owner and I are good friends, but at the time he wanted to throw me in jail.”
That was seven years ago. These days, the 22-year-old guitarist doesn’t have to do much sneaking around concert stages: King has established himself as an electrifying performer, especially in the jam-rock world,...
- 12/7/2018
- by Joseph Hudak
- Rollingstone.com
Recently completing one of the longest shoots of his career with The Irishman, most other directors would consider that an accomplishment enough, but in between takes, Martin Scorsese somehow found time to construct a new curriculum as part of his “The Story of Movies” film course, produced with his company Film Foundation. This latest edition is “Portraits of America: Democracy on Film” and is free for students. However, if one would just like to follow along with their own personal screenings, the full list is available.
“We all need to make sense of what we’re seeing. For young people born into this world now, it’s absolutely crucial that they get guided,” Scorsese says (via IndieWire). “They have to learn how to sort the differences between art and pure commerce, between cinema and content, between the secrets of images that are individually crafted and the secrets of images that are mass-produced.
“We all need to make sense of what we’re seeing. For young people born into this world now, it’s absolutely crucial that they get guided,” Scorsese says (via IndieWire). “They have to learn how to sort the differences between art and pure commerce, between cinema and content, between the secrets of images that are individually crafted and the secrets of images that are mass-produced.
- 3/29/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Martin Scorsese and his nonprofit organization The Film Foundation have announced their brand-new film curriculum, “Portraits of America: Democracy on Film.” The curriculum is the latest addition to the group’s ongoing film course “The Story of Movies,” which aims to teach students how to read the language of film and place motion pictures in the context of history, art, and society. Both “Democracy on Film” and the course are completely free for schools and universities.
“Portraits of America: Democracy on Film” is broken down into eight different sections, all of which include in-depth looks at some of the most important American films ever made, from Chaplin to Ford, Coppola, Spielberg, and ultimately Scorsese himself. The program is presented in partnership with Afscme. Scorsese announced the curriculum at a March 27 press conference in New York City.
“We all need to make sense of what we’re seeing,” Scorsese explained. “For...
“Portraits of America: Democracy on Film” is broken down into eight different sections, all of which include in-depth looks at some of the most important American films ever made, from Chaplin to Ford, Coppola, Spielberg, and ultimately Scorsese himself. The program is presented in partnership with Afscme. Scorsese announced the curriculum at a March 27 press conference in New York City.
“We all need to make sense of what we’re seeing,” Scorsese explained. “For...
- 3/27/2018
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Crime novel The Blank Wall by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding. While her husband is away during World War II, housewife Lucia Holley – the sort of “Everywoman” who looks great in a two-piece bathing suit – does whatever it takes to protect the feeling of “normality” in her bourgeois, suburban household. The Blank Wall is a classic depiction of an attempted cover-up being much more serious than the actual crime. Sound bites: Remembering the classic crime novel 'The Blank Wall' and its two movie adaptations – 'The Reckless Moment' & 'The Deep End' Crime novel writer Elisabeth Sanxay Holding (1889–1955) is not a name familiar to many, and yet Raymond Chandler described her as “the top suspense writer of them all. She doesn't pour it on and make you feel irritated. Her characters are wonderful; and she has a sort of inner calm which I find very attractive.” Holding has been identified as “The Godmother of Noir” and, more...
- 7/17/2017
- by Anthony Slide
- Alt Film Guide
Labor Day celebrates working people and the labor unions that brought working people the 40-hour work week, the 8-hour day, overtime pay, work-place safety, paid holidays and vacations, and a host of other protections and benefits. To honor those hard-working people and organized labor, here is a list (in no particular order) of a dozen worthy narrative films for Labor Day.
Norma Rae (1979)
For many people, the words “labor union” bring to mind the image of Sally Field standing up in defiance in “Norma Rae.” Field won an Oscar for her unforgettable, inspiring character, a worker in a Southern textile factory who becomes involved in labor organizing and stands up to management after the factory workers’ health is threatened in the workplace. This stirring drama, based on a true story, also stars Beau Bridges as Norma Rae’s husband Sonny and Ron Leibman as an union organizer from the Northeast.
Norma Rae (1979)
For many people, the words “labor union” bring to mind the image of Sally Field standing up in defiance in “Norma Rae.” Field won an Oscar for her unforgettable, inspiring character, a worker in a Southern textile factory who becomes involved in labor organizing and stands up to management after the factory workers’ health is threatened in the workplace. This stirring drama, based on a true story, also stars Beau Bridges as Norma Rae’s husband Sonny and Ron Leibman as an union organizer from the Northeast.
- 9/3/2016
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Costa-Gavras sets his focus on right-wing political terror in the American heartland, where FBI agent Debra Winger finds farmer Tom Berenger at the head of a clan of murderous white supremacists. Our friends and neighbors! Betrayed Blu-ray Olive Films 1988 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 127 min. / Street Date April 19, 2016 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98 Starring Debra Winger, Tom Berenger, John Heard, Betsy Blair, John Mahoney, Ted Levine, Jeffrey DeMunn, Albert Hall, David Clennon, Robert Swan, Richard Libertini. Cinematography Patrick Blossier Film Editor Joële Van Effenterre Original Music Bill Conti Written by Joe Eszterhas Produced by Irwin Winkler Directed by Costa-Gavras
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Filmmaker Cost-Gavras occupies a high roost where political activism is concerned. His most popular films 'Z', Stage of Siege, The Confession and Missing put strong values before wide audiences in the Nixon and Reagan years, when few major filmmakers would go near such touchy subjects. 1988's Betrayed is...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Filmmaker Cost-Gavras occupies a high roost where political activism is concerned. His most popular films 'Z', Stage of Siege, The Confession and Missing put strong values before wide audiences in the Nixon and Reagan years, when few major filmmakers would go near such touchy subjects. 1988's Betrayed is...
- 8/6/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
NEWSThe lineup for the 69th Locarno Film Festival has been announced, with new movies by Yousry Nasrallah, Matías Piñeiro, João Pedro Rodrigues (O Ornitólogo, above) and Axelle Ropert in the International Competition, short films by Thom Andersen and Jia Zhangke, and more.Recommended VIEWINGThe trailer for Jeff Nichols' new film Loving, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May.A new exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, "It's All True," is devoted to American avant-garde director Bruce Conner. The Museum has generously put online the 1996 version of Conner's film Looking for Mushrooms.Recommended Reading"American Horror Story": Ezekiel Kweku's brief, moving and must-read analysis of trying to analyze the proliferating videos of deaths at the hands of the American police:The postmortem, the part we’re going through now, is also tiring. The videos of the death go viral, everyone talks about how shocking it is, which...
- 7/13/2016
- MUBI
This noir hits with the force of a blast furnace -- Cy Endfield's wrenching tale of social neglect and injustice will tie your stomach in knots. Sound like fun? An unemployed man turns to crime and reaps a whirlwind of disproportionate retribution. It's surely the most powerful of all filmic accusations thrown at the American status quo. Try and Get Me! Blu-ray Olive Films 1950 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 92 min. / Street Date April 19, 2016 / The Sound of Fury / available through the Olive Films website / 29.95 Starring Frank Lovejoy, Kathleen Ryan, Richard Carlson, Lloyd Bridges, Katherine Locke, Adele Jergens, Art Smith, Renzo Cesana, Irene Vernon, Cliff Clark, Donald Smelick, Joe E. Ross. Cinematography Guy Roe Production Design Perry Ferguson Film Editor George Amy Original Music Hugo Friedhofer Written by Jo Pagano from his novel The Condemned Produced by Robert Stillman Directed by Cyril Endfield
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Socially conscious 'issue' movies are not all made equal.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Socially conscious 'issue' movies are not all made equal.
- 4/15/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
• only 22% of 2015’s movies had female protagonists
• best and worst representations of women on film in 2015 (and the average Watw score for the year)
• critics are slightly more likely to rate a film highly if it represents women well
• mainstream moviegoers are not turned off by films with female protagonists
• movies that represent women well are just as likely to be profitable as movies that don’t, and are less risky as business propositions
The Where Are the Women? project was designed to drill deep down into the films of 2015 in order to determine how well — or how poorly — they represented women. The project has now come to its end, and you can examine the final ranking here. The ranking includes 270 films released in the Us, Canada, and the UK, in both limited and wide release (including every wide-release North American film and most of the UK wide-release films). The...
• best and worst representations of women on film in 2015 (and the average Watw score for the year)
• critics are slightly more likely to rate a film highly if it represents women well
• mainstream moviegoers are not turned off by films with female protagonists
• movies that represent women well are just as likely to be profitable as movies that don’t, and are less risky as business propositions
The Where Are the Women? project was designed to drill deep down into the films of 2015 in order to determine how well — or how poorly — they represented women. The project has now come to its end, and you can examine the final ranking here. The ranking includes 270 films released in the Us, Canada, and the UK, in both limited and wide release (including every wide-release North American film and most of the UK wide-release films). The...
- 4/11/2016
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
You should all be watching American Crime Story: The People v Oj Simpson. Based on the high ratings, a lot of you are watching the FX drama, but if you’re not, you should check out the very addictive, fun and thoughtful drama, which features a great supporting performance from John Travolta. He goes big in the series, showing a […]
The post ‘Life on the Line’ Trailer: John Travolta Plays a Real Salt of the Earth Kind of Man appeared first on /Film.
The post ‘Life on the Line’ Trailer: John Travolta Plays a Real Salt of the Earth Kind of Man appeared first on /Film.
- 2/24/2016
- by Jack Giroux
- Slash Film
Glenn here. As the world of documentary filmmaking grows and grows, biography docs are among the most popular and easiest to sell. This pre-sold name-brand familiarity makes them more desirable to financiers, producers, directors, distributors, exhibitors, festivals, and ultimately audiences. It’s hardly surprising that of the Academy’s 124-strong long-list (to be narrowed to 15 any day now) at least 20 cover the life of a famous person in the public eye. And if you want to stretch the parameters to include institutions such as National Lampoon, Saturday Night Live, Tower Records, The Black Panthers, The Bolshoi Theatre etc, the number balloons. They are also among the highest profile submissions, too, with names like Nina Simone, Evel Kenievel and Chris Farley simply standing out more than geo-politics, homophobia in the Middle East, or Cambodian rock and roll.
This sub-category of documentary were once considered more frivolous and less serious, but have...
This sub-category of documentary were once considered more frivolous and less serious, but have...
- 11/27/2015
- by Glenn Dunks
- FilmExperience
Very few movements in film history have been as rewarding, and yet as undervalued among film fans, as that of the New German Cinema. With names like Rainer Werner Fassbinder now beginning to be muttered in broad collections of film fans, the world of German filmmaking that came to light in the late 1960s has birthed some of the greatest auteurs of its generation, even a handful that are still turning out some of their best work. Most notably filmmakers like Werner Herzog have transitioned from this movement into worlds that they themselves have broken the ground on.
Same could be said for one Wim Wenders.
Best known for masterpieces like Wings Of Desire and Paris, Texas, the filmmaker is to this day pushing the boundaries of what cinema can do. With 3D films like Pina and his startlingly poignant Salt Of The Earth, Wenders has had a more than productive career spanning 5 decades,...
Same could be said for one Wim Wenders.
Best known for masterpieces like Wings Of Desire and Paris, Texas, the filmmaker is to this day pushing the boundaries of what cinema can do. With 3D films like Pina and his startlingly poignant Salt Of The Earth, Wenders has had a more than productive career spanning 5 decades,...
- 8/28/2015
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
Simon Gross was only on Big Brother: Timebomb for about an hour before getting booted out in a shock launch night eviction twist - but that still gave him plenty of time to get some first impressions on his fellow housemates.
Speaking to reporters this morning, Simon gave a rundown of the group (although he missed out Aaron), so read on to find out who he thought was vain, who he thought would be trouble and who he thinks will find it tough in there...
Jack
"Jack? Oh, Pie Face. Yeah, I thought he was salt of the earth. I thought he was the complete opposite to me. I thought that he was real. I love that we were all drinking champagne and he went and made himself a cup of tea. He talked constantly. His love of his life – I was waiting for him to say somebody in his life,...
Speaking to reporters this morning, Simon gave a rundown of the group (although he missed out Aaron), so read on to find out who he thought was vain, who he thought would be trouble and who he thinks will find it tough in there...
Jack
"Jack? Oh, Pie Face. Yeah, I thought he was salt of the earth. I thought he was the complete opposite to me. I thought that he was real. I love that we were all drinking champagne and he went and made himself a cup of tea. He talked constantly. His love of his life – I was waiting for him to say somebody in his life,...
- 5/13/2015
- Digital Spy
Wim Wenders' captivating documentary The Salt of the Earth (2014) opens Friday in Austin after numerous festival screenings and heaps of critical praise. The Oscar-nominated documentary film follows famed photographer Sebastiao Selgado as he embarks on one of the most ambitious projects of his 40-year career in an effort to capture the planet's true essence and beauty.
I've no doubt that Wenders' Salt of the Earth is the wonderful piece of filmmaking others have claimed it to be. Yet when I hear the phrase "salt of the earth," my mind can't help but think of the stirring 1954 independent drama of the same name as well as the important social significance it conveyed and the controversy that surrounded the movie.
Set within a New Mexico mining town, Salt of the Earth (1954) centers on husband and wife Ramon (Juan Chacon) and Esperanza (Rosaura Ruevueltas), a happily married couple expecting their third child.
I've no doubt that Wenders' Salt of the Earth is the wonderful piece of filmmaking others have claimed it to be. Yet when I hear the phrase "salt of the earth," my mind can't help but think of the stirring 1954 independent drama of the same name as well as the important social significance it conveyed and the controversy that surrounded the movie.
Set within a New Mexico mining town, Salt of the Earth (1954) centers on husband and wife Ramon (Juan Chacon) and Esperanza (Rosaura Ruevueltas), a happily married couple expecting their third child.
- 4/29/2015
- by Frank Calvillo
- Slackerwood
Teresa Wright and Matt Damon in 'The Rainmaker' Teresa Wright: From Marlon Brando to Matt Damon (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright vs. Samuel Goldwyn: Nasty Falling Out.") "I'd rather have luck than brains!" Teresa Wright was quoted as saying in the early 1950s. That's understandable, considering her post-Samuel Goldwyn choice of movie roles, some of which may have seemed promising on paper.[1] Wright was Marlon Brando's first Hollywood leading lady, but that didn't help her to bounce back following the very public spat with her former boss. After all, The Men was released before Elia Kazan's film version of A Streetcar Named Desire turned Brando into a major international star. Chances are that good film offers were scarce. After Wright's brief 1950 comeback, for the third time in less than a decade she would be gone from the big screen for more than a year.
- 3/11/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Every year Villa Aurora follows its own long tradition of welcoming the German community and friends to socialize and celebrate the German contribution to American culture.
The German co-production “Citizenfour” by Laura Poitras (De/Us, Praxis Films, Br, Ndr) was awarded the Oscar® for Best Documentary Feature yesterday. “Citizenfour” has also received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature.
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” by Wes Anderson (Gb/De, Neunzehnte Babelsberg Film), another German co-production, picked up four Academy Awards® in the categories Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Hair and Make-Up as well as Best Original Score. It had been nominated in nine categories.
A day before the Oscars®, German Films joined forces with the Villa Aurora and the German Consul-General in Los Angeles to hold their traditional reception in honor of the German Oscar® nominees at the garden of the Villa Aurora in Los Angeles.
The teams of “Citizenfour” comprising the German producers Dirk Wilutzky and Mathilde Bonnefoy, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” with the producers Carl Woebcken, Henning Molfenter and Christoph Fisser, the representatives of the German regional funders Carl Bergengruen of Mfg Baden-württemberg and Kirsten Niehuus of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg as well as the director Wim Wenders, who was nominated for Best Documentary Feature for “The Salt Of The Earth," celebrated there with guests from the German and international film industry.
The beautiful Spanish Deco home at 520 Paseo Miramar in the Pacific Palisades was bought by the famed author, Lion Feuchtwanger and his wife Marta in 1943 the same year that he published The Devil in France, the account of his imprisonment by the Nazis in the South of France before he fled to the U.S.
In September of 1940, with the support of Varian Fry and the U.S. Vice Consul in Marseille, Hiram Bingham, Lion and Marta were able to join another group of exiles in crossing the Pyrenees on foot. They made their journey from Lisbon to New York on different ships. From there, they traveled to Los Angeles, and in 1943 moved into the Villa Aurora, which soon became a focal point in the lives of many intellectuals and artists who had fled from Germany including Bertold Brecht, Thomas Mann and his brother Heinrich Mann, Marlene Dietrich.
Their German passports had been confiscated by the Nazis. In the McCarthy era, Feuchtwanger was scrutinized as a “premature antifascist” by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Fearing that he would not be allowed to return, he never traveled outside the U.S. again. After years of immigration hearings, Feuchtwangers application for American citizenship was finally granted, but the letter informing Feuchtwanger of the fact was not received until a day after his death.
Marta bequeathed to the University of Southern California the library and the house in exchange for the life-long right to live in the Villa. She was appointed curator of the Villa and was politically and culturally active. The Villa remained a social destination in Los Angeles. In 1987 she died at the age of 96.
"So, in my fiftieth year, I literally arrived in the U.S. on foot. Has that made me a U.S. citizen? Can a piece of paper change half a century of my life? I don’t believe it. Now, that I have only 10 years to complete the second half of the century, I feel, it is good to have the citizenship of a country that unites my German routes with the ones of many other nations. Being American is very close to being a citizen of the world."
Source: Marta Feuchtwanger: Only a Woman, Years Days Hours, Aufbau Verlag Berlin Leipzig, 1984
Celebrating the Academy Award Nominees at the same time as 20 years of present ownership of the Villa Aurora and at the same time as 25 years after German reunification, restoration of the famed Babelsberg Studios made this year especially notable.
At the party, I had the chance to speak with Mariette Rissenbeek, Managing Director or German Films.
How long have you been with German Export?
I started in 2002, 13 years ago. I was in charge of festivals and public relations. The position gave me rewarding insights into festivals and I was able to meet many producers.
What changes have you seen in your time there?
I started a year after “Good Bye Lenin” and “Nowhere in Africa”. In the 2000s, German films became very popular internationally. Since 2011 I have been the Managing Director which involves lots of administration and politics.
How do German films do abroad?
Every year two to three titles work well. “Phoenix” is doing very well in France. “Hannah Arendt” and “The Lives of Others” did well worldwide. This year we have “Elser” (“Thirteen Minutes”) which just premiered in Berlin and of course “Salt of the Earth” and “CitizenFour” (winner of the 2015 Spirit Award for Best Documentary), “Victoria” which Adopt Films acquired for U.S.
Germans have consistently won Academy Awards since 1929 when Emil Jannings won for Best Actor in “The Way of All Flesh” and “ The Last Command”.
I also had the chance to speak with the Director of Villa Aurora, my friend since her days at Goethe Institute.
How long have you been Director of Villa Aurora ?
Three years in May.
You moved over from Goethe Institute and have changed Villa Aurora significantly. Can you tell us what changes it has undergone since you took over as its director?
When I applied for the position, I gave my vision for the Villa in various areas which included increased visibility, and renovations, as the home was in a rather neglected state. I also wanted our guests to network more with the Los Angeles arts community. So now their work appears in galleries, they give master classes and they show their work.
I had support from the Berlin headquarters and the German Foreign office and so we could renovate, landscape and install better lighting. I love creative work and this has been very satisfying.
Similarly as at the Goethe Institute, I still network and organize events, but I am also a “den mother” to the fellows. At this time we have five artists in residence. Four are here for three months and one is here for eight months – a writer in exile who cannot live in the native country of birth. We have had a writer from Syria living in Turkey; last year we had someone from Viet Nam and before, a blogger from Belarus living in Poland.
We also have an agreement with Cal Arts to send an artist to Germany to work and present their work.
Once again the congeniality and milieu brought together Hollywood and Germany, a partnership which goes back to the first days of the Hollywood we know today.
The German co-production “Citizenfour” by Laura Poitras (De/Us, Praxis Films, Br, Ndr) was awarded the Oscar® for Best Documentary Feature yesterday. “Citizenfour” has also received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature.
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” by Wes Anderson (Gb/De, Neunzehnte Babelsberg Film), another German co-production, picked up four Academy Awards® in the categories Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Hair and Make-Up as well as Best Original Score. It had been nominated in nine categories.
A day before the Oscars®, German Films joined forces with the Villa Aurora and the German Consul-General in Los Angeles to hold their traditional reception in honor of the German Oscar® nominees at the garden of the Villa Aurora in Los Angeles.
The teams of “Citizenfour” comprising the German producers Dirk Wilutzky and Mathilde Bonnefoy, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” with the producers Carl Woebcken, Henning Molfenter and Christoph Fisser, the representatives of the German regional funders Carl Bergengruen of Mfg Baden-württemberg and Kirsten Niehuus of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg as well as the director Wim Wenders, who was nominated for Best Documentary Feature for “The Salt Of The Earth," celebrated there with guests from the German and international film industry.
The beautiful Spanish Deco home at 520 Paseo Miramar in the Pacific Palisades was bought by the famed author, Lion Feuchtwanger and his wife Marta in 1943 the same year that he published The Devil in France, the account of his imprisonment by the Nazis in the South of France before he fled to the U.S.
In September of 1940, with the support of Varian Fry and the U.S. Vice Consul in Marseille, Hiram Bingham, Lion and Marta were able to join another group of exiles in crossing the Pyrenees on foot. They made their journey from Lisbon to New York on different ships. From there, they traveled to Los Angeles, and in 1943 moved into the Villa Aurora, which soon became a focal point in the lives of many intellectuals and artists who had fled from Germany including Bertold Brecht, Thomas Mann and his brother Heinrich Mann, Marlene Dietrich.
Their German passports had been confiscated by the Nazis. In the McCarthy era, Feuchtwanger was scrutinized as a “premature antifascist” by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Fearing that he would not be allowed to return, he never traveled outside the U.S. again. After years of immigration hearings, Feuchtwangers application for American citizenship was finally granted, but the letter informing Feuchtwanger of the fact was not received until a day after his death.
Marta bequeathed to the University of Southern California the library and the house in exchange for the life-long right to live in the Villa. She was appointed curator of the Villa and was politically and culturally active. The Villa remained a social destination in Los Angeles. In 1987 she died at the age of 96.
"So, in my fiftieth year, I literally arrived in the U.S. on foot. Has that made me a U.S. citizen? Can a piece of paper change half a century of my life? I don’t believe it. Now, that I have only 10 years to complete the second half of the century, I feel, it is good to have the citizenship of a country that unites my German routes with the ones of many other nations. Being American is very close to being a citizen of the world."
Source: Marta Feuchtwanger: Only a Woman, Years Days Hours, Aufbau Verlag Berlin Leipzig, 1984
Celebrating the Academy Award Nominees at the same time as 20 years of present ownership of the Villa Aurora and at the same time as 25 years after German reunification, restoration of the famed Babelsberg Studios made this year especially notable.
At the party, I had the chance to speak with Mariette Rissenbeek, Managing Director or German Films.
How long have you been with German Export?
I started in 2002, 13 years ago. I was in charge of festivals and public relations. The position gave me rewarding insights into festivals and I was able to meet many producers.
What changes have you seen in your time there?
I started a year after “Good Bye Lenin” and “Nowhere in Africa”. In the 2000s, German films became very popular internationally. Since 2011 I have been the Managing Director which involves lots of administration and politics.
How do German films do abroad?
Every year two to three titles work well. “Phoenix” is doing very well in France. “Hannah Arendt” and “The Lives of Others” did well worldwide. This year we have “Elser” (“Thirteen Minutes”) which just premiered in Berlin and of course “Salt of the Earth” and “CitizenFour” (winner of the 2015 Spirit Award for Best Documentary), “Victoria” which Adopt Films acquired for U.S.
Germans have consistently won Academy Awards since 1929 when Emil Jannings won for Best Actor in “The Way of All Flesh” and “ The Last Command”.
I also had the chance to speak with the Director of Villa Aurora, my friend since her days at Goethe Institute.
How long have you been Director of Villa Aurora ?
Three years in May.
You moved over from Goethe Institute and have changed Villa Aurora significantly. Can you tell us what changes it has undergone since you took over as its director?
When I applied for the position, I gave my vision for the Villa in various areas which included increased visibility, and renovations, as the home was in a rather neglected state. I also wanted our guests to network more with the Los Angeles arts community. So now their work appears in galleries, they give master classes and they show their work.
I had support from the Berlin headquarters and the German Foreign office and so we could renovate, landscape and install better lighting. I love creative work and this has been very satisfying.
Similarly as at the Goethe Institute, I still network and organize events, but I am also a “den mother” to the fellows. At this time we have five artists in residence. Four are here for three months and one is here for eight months – a writer in exile who cannot live in the native country of birth. We have had a writer from Syria living in Turkey; last year we had someone from Viet Nam and before, a blogger from Belarus living in Poland.
We also have an agreement with Cal Arts to send an artist to Germany to work and present their work.
Once again the congeniality and milieu brought together Hollywood and Germany, a partnership which goes back to the first days of the Hollywood we know today.
- 2/26/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
A new collection of Doctor Who short stories features a "hidden" Twelfth Doctor tale.
Doctor Who: Time Trips Collection from BBC Books features several stories previously published as eBooks last year, alongside the new story cleverly hidden in its dust jacket.
"At turns frightening and funny, poignant and gripping, the Time Trips stories journey from Ancient Alexandria and 16th Century England to mysterious planets in the distant future, and feature Doctors from across the history of the programme," said the publishers.
The book is available from March 5 in hardback and is priced at £20.
The contents of Time Trips are as follows:
The Death Pit by Al Kennedy (Fourth Doctor)
Into the Nowhere by Jenny T Colgan (Eleventh Doctor)
Keeping up with the Joneses by Nick Harkaway (Tenth Doctor)
Salt of the Earth by Trudi Canavan (Third Doctor)
A Handful of Stardust by Jake Arnott (Sixth Doctor)
The Bog Warrior...
Doctor Who: Time Trips Collection from BBC Books features several stories previously published as eBooks last year, alongside the new story cleverly hidden in its dust jacket.
"At turns frightening and funny, poignant and gripping, the Time Trips stories journey from Ancient Alexandria and 16th Century England to mysterious planets in the distant future, and feature Doctors from across the history of the programme," said the publishers.
The book is available from March 5 in hardback and is priced at £20.
The contents of Time Trips are as follows:
The Death Pit by Al Kennedy (Fourth Doctor)
Into the Nowhere by Jenny T Colgan (Eleventh Doctor)
Keeping up with the Joneses by Nick Harkaway (Tenth Doctor)
Salt of the Earth by Trudi Canavan (Third Doctor)
A Handful of Stardust by Jake Arnott (Sixth Doctor)
The Bog Warrior...
- 2/24/2015
- Digital Spy
The 87th Academy Awards full list of winners (and nominees).Oscars 2015Birdman wins best film, directorREACTION: What the winners saidCOMMENT: Birdman claws victory from BoyhoodBLOG: As it happened
By The Numbers
4 - Birdman4 - The Grand Budapest Hotel3 - Whiplash1 - American Sniper, Boyhood, The Imitation Game, Interstellar, Selma, Still Alice, The Theory of EverythingBEST Motion Picture Of The Year
Birdman: Alejandro G Iñárritu, John Lesher and James W. Skotchdopole, producers
BoyhoodThe Grand Budapest HotelThe Imitation GameSelmaThe Theory of EverythingWhiplashPERFORMANCE By An Actor In A Leading Role
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory Of Everything
Steve Carell, FoxcatcherBradley Cooper, American SniperBenedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation GameMichael Keaton, BirdmanPERFORMANCE By An Actress In A Leading Role
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One NightFelicity Jones, The Theory Of EverythingRosamund Pike, Gone GirlReese Witherspoon, WildPERFORMANCE By An Actor In A Supporting Role
Jk Simmons, Whiplash
Robert Duvall, The JudgeEthan Hawke, BoyhoodEdward Norton, BirdmanMark Ruffalo...
By The Numbers
4 - Birdman4 - The Grand Budapest Hotel3 - Whiplash1 - American Sniper, Boyhood, The Imitation Game, Interstellar, Selma, Still Alice, The Theory of EverythingBEST Motion Picture Of The Year
Birdman: Alejandro G Iñárritu, John Lesher and James W. Skotchdopole, producers
BoyhoodThe Grand Budapest HotelThe Imitation GameSelmaThe Theory of EverythingWhiplashPERFORMANCE By An Actor In A Leading Role
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory Of Everything
Steve Carell, FoxcatcherBradley Cooper, American SniperBenedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation GameMichael Keaton, BirdmanPERFORMANCE By An Actress In A Leading Role
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One NightFelicity Jones, The Theory Of EverythingRosamund Pike, Gone GirlReese Witherspoon, WildPERFORMANCE By An Actor In A Supporting Role
Jk Simmons, Whiplash
Robert Duvall, The JudgeEthan Hawke, BoyhoodEdward Norton, BirdmanMark Ruffalo...
- 2/23/2015
- ScreenDaily
And the awards season is officially over! Alejandro González Iñárritu's "Birdman" was the big winner at the 87th Academy Awards taking home the Best Picture, Director, Cinematography and Original Screenplay trophies. Its closest competition, "Boyhood," only managed one trophy for Best Supporting Actress for Patricia Arquette. Honestly? I still believe that "Boyhood" is a better picture but the Academy loves movies about themselves, hence "Birdman" took the top prize!
Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel" won Best Original Score, Costume Design, and Production Design while "Whiplash" received the Best Supporting Actor trophy for J.K. Simmons, Film Editing, and Sound Mixing.
Morten Tyldum's "The Imitation Game" won the Best Adapted Screenplay award with writer Graham Moore giving one of the night's best speeches about marching on and it does get better!
The one award that "Birdman" didn't take home was the Best Actor trophy. Michael Keaton lost out...
Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel" won Best Original Score, Costume Design, and Production Design while "Whiplash" received the Best Supporting Actor trophy for J.K. Simmons, Film Editing, and Sound Mixing.
Morten Tyldum's "The Imitation Game" won the Best Adapted Screenplay award with writer Graham Moore giving one of the night's best speeches about marching on and it does get better!
The one award that "Birdman" didn't take home was the Best Actor trophy. Michael Keaton lost out...
- 2/23/2015
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
(Click Read More Below To See My Complete Predictions)
The question on everybody.s mind is will it be .Boyhood. or .Birdman?. The Oscars this Sunday will be one of the most nail-biting Academy Awards in recent history. In the beginning of the awards season, Richard Linklater.s .Boyhood. was winning the best picture category in many of the award-giving bodies.
And then, the Producers Guild and Directors Guild Awards happened where Alejandro González Iñárritu.s .Birdman. took the top prizes.
Same can be said with Michael Keaton. The actor was a surefire bet to win until the Screen Actors Guild decided to crown Eddie Redmayne for .The Theory of Everything..
So this Sunday, it.s all up in the air. But this is my Super Bowl and so I analyzed all the statistics which led me to my predictions below. Beware! I am not a fortune teller, only a movie buff.
The question on everybody.s mind is will it be .Boyhood. or .Birdman?. The Oscars this Sunday will be one of the most nail-biting Academy Awards in recent history. In the beginning of the awards season, Richard Linklater.s .Boyhood. was winning the best picture category in many of the award-giving bodies.
And then, the Producers Guild and Directors Guild Awards happened where Alejandro González Iñárritu.s .Birdman. took the top prizes.
Same can be said with Michael Keaton. The actor was a surefire bet to win until the Screen Actors Guild decided to crown Eddie Redmayne for .The Theory of Everything..
So this Sunday, it.s all up in the air. But this is my Super Bowl and so I analyzed all the statistics which led me to my predictions below. Beware! I am not a fortune teller, only a movie buff.
- 2/22/2015
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
The 2015 Academy Awards have (finally) arrived, and we can't wait to see what happens.
With huge international stars, like Julianne Moore, Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep, Eddie Redmayne, and Michael Keaton up for Oscars, and some big movies, like "Boyhood," "Whiplash," "The Imitation Game," "Birdman," and "American Sniper," vying for the top prize, this year's ceremony is as competitive as ever.
Throughout the night, we'll be watching and updating the list below, so come back to see who won (and who didn't) as Hollywood's best and brightest take home the awards.
Best Picture
"Birdman" - Winner
"Boyhood"
"American Sniper"
"The Grand Budapest Hotel"
"The Imitation Game"
"Selma"
"The Theory of Everything"
"Whiplash"
Best Actress
Julianne Moore, "Still Alice" - Winner
Marion Cotillard, "Two Days, One Night"
Felicity Jones, "The Theory of Everything"
Rosamund Pike, "Gone Girl"
Reese Witherspoon, "Wild"
Best Actor
Eddie Redmayne, "The Theory of Everything" - Winner
Steve Carell,...
With huge international stars, like Julianne Moore, Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep, Eddie Redmayne, and Michael Keaton up for Oscars, and some big movies, like "Boyhood," "Whiplash," "The Imitation Game," "Birdman," and "American Sniper," vying for the top prize, this year's ceremony is as competitive as ever.
Throughout the night, we'll be watching and updating the list below, so come back to see who won (and who didn't) as Hollywood's best and brightest take home the awards.
Best Picture
"Birdman" - Winner
"Boyhood"
"American Sniper"
"The Grand Budapest Hotel"
"The Imitation Game"
"Selma"
"The Theory of Everything"
"Whiplash"
Best Actress
Julianne Moore, "Still Alice" - Winner
Marion Cotillard, "Two Days, One Night"
Felicity Jones, "The Theory of Everything"
Rosamund Pike, "Gone Girl"
Reese Witherspoon, "Wild"
Best Actor
Eddie Redmayne, "The Theory of Everything" - Winner
Steve Carell,...
- 2/22/2015
- by Jonny Black
- Moviefone
(Click Read More Below To See My Complete Predictions)
The question on everybody.s mind is will it be .Boyhood. or .Birdman?. The Oscars this Sunday will be one of the most nail-biting Academy Awards in recent history. In the beginning of the awards season, Richard Linklater.s .Boyhood. was winning the best picture category in many of the award-giving bodies.
And then, the Producers Guild and Directors Guild Awards happened where Alejandro González Iñárritu.s .Birdman. took the top prizes.
Same can be said with Michael Keaton. The actor was a surefire bet to win until the Screen Actors Guild decided to crown Eddie Redmayne for .The Theory of Everything..
So this Sunday, it.s all up in the air. But this is my Super Bowl and so I analyzed all the statistics which led me to my predictions below. Beware! I am not a fortune teller, only a movie buff.
The question on everybody.s mind is will it be .Boyhood. or .Birdman?. The Oscars this Sunday will be one of the most nail-biting Academy Awards in recent history. In the beginning of the awards season, Richard Linklater.s .Boyhood. was winning the best picture category in many of the award-giving bodies.
And then, the Producers Guild and Directors Guild Awards happened where Alejandro González Iñárritu.s .Birdman. took the top prizes.
Same can be said with Michael Keaton. The actor was a surefire bet to win until the Screen Actors Guild decided to crown Eddie Redmayne for .The Theory of Everything..
So this Sunday, it.s all up in the air. But this is my Super Bowl and so I analyzed all the statistics which led me to my predictions below. Beware! I am not a fortune teller, only a movie buff.
- 2/20/2015
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
Cesar Awards, in progress Best Actress Adèle Haenel, Les Combattants Best Actor Pierre Niney, Yves Saint Laurent Best Foreign Film Mommy, dir Xavier Dolan Best Director Abderrahmane Sissako, Timbuktu Best Supporting Actress Kristen Stewart,...
- 2/20/2015
- by Ryan Adams
- AwardsDaily.com
The question on everybody.s mind is will it be .Boyhood. or .Birdman?. The Oscars this Sunday will be one of the most nail-biting Academy Awards in recent history. In the beginning of the awards season, Richard Linklater.s .Boyhood. was winning the best picture category in many of the award-giving bodies.
And then, the Producers Guild and Directors Guild Awards happened where Alejandro González Iñárritu.s .Birdman. took the top prizes.
Same can be said with Michael Keaton. The actor was a surefire bet to win until the Screen Actors Guild decided to crown Eddie Redmayne for .The Theory of Everything..
So this Sunday, it.s all up in the air. But this is my Super Bowl and so I analyzed all the statistics which led me to my predictions below. Beware! I am not a fortune teller, only a movie buff. But don.t forget me if you win your Oscar pool.
And then, the Producers Guild and Directors Guild Awards happened where Alejandro González Iñárritu.s .Birdman. took the top prizes.
Same can be said with Michael Keaton. The actor was a surefire bet to win until the Screen Actors Guild decided to crown Eddie Redmayne for .The Theory of Everything..
So this Sunday, it.s all up in the air. But this is my Super Bowl and so I analyzed all the statistics which led me to my predictions below. Beware! I am not a fortune teller, only a movie buff. But don.t forget me if you win your Oscar pool.
- 2/17/2015
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
At last Saturday’s lively and informative annual Women’s Panel – expertly moderated by Madelyn Hammond – at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival , filmmaker Rory Kennedy had the capacity crowd roaring when she offered her brother Christopher’s two part definition of the kind of movies she makes: “Depressing . And more depressing”. That is not entirely the case for this veteran of more than 25 docs including her landmark HBO portrait of her mother, Ethel Kennedy in Ethel. But nothing she had done before could prepare us for the power and sheer brilliance of her latest, the Oscar-nominated feature Documentary , Last Days In Vietnam, which chronicles the final waning moments when we had to abandon Vietnam for good, heartbreakingly leaving behind hundreds of South Vietnamese refugees trying to get out, but abandoned at the last minute. The film was made under the ausopices of PBS’ American Experience and though it faces tough,...
- 2/12/2015
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline
Oscar-nominated for "Salt of the Earth," Wim Wenders returns to 3D for his long-awaited redemption drama "Every Thing Will Be Fine," starring James Franco as a writer in a decade-long emotional tailspin after a tragic hit-and-run accident pulls him into the lives of a single mother (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and her young son. The film co-stars Rachel McAdams and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Wenders is also receiving Berlin's honorary Golden Bear-- but does his latest live up to par? Not so far. Early reviews, and Berlinale press conference video, rounded up below. Variety: "'We can only try to believe that there’s meaning to this,' murmurs Charlotte Gainsbourg midway through 'Every Thing Will Be Fine' — voicing viewers’ thoughts for the first and only time in Wim Wenders’ labored, lumbering melodrama. An inglorious return to narrative filmmaking for the German master, this protracted study in grief and forgiveness does little to...
- 2/10/2015
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Thompson on Hollywood
Oscar-nominated for "Salt of the Earth," Wim Wenders returns to 3D for his long-awaited redemption drama "Every Thing Will Be Fine," starring James Franco as a writer's 12-year-long emotional wrestle with a tragic hit-and-run he caused. In the video below, Wenders and composer Alexandre Desplat (up for two Academy Awards this year) talk scoring the film—only a week before its Berlinale premiere! Is this some kind of record? After Desplat recorded with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in early February, Wenders rushed off to Oslo for cutting and mixing. Wenders says he wanted a "classic," string-based orchestral score and the snippets heard, below, are lovely as any Desplat arrangement. "Every Thing Will Be Fine" co-stars Rachel McAdams and Charlotte Gainsbourg. As previously announced, Wenders will also be receiving an honorary Golden Bear in Berlin, with 10 of his films set to screen, including 1984 Palme d'Or winner...
- 2/4/2015
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Thompson on Hollywood
Amy Schumer and Bill Hader in TrainwreckPhoto: Universal Pictures With Sundance just wrapping up and Berlin starting up in a few days, we are now immersed in the year-long barrage of film festivals. One such festival in South By Southwest. A few weeks back they announced the first seven films of their program, including the opening night film Brand: A Second Coming. Today, they have revealed the rest of the features to be shown in March (except for the midnight program), and some of it has me very excited. The bigger titles announced do not do much for me. Paul Feig's Spy, starring Melissa McCarthy, and the Will Ferrell/Kevin Hart starrer Get Hard leave a lot to be desired in terms of anticipation, as does a work in progress cut of Judd Apatow's latest film Trainwreck. I'm guessing an Apatow work in progress is probably around three and a half hours.
- 2/3/2015
- by Mike Shutt
- Rope of Silicon
Update, 2:25 Am Pt: Last year’s dueling Yves Saint Laurent biopics each picked up several nominations this morning for France’s César Awards. Bertrand Bonello’s Saint Laurent, the country’s entry for the Foreign Language Oscar, leads the pack with 10 mentions, followed by Thomas Cailley’s Directors’ Fortnight title Les Combattants with nine, and Oscar nominee Timbuktu with eight. Yves Saint Laurent, from helmer Jalil Lespert, took seven nods. Otherwise, there are a number of usual suspects in the batch including Best Actress Oscar nominee Marion Cotillard for Two Days, One Night, as well as Juliette Binoche for Olivier Assayas’ Sils Maria. In something of a departure — and a first — for the French Académie, they nominated American actress Kristen Stewart for her supporting turn in that Cannes competition entry. (Adrien Brody won the Best Actor prize in 2003 for The Pianist.) There are also six nominations for late 2014 release La Famille Bélier.
- 1/28/2015
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline
Scottish film fans and people who just happen to be in the Glasgow area in late February but who really like movies rejoice! The line-up for the Glasgow Film Festival, a jamboree of films, events and Q&As now in its eleventh year, has been announced. In a coup for the festival, Noah Baumbach’s While We’re Young will get its European premiere to kick things off on February 18. The curtain comes down a fortnight later with the Cannes-approved during-ski drama Force Majeure.Lending some indie cachet and star power to the festival, Baumbach’s latest reunites him with his Greenberg star Ben Stiller in a drama about two middle-aged types (Stiller and Naomi Watts) who try to veer away from fuddy-duddydom by hanging out with young hipsters played by Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried. Click here for the trailer.Other notable premieres include Wim Wenders’ Oscar-nominated doc Salt Of The Earth...
- 1/22/2015
- EmpireOnline
Palm Springs International Film Festival is the most accommodating to the industry, the easiest to get around with a frequent shuttle, the easiest to see great films, the best environment, the best audiences (all the shows are sold out) of festivals.
However, it is strange being surrounded by old people who are all my age. My prejudices against “old people” remains the same as when I considered them to be a part of my mother’s generation. However, some of these “old people” know so much more about the films, and their educated way of making choices of what to see are so much better than mine. I thought I knew everything...what a laugh. They know every director, all their past films, and they painstakingly plan with handwritten schedules and lots of discussion which films they will see.
I have been coming to the festival, almost “dropping in” on it since it is a mere 2 hour drive from L.A. for many years and everyone is always so helpful. It is totally familiar to me; it’s leisurely, very few restaurants (if any) are really great, there is a certain tackiness to the shops And there are always new film adventures and new folks to see.
This year I was happily hanging out the first weekend with Nancy Gerstman from Zeitgeist, and on the second weekend with Fortissimo’s Michael Werner and Tom Davia whose new company CineMaven (www.Cinemaven.com) sounds like a great company for festivals, filmmakers and companies needing acquisition help. We had a great dinner at Spencer’s where the Awards Luncheon was held.
On the recommendation of Mattijs Wouter Knol, the new head of the European Film Market at Berlin – on Facebook as he is now preparing the Efm and was not here – I watched “Clouds of Sils Maria” by Olivier Assayas. Opinions on this film as with most films by Assayas, vary, but mine is that this languid study on acting and real life and how aging and death fit into the mix was a major treat. Like Polanski’s “Venus in Fur”, the alternating currents of acting and real life flow electrically with shocks and illumination included. Rather than aging, let’s call ourselves “ageless” and have an end to confusion about the inevitable life processes.
Like “Winters Sleep," another of my favorite “intellectual cinema” choices, in “Sils Maria”, the interior processes of the protagonists are revealed only in the unfolding of the story.
Kirsten Stewart played an amazing role as the actress’s young assistant in this deeply felt, intellectually worked out study of aging vs. ageless.
By biting off what seems like more than she can chew in consenting to play opposite the great Juliette Binoche who is at the height of her career, a young Hollywood starlet with a penchant for scandal (Chloë Grace Moretz) gives Juliette Binoche the resolution to the unhappiness that has been nagging at her throughout the film.
Maria Enders is asked to perform in a revival of the play that made her famous twenty years earlier. But back then, she played the role of Sigrid, an alluring young girl who disarms and eventually drives her boss Helena to suicide. Now she is being asked to step into the other role, that of the older Helena. She doesn’t want to play this role but is coaxed by circumstances into playing it and when she discusses it with the young actress who blithely tells her it’s time to move on, she becomes the Eve of “All About Eve” and Juliette “gets” it.
Cinematography is by Yorick Le Saux (“Only Lovers Left Alive," “Potiche," “Carlos”). IFC has North American rights.
Moving on, I can’t wait to see Juliette Binoche in her next role, the Opening Night film of the Berlinale, Isabel Croixet's “Nobody Wants the Night ”. The film co-stars Oscar nominee Rinko Kikuchi (“Babel”) and Gabriel Byrne (as explorer Robert Peary) and takes place in 1908 in the Arctic and Greenland. (Isa: Elle Driver
The other film I saw that first weekend was “Dancing Arabs” (Isa: The Match Factory) by Eran Riklis who was there to discuss the film as well. He had been a soldier in Israel’s worst war. He witnessed Sadat making peace with Israel. However, when Perez was assassinated, he saw Israel declining into a violent nation as peace became more and more elusive.
Dancing Arabs is a very popular novel in Israel. It is an odd title for this film, but it derives from a saying, “you can't dance at two weddings at the same time”. The film is also loosely based on another novel...Second Person Singular. But after filming a while, the characters took on lives of their own and the novels were more or less forgotten in the process of making the movie.
Lots of questions are left open in this film because there are no answers. In a way, the film is experimental. It opens as a charming family film, but changes and actually becomes almost morbid. People however do change, and the young “genius” living in a small Arab town in Israel/ Palestine becomes a mature man living in Berlin at the end of the story.
This is the first film of the male lead, Tawfeek Barhom. Who plays Eyad. While casting, Riklis said that the young actor told him he had known him since he was ten when he saw him making the movie “The Syrian Bride” in his village. He went to set every day for three weeks, and he knew he wanted to be an actor. On screen he is playing himself, and a lot of the story was true...he lived too long with the Jews, his Arab was no longer good. This he said at a screening held in the north of Israel to an audience of mostly Arabs who do not go to many movies, but were invited by Israel to see the film.
In the film he gives up his education for love of girl and she gives up her love for him for the love of her country. This is how minority relationships often turn out.
Eyad’s father’s reaction to the relationship of his university student son with an Israeli Jewish student is unexpected, but he too is buried by tradition whereas the mother with her small smile gives a ray of hope.
The scriptwriter-novelist, Sayed Kashua is brilliant, and this is a part of his real life. Kashua and Riklis have a love-hate relationship: when Kashua, who based the novel on his own life, saw the fine cut...he fainted. His wife said, “What are you complaining about, did your mother look like that?”
Sayed said complained that his own kids don't speak Arabic anymore, and so he took a sabbatical and is now in Champaign-Urbana at the University of Illinois.
The audience in Israel, judging by the 20 to 30 Facebook comments, they get daily consists of 20% Arabs which is great because they don't normally go to movies. Even a right wing Israeli said he liked the movie. The goes beyond right and left.
It is not a blockbuster, but it doing well. The word “Arab” might keep some people away.
On the second weekend I went to see “Salt of the Earth” (Isa: Ndm), now nominated for Best Feature Documentary at the Academy Awards, and “Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson” by her grandniece Michelle Boyaner.
Sebastião Salgado’s photographs are linked by his son and director Wim Wenders to his life. With his own voice and that of his son, Juliano, they discover the undiscovered in photography and in their own lives.
“Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson” is the story of artist Edith Lake Wilkinson, committed to an asylum in 1925 and never heard from again. All her worldly possessions were packed into trunks and shipped to a relative in West Virginia where they sat in an attic for 40 years. Edith's great-niece, Emmy Award winning writer and director Jane Anderson, grew up surrounded by Edith's paintings, thanks to her mother who had gone poking through that dusty attic and rescued Edith's work. The film follows Jane in her decades-long journey to find the answers to the mystery of Edith's buried life, return the work to Provincetown and have Edith's contributions recognized by the larger art world.
Read More: Sydney Levine on "Finding Vivian Maier"
In many ways this is similar to “Finding Vivian Maier," which also nominated for an Oscar in the Best Feature Documentary category, in that both recover long lost and never acknowledged art which is astoundingly good art. This one goes further into the lesbian relationships of artists Edith and Jane and takes another unexpected step into the psychic world of a medium who actually solves the mystery of why Edith was committed and then forgotten. This is a must-see for art lovers and would make a great fiction film as well.
Another notable aspect of Psiff that is how, just before the Awards begin for Golden Globe and for the Academy, all the big name stars are here for two awards events. One, the opening night gala raises millions for the festival. The other, Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch brunch, brings more stars and that funny speech by Chris Rock (See Video Here).
Read More: Dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev on his Oscar-Nominated "Leviathan"
Also remarkable is that, aside from the above Awards and then the final festival awards bestowed, the Golden Globes mirrored the Palm Springs Fest’s awards:
Actress in a drama: Julianne Moore, “Still Alice” (Isa: Memento) won Psiff’s Achievement Award
Actor in a drama: Eddie Redmayne, “The Theory of Everything” (Uip) also received the Psiff Desert Palm Achievement Award.
Supporting actor, drama: J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash” (Isa: Sierra/ Affinity) received the Psiff Spotlight Award.
Director Richard Linklater, “Boyhood” (Uip/ Paramount) received the Sonny Bono Visionary Award.
Foreign Language Film: "Leviathan” (Isa: Pyramide) received the PSiFF Best Foreign Language Film.
Screenplay: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo, “Birdman” (Fox Searchlight), Inarritu received Psiff Director of the Year Award which was bestowed by “Birdman” star Michael Keaton. And the Golden Globe Award for Actor, musical or comedy, went to Michael Keaton for “Birdman”...
However, it is strange being surrounded by old people who are all my age. My prejudices against “old people” remains the same as when I considered them to be a part of my mother’s generation. However, some of these “old people” know so much more about the films, and their educated way of making choices of what to see are so much better than mine. I thought I knew everything...what a laugh. They know every director, all their past films, and they painstakingly plan with handwritten schedules and lots of discussion which films they will see.
I have been coming to the festival, almost “dropping in” on it since it is a mere 2 hour drive from L.A. for many years and everyone is always so helpful. It is totally familiar to me; it’s leisurely, very few restaurants (if any) are really great, there is a certain tackiness to the shops And there are always new film adventures and new folks to see.
This year I was happily hanging out the first weekend with Nancy Gerstman from Zeitgeist, and on the second weekend with Fortissimo’s Michael Werner and Tom Davia whose new company CineMaven (www.Cinemaven.com) sounds like a great company for festivals, filmmakers and companies needing acquisition help. We had a great dinner at Spencer’s where the Awards Luncheon was held.
On the recommendation of Mattijs Wouter Knol, the new head of the European Film Market at Berlin – on Facebook as he is now preparing the Efm and was not here – I watched “Clouds of Sils Maria” by Olivier Assayas. Opinions on this film as with most films by Assayas, vary, but mine is that this languid study on acting and real life and how aging and death fit into the mix was a major treat. Like Polanski’s “Venus in Fur”, the alternating currents of acting and real life flow electrically with shocks and illumination included. Rather than aging, let’s call ourselves “ageless” and have an end to confusion about the inevitable life processes.
Like “Winters Sleep," another of my favorite “intellectual cinema” choices, in “Sils Maria”, the interior processes of the protagonists are revealed only in the unfolding of the story.
Kirsten Stewart played an amazing role as the actress’s young assistant in this deeply felt, intellectually worked out study of aging vs. ageless.
By biting off what seems like more than she can chew in consenting to play opposite the great Juliette Binoche who is at the height of her career, a young Hollywood starlet with a penchant for scandal (Chloë Grace Moretz) gives Juliette Binoche the resolution to the unhappiness that has been nagging at her throughout the film.
Maria Enders is asked to perform in a revival of the play that made her famous twenty years earlier. But back then, she played the role of Sigrid, an alluring young girl who disarms and eventually drives her boss Helena to suicide. Now she is being asked to step into the other role, that of the older Helena. She doesn’t want to play this role but is coaxed by circumstances into playing it and when she discusses it with the young actress who blithely tells her it’s time to move on, she becomes the Eve of “All About Eve” and Juliette “gets” it.
Cinematography is by Yorick Le Saux (“Only Lovers Left Alive," “Potiche," “Carlos”). IFC has North American rights.
Moving on, I can’t wait to see Juliette Binoche in her next role, the Opening Night film of the Berlinale, Isabel Croixet's “Nobody Wants the Night ”. The film co-stars Oscar nominee Rinko Kikuchi (“Babel”) and Gabriel Byrne (as explorer Robert Peary) and takes place in 1908 in the Arctic and Greenland. (Isa: Elle Driver
The other film I saw that first weekend was “Dancing Arabs” (Isa: The Match Factory) by Eran Riklis who was there to discuss the film as well. He had been a soldier in Israel’s worst war. He witnessed Sadat making peace with Israel. However, when Perez was assassinated, he saw Israel declining into a violent nation as peace became more and more elusive.
Dancing Arabs is a very popular novel in Israel. It is an odd title for this film, but it derives from a saying, “you can't dance at two weddings at the same time”. The film is also loosely based on another novel...Second Person Singular. But after filming a while, the characters took on lives of their own and the novels were more or less forgotten in the process of making the movie.
Lots of questions are left open in this film because there are no answers. In a way, the film is experimental. It opens as a charming family film, but changes and actually becomes almost morbid. People however do change, and the young “genius” living in a small Arab town in Israel/ Palestine becomes a mature man living in Berlin at the end of the story.
This is the first film of the male lead, Tawfeek Barhom. Who plays Eyad. While casting, Riklis said that the young actor told him he had known him since he was ten when he saw him making the movie “The Syrian Bride” in his village. He went to set every day for three weeks, and he knew he wanted to be an actor. On screen he is playing himself, and a lot of the story was true...he lived too long with the Jews, his Arab was no longer good. This he said at a screening held in the north of Israel to an audience of mostly Arabs who do not go to many movies, but were invited by Israel to see the film.
In the film he gives up his education for love of girl and she gives up her love for him for the love of her country. This is how minority relationships often turn out.
Eyad’s father’s reaction to the relationship of his university student son with an Israeli Jewish student is unexpected, but he too is buried by tradition whereas the mother with her small smile gives a ray of hope.
The scriptwriter-novelist, Sayed Kashua is brilliant, and this is a part of his real life. Kashua and Riklis have a love-hate relationship: when Kashua, who based the novel on his own life, saw the fine cut...he fainted. His wife said, “What are you complaining about, did your mother look like that?”
Sayed said complained that his own kids don't speak Arabic anymore, and so he took a sabbatical and is now in Champaign-Urbana at the University of Illinois.
The audience in Israel, judging by the 20 to 30 Facebook comments, they get daily consists of 20% Arabs which is great because they don't normally go to movies. Even a right wing Israeli said he liked the movie. The goes beyond right and left.
It is not a blockbuster, but it doing well. The word “Arab” might keep some people away.
On the second weekend I went to see “Salt of the Earth” (Isa: Ndm), now nominated for Best Feature Documentary at the Academy Awards, and “Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson” by her grandniece Michelle Boyaner.
Sebastião Salgado’s photographs are linked by his son and director Wim Wenders to his life. With his own voice and that of his son, Juliano, they discover the undiscovered in photography and in their own lives.
“Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson” is the story of artist Edith Lake Wilkinson, committed to an asylum in 1925 and never heard from again. All her worldly possessions were packed into trunks and shipped to a relative in West Virginia where they sat in an attic for 40 years. Edith's great-niece, Emmy Award winning writer and director Jane Anderson, grew up surrounded by Edith's paintings, thanks to her mother who had gone poking through that dusty attic and rescued Edith's work. The film follows Jane in her decades-long journey to find the answers to the mystery of Edith's buried life, return the work to Provincetown and have Edith's contributions recognized by the larger art world.
Read More: Sydney Levine on "Finding Vivian Maier"
In many ways this is similar to “Finding Vivian Maier," which also nominated for an Oscar in the Best Feature Documentary category, in that both recover long lost and never acknowledged art which is astoundingly good art. This one goes further into the lesbian relationships of artists Edith and Jane and takes another unexpected step into the psychic world of a medium who actually solves the mystery of why Edith was committed and then forgotten. This is a must-see for art lovers and would make a great fiction film as well.
Another notable aspect of Psiff that is how, just before the Awards begin for Golden Globe and for the Academy, all the big name stars are here for two awards events. One, the opening night gala raises millions for the festival. The other, Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch brunch, brings more stars and that funny speech by Chris Rock (See Video Here).
Read More: Dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev on his Oscar-Nominated "Leviathan"
Also remarkable is that, aside from the above Awards and then the final festival awards bestowed, the Golden Globes mirrored the Palm Springs Fest’s awards:
Actress in a drama: Julianne Moore, “Still Alice” (Isa: Memento) won Psiff’s Achievement Award
Actor in a drama: Eddie Redmayne, “The Theory of Everything” (Uip) also received the Psiff Desert Palm Achievement Award.
Supporting actor, drama: J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash” (Isa: Sierra/ Affinity) received the Psiff Spotlight Award.
Director Richard Linklater, “Boyhood” (Uip/ Paramount) received the Sonny Bono Visionary Award.
Foreign Language Film: "Leviathan” (Isa: Pyramide) received the PSiFF Best Foreign Language Film.
Screenplay: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo, “Birdman” (Fox Searchlight), Inarritu received Psiff Director of the Year Award which was bestowed by “Birdman” star Michael Keaton. And the Golden Globe Award for Actor, musical or comedy, went to Michael Keaton for “Birdman”...
- 1/17/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
I guess all that chart building was not for nothing. My high score, I think, had to do with a last minute tip from a friend about Salt of the Earth in documentary,...
- 1/15/2015
- by Sasha Stone
- AwardsDaily.com
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu‘s “Birdman” and Wes Anderson‘s “The Grand Budapest Hotel” are the top contenders for the 87th annual Academy Awards, with each film having earned nine nominations on Thursday morning, including Best Picture. Both films were distributed by Fox Searchlight, as was “Wild,” which made Fox’s independent offshoot the day’s big winner with 20 total nominations.
“The Imitation Game,” which was The Weinstein Company’s biggest performer, scored eight nominations. Clint Eastwood‘s “American Sniper” and Richard Linklater‘s “Boyhood,” meanwhile, each scored 6 nominations. However, critically acclaimed films like “Selma” and “Nightcrawler” received less than some anticipated,...
“The Imitation Game,” which was The Weinstein Company’s biggest performer, scored eight nominations. Clint Eastwood‘s “American Sniper” and Richard Linklater‘s “Boyhood,” meanwhile, each scored 6 nominations. However, critically acclaimed films like “Selma” and “Nightcrawler” received less than some anticipated,...
- 1/15/2015
- by Travis Reilly
- The Wrap
Nominations for the 87th Academy Awards were announced this morning. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" director J.J. Abrams and Oscar-winner Alfonso Cuaron ("Gravity") announced the first 11 categories while Chris Pine ("Star Trek") and Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs revealed the remaining 13 categories including Best Picture.
This was the first time the Academy announced all the categories live!
Alejandro González Iñárritu's "Birdman" and Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel" got 9 nominations each. Morten Tyldum's "The Imitation Game" was close with 8 nods while Clint Eastwood's "American Sniper" and Richard Linklater's "Boyhood" each received 6 nominations.
Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar," James Marsh's "The Theory of Everything," and Damien Chazelle's "Whiplash" got 5 nominations each.
My biggest surprise? Ava DuVernay's "Selma" was virtually ignored except for a Best Picture nod and a Best Song nomination for John Legend and Common's "Glory."
Where's David Oyelowo who gave one...
This was the first time the Academy announced all the categories live!
Alejandro González Iñárritu's "Birdman" and Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel" got 9 nominations each. Morten Tyldum's "The Imitation Game" was close with 8 nods while Clint Eastwood's "American Sniper" and Richard Linklater's "Boyhood" each received 6 nominations.
Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar," James Marsh's "The Theory of Everything," and Damien Chazelle's "Whiplash" got 5 nominations each.
My biggest surprise? Ava DuVernay's "Selma" was virtually ignored except for a Best Picture nod and a Best Song nomination for John Legend and Common's "Glory."
Where's David Oyelowo who gave one...
- 1/15/2015
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
Weeks of wild speculation, informed theorizing, splashy profile pieces, lunches where movie stars awkwardly make conversation with bloggers and occasionally aimless prognostication finally come down to this one morning: the morning where the nominations for the 87th annual Academy Awards are announced. The big show, hosted by the endlessly delightful Neil Patrick Harris, doesn't air until February 22nd. But this morning is when the hand wringing really begins in earnest.
There are a bunch of really handsome, talented people that are going to have a really good morning and even more that are going to be horribly disappointed (luckily they have the whole "handsome and talented" thing to lessen the blow). This has been one of the more unpredictable Oscar seasons in recent memory, without clear frontrunners or surefire favorites. So strap in -- this is going to be a wild morning!
Best Animated Feature Film
"Big Hero 6"
"The...
There are a bunch of really handsome, talented people that are going to have a really good morning and even more that are going to be horribly disappointed (luckily they have the whole "handsome and talented" thing to lessen the blow). This has been one of the more unpredictable Oscar seasons in recent memory, without clear frontrunners or surefire favorites. So strap in -- this is going to be a wild morning!
Best Animated Feature Film
"Big Hero 6"
"The...
- 1/15/2015
- by Drew Taylor
- Moviefone
German director Wim Wenders was in Rome to promote his latest documentary Salt of the Earth, co-shot with Juliano Ribeiro Salgado about the latter’s father, renowned Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado. Wenders had always wanted to meet his favorite photographer, a meeting which eventually led to the gorgeous ensuing documentary about a truly fascinating subject. The film had a hugely successful premiere in Cannes this year, winning the Un Certain Regard special jury prize, being picked up by Sony Pictures Classics and garnering early Oscar buzz, which, if successful, would mark the third nomination for Wenders. One of the secrets to
read more...
read more...
- 10/18/2014
- by Ariston Anderson
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
International and documentary competitions include The Skeleton Twins, ‘71 and The Look of Silence. A total of 17 world premieres secured for the festival, which has received a budget boost.
The 10th Zurich Film Festival (Sept 25 – Oct 5) has revealed its full line-up, which comprises 145 features – up from 122 last year – from 29 countries.
Co-director Nadja Schildknecht revealed a rise in budget for the festival as well as growth in anticipated guest numbers.
“This year, we expect some 500 guests (previous year 450) from around the world to accompany their films,” she said.
“And the budget has increased accordingly to CHF6.9m ($7.4m) (previous year CHF6.1m/$6.5m).”
As previously announced, Tate Taylor’s James Brown biopic Get On Up will open the festival on Sept 25. The closing film has yet to be revealed.
International competition
The International Feature Film Competition includes 14 titles, some of which have received critical acclaim at previous festivals such as Yann Demange’s action thriller ‘71, which debuted at the...
The 10th Zurich Film Festival (Sept 25 – Oct 5) has revealed its full line-up, which comprises 145 features – up from 122 last year – from 29 countries.
Co-director Nadja Schildknecht revealed a rise in budget for the festival as well as growth in anticipated guest numbers.
“This year, we expect some 500 guests (previous year 450) from around the world to accompany their films,” she said.
“And the budget has increased accordingly to CHF6.9m ($7.4m) (previous year CHF6.1m/$6.5m).”
As previously announced, Tate Taylor’s James Brown biopic Get On Up will open the festival on Sept 25. The closing film has yet to be revealed.
International competition
The International Feature Film Competition includes 14 titles, some of which have received critical acclaim at previous festivals such as Yann Demange’s action thriller ‘71, which debuted at the...
- 9/11/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Titles include Clouds of Sils Maria, starring Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart and Chloe Grace Moretz, and Damian Szifron’s Wild Tales.
Curzon has acquired a raft of titles showcased at the Cannes Film Festival for release in UK and Eire.
The films include Palme d’Or nominated Clouds of Sils Maria, Olivier Assayas’ follow up to Something in the Air, which stars Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart and Chloe Grace Moretz. The deal was negotiated with MK2.
Set in the Swiss alpine lake district of Sils Maria, Binoche stars as an actress at the peak of her fame who is thrown into turmoil after a younger woman is signed to play a role that made her famous two decades previously.
Another Cannes competition contender acquired by Curzon is Damian Szifron’s Argentinean dark comedy Wild Tales, co-produced by Pedro Almodovar. The deal was negotiated with Film Factory.
Curzon negotiated with Coproduction Office for Ruben Ostlund’s dark...
Curzon has acquired a raft of titles showcased at the Cannes Film Festival for release in UK and Eire.
The films include Palme d’Or nominated Clouds of Sils Maria, Olivier Assayas’ follow up to Something in the Air, which stars Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart and Chloe Grace Moretz. The deal was negotiated with MK2.
Set in the Swiss alpine lake district of Sils Maria, Binoche stars as an actress at the peak of her fame who is thrown into turmoil after a younger woman is signed to play a role that made her famous two decades previously.
Another Cannes competition contender acquired by Curzon is Damian Szifron’s Argentinean dark comedy Wild Tales, co-produced by Pedro Almodovar. The deal was negotiated with Film Factory.
Curzon negotiated with Coproduction Office for Ruben Ostlund’s dark...
- 6/16/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
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