Disney has released the first trailer for “Mufasa: The Lion King,” a prequel to the 2019 photorealistic remake of “The Lion King,” and revealed that Blue Ivy Carter has joined the voice cast.
From “Moonlight” director Barry Jenkins, “Mufasa” will explore the titular lion’s origin story, depicting his childhood with his brother Taka aka Scar, who becomes the main antagonist in “The Lion King.” Aaron Pierre and Kelvin Harrison Jr. will voice the younger versions of Mufasa and Scar, respectively. James Earl Jones voiced Mufasa in both the 1994 original film and 2019 remake. Jeremy Irons voiced Scar in 1994, while Chiwetel Ejiofor took over in 2019.
Many members of the 2019 voice cast are returning, including John Kani as Rafiki, Seth Rogen as Pumbaa, Billy Eichner as Timon, Donald Glover as Simba and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter as Nala. Beyoncé’s daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, will play Kiara, the daughter of King Samba and Queen Nala.
From “Moonlight” director Barry Jenkins, “Mufasa” will explore the titular lion’s origin story, depicting his childhood with his brother Taka aka Scar, who becomes the main antagonist in “The Lion King.” Aaron Pierre and Kelvin Harrison Jr. will voice the younger versions of Mufasa and Scar, respectively. James Earl Jones voiced Mufasa in both the 1994 original film and 2019 remake. Jeremy Irons voiced Scar in 1994, while Chiwetel Ejiofor took over in 2019.
Many members of the 2019 voice cast are returning, including John Kani as Rafiki, Seth Rogen as Pumbaa, Billy Eichner as Timon, Donald Glover as Simba and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter as Nala. Beyoncé’s daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, will play Kiara, the daughter of King Samba and Queen Nala.
- 4/29/2024
- by Caroline Brew and Ellise Shafer
- Variety Film + TV
Sasquatch Sunset releases April 12, 2024.
David and Nathan Zellner — known professionally as Zellner Bros. — may not be a household name (yet), but their films have garnered a reputation for defying the standards set by Hollywood. As true auteurs they bring a distinct style and vision to their often unconventional stories. No film is a truer depiction of this than the bigfoot dramedy Sasquatch Sunset. The film — which acts as a sort of expansion upon their 2011 short-film Sasquatch Birth Journal 2 — premiered at Sundance earlier this year.
Zellner Bros. Talk Sasquatch Sunset Jesse Eisenberg (left) in ‘Sasquatch Sunset’ Also Read: Sasquatch Sunset Review – Hilarious, Heartfelt, and Hairy
Saying that the movie is unique is an understatement. It’s void of comprehendible dialogue and the filmmaking duo made the choice to not include subtitles. They aren’t the first to have this idea, but it is extremely uncommon. Mel Gibson famously wanted to forgo...
David and Nathan Zellner — known professionally as Zellner Bros. — may not be a household name (yet), but their films have garnered a reputation for defying the standards set by Hollywood. As true auteurs they bring a distinct style and vision to their often unconventional stories. No film is a truer depiction of this than the bigfoot dramedy Sasquatch Sunset. The film — which acts as a sort of expansion upon their 2011 short-film Sasquatch Birth Journal 2 — premiered at Sundance earlier this year.
Zellner Bros. Talk Sasquatch Sunset Jesse Eisenberg (left) in ‘Sasquatch Sunset’ Also Read: Sasquatch Sunset Review – Hilarious, Heartfelt, and Hairy
Saying that the movie is unique is an understatement. It’s void of comprehendible dialogue and the filmmaking duo made the choice to not include subtitles. They aren’t the first to have this idea, but it is extremely uncommon. Mel Gibson famously wanted to forgo...
- 4/11/2024
- by Joshua Ryan
- FandomWire
Director Ethan Coen – collaborating with wife Tricia Cooke instead of brother Joel – delivers a disposable but not entirely unentertaining lesbian-centered crime caper comedy in Drive-Away Dolls. With its raunchy sex and vivid violence, the film is more an affectionate tribute to hard R drive-in B movies that more resembles something from the mind of Russ Meyer than anything resembling smart, Oscar-y movies like the Coen Brothers’ No Country For Old Men, Big Lebowski, Barton Fink, Fargo, Blood Simple etc.
Drive-Away Dolls definitely retains the quirkiness of the Coen brand, but key inspirations this time were Meyers’ Motorpsycho, Bad Girls Go To Hell and even something really good like ’50s noir Kiss Me Deadly, with which it shares some plot details.
But “plot” doesn’t really matter much here. Coen and Cooke throw everything against the wall to see what sticks. If it makes narrative sense, it likely is an accident.
Drive-Away Dolls definitely retains the quirkiness of the Coen brand, but key inspirations this time were Meyers’ Motorpsycho, Bad Girls Go To Hell and even something really good like ’50s noir Kiss Me Deadly, with which it shares some plot details.
But “plot” doesn’t really matter much here. Coen and Cooke throw everything against the wall to see what sticks. If it makes narrative sense, it likely is an accident.
- 2/21/2024
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Updated: There has been another round of content removal from Disney+, this time in the Emea region, which consists of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. More than 120 titles have been taken off this week, primarily Disney Channel original movies and vintage Disney live-action films, as well as a few series, including Zeke and Luther, Pepper Ann, So Random and the first three seasons of Nat Geo’s Genius and ESPN/Nat Geo docs.
According to sources, the takedowns were a result of a library title review. There have been several content purges at Disney+ over the last year amid cost-cutting, most notably the removal of a slew of original series last May.
Here is a list of movie titles that are said to be gone from Disney+ in Emea, compiled by Drew Ryan.
A Tale of Two Critters
America’s Heart and Soul
Angry Sky (ESPN)
Babes in Toyland...
According to sources, the takedowns were a result of a library title review. There have been several content purges at Disney+ over the last year amid cost-cutting, most notably the removal of a slew of original series last May.
Here is a list of movie titles that are said to be gone from Disney+ in Emea, compiled by Drew Ryan.
A Tale of Two Critters
America’s Heart and Soul
Angry Sky (ESPN)
Babes in Toyland...
- 2/3/2024
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
Jack Couffer, the renowned cinematographer, writer, director, producer and naturalist who earned an Oscar nomination for his lensing of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, died at a skilled nursing facility on July 30. He was 96.
His son Mike Couffer confirmed the news in a recent Facebook post, in which he referred to his father as “the most important person in my life.”
Born on December 7, 1924 in Upland, California, Jack Couffer long looked to blend his interests in cinematography and natural history, also shooting films such as Secrets of Life, Edge of Fury, and The Savage Eye, along with 11 episodes of the series The Magical World of Disney.
Couffer also wrote and directed episodes of Magical World of Disney, along with films including The Legend of the Boy and the Eagle and Ring of Bright Water.
He also worked, over the course of his career, as a second unit director on 1985 classic Out of Africa and other titles,...
His son Mike Couffer confirmed the news in a recent Facebook post, in which he referred to his father as “the most important person in my life.”
Born on December 7, 1924 in Upland, California, Jack Couffer long looked to blend his interests in cinematography and natural history, also shooting films such as Secrets of Life, Edge of Fury, and The Savage Eye, along with 11 episodes of the series The Magical World of Disney.
Couffer also wrote and directed episodes of Magical World of Disney, along with films including The Legend of the Boy and the Eagle and Ring of Bright Water.
He also worked, over the course of his career, as a second unit director on 1985 classic Out of Africa and other titles,...
- 8/10/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Disney has shared a new trailer for their upcoming Disney+ streaming service and it’s over 3-hours long! I don’t know if you want to spend over three hours seeing what Disney+ has to offer when it launches, but you have the option!
Disney+ also posted all of the films and TV shows coming to the streaming service on a super long Twitter thread, which I included below the trailer. As you’ll see there’s a ton of stuff that will be available that will make Disney fans happy. Gargoyles and several other classic 90s animated series are among them along with a lot of old weird films that have been pulled out of the Disney vault.
If you don’t want to watch the trailer or scroll through the Twitter feed, I shared the full list of titles for you. Check everything out below and let us...
Disney+ also posted all of the films and TV shows coming to the streaming service on a super long Twitter thread, which I included below the trailer. As you’ll see there’s a ton of stuff that will be available that will make Disney fans happy. Gargoyles and several other classic 90s animated series are among them along with a lot of old weird films that have been pulled out of the Disney vault.
If you don’t want to watch the trailer or scroll through the Twitter feed, I shared the full list of titles for you. Check everything out below and let us...
- 10/14/2019
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
Critics have been less than welcoming to the return of “The Lion King” 25 years after the original’s release.
As of writing, the film holds a rotten score of 57% on Rotten Tomatoes, far below the 93% of the original. Common complaints are the photorealism of the Jon Favreau’s “live-action” adaptation: Where critics adored the anthropomorphic singing cartoons of the original, they felt the nature documentary look drove a wedge between viewers and the beloved characters.
Some critics praised the fidelity to the original, while others bemoaned the lack of originality.
Here is what the critics are saying:
Variety’s Peter Debruge:
By focusing his attention on upgrading the look of the earlier film while sticking largely to its directorial choices and script, Favreau reinforces the strength of the 1994 classic. If you were never a fan of “The Lion King,” then nothing here will win you over. On the other hand,...
As of writing, the film holds a rotten score of 57% on Rotten Tomatoes, far below the 93% of the original. Common complaints are the photorealism of the Jon Favreau’s “live-action” adaptation: Where critics adored the anthropomorphic singing cartoons of the original, they felt the nature documentary look drove a wedge between viewers and the beloved characters.
Some critics praised the fidelity to the original, while others bemoaned the lack of originality.
Here is what the critics are saying:
Variety’s Peter Debruge:
By focusing his attention on upgrading the look of the earlier film while sticking largely to its directorial choices and script, Favreau reinforces the strength of the 1994 classic. If you were never a fan of “The Lion King,” then nothing here will win you over. On the other hand,...
- 7/11/2019
- by Dano Nissen
- Variety Film + TV
When Rachel Lears was chronicling the election campaigns of four progressive Democrats trying to upend the status quo she was very aware that all of the primary candidates could lose their races. Amy Vilela was trying to earn the nomination for a Las Vegas area congressional seat long controlled by the vaunted Harry Reid machine. Cori Bush was attempting to overcome one family’s hold on a St. Louis congressional seat for almost 50 years.
Continue reading ‘Knock Down The House’ Director Chronicles The Incredible Journey Of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez [Podcast] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Knock Down The House’ Director Chronicles The Incredible Journey Of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez [Podcast] at The Playlist.
- 5/1/2019
- by Gregory Ellwood
- The Playlist
With none of the archness of his Fantastic Mr Fox, Wes Anderson’s gorgeous new stop-motion tale is a funny, touching, doggy delight
Having been underwhelmed by Wes Anderson’s previous animated feature, Fantastic Mr Fox (in which the universality of Roald Dahl’s source succumbed to a whiff of arch adult smugness), I approached this latest stop-motion epic with trepidation. Indeed the very concept – sick dogs abandoned on a Japanese garbage island – seemed so self-consciously quirky that at first I thought the teaser trailer was a hoax. Yet Isle of Dogs is a delight: funny, touching and full of heartfelt warmth and wit.
With breathtaking visuals and an uncanny eye for canine behaviour, it transposes the kid-friendly charm of The Incredible Journey to the post-apocalyptic landscapes of Mad Max via the Japanese cinema of Yasujiro Ozu, Seijun Suzuki and, most notably, Akira Kurosawa.
Having been underwhelmed by Wes Anderson’s previous animated feature, Fantastic Mr Fox (in which the universality of Roald Dahl’s source succumbed to a whiff of arch adult smugness), I approached this latest stop-motion epic with trepidation. Indeed the very concept – sick dogs abandoned on a Japanese garbage island – seemed so self-consciously quirky that at first I thought the teaser trailer was a hoax. Yet Isle of Dogs is a delight: funny, touching and full of heartfelt warmth and wit.
With breathtaking visuals and an uncanny eye for canine behaviour, it transposes the kid-friendly charm of The Incredible Journey to the post-apocalyptic landscapes of Mad Max via the Japanese cinema of Yasujiro Ozu, Seijun Suzuki and, most notably, Akira Kurosawa.
- 4/1/2018
- by Mark Kermode, Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
Live everyday like it's Caturday: Cinema's top catsLive everyday like it's Caturday: Cinema's top catsRachel West8/8/2016 11:00:00 Am
Today is International Cat Day and we're celebrating our feline friends, turning to our attention to our purrfect pals on the big screen.
Cats are all the rage on cinema, every year it seems. This year, one of our favourite actors, Kevin Spacey, is playing a wealthy business-man and absentee father who gets trapped in the body of his new pet cat in Nine Lives. With this film out in theatres right now, as well as it being a day to celebrate cats, there's no better time to take a look back at some of our favourite felines on film. You can get your tickets to Nine Lives by clicking here!
In honour of National Cat Day and because we strive to live every day like it’s Caturday, here are...
Today is International Cat Day and we're celebrating our feline friends, turning to our attention to our purrfect pals on the big screen.
Cats are all the rage on cinema, every year it seems. This year, one of our favourite actors, Kevin Spacey, is playing a wealthy business-man and absentee father who gets trapped in the body of his new pet cat in Nine Lives. With this film out in theatres right now, as well as it being a day to celebrate cats, there's no better time to take a look back at some of our favourite felines on film. You can get your tickets to Nine Lives by clicking here!
In honour of National Cat Day and because we strive to live every day like it’s Caturday, here are...
- 8/8/2016
- by Rachel West
- Cineplex
Above: 1965 Czech poster for Three Fables of Love (Blasetti, Bromberger, Clair, Berlanga, Italy/Spain, 1962). Designer: Karel Teissig.Two events provoked this article. First of all, last week I saw the wonderful 1963 Czech fable The Cassandra Cat (a.k.a. When the Cat Comes) at New York’s newest cinephile hotspot, the Metrograph. In this charming New Wave satire a cat wearing dark glasses is brought into a small town by a circus troupe and, when his glasses are removed, the townspeople are revealed in their true colors: namely neon shades of purple, yellow and pink, each representing their vices or virtues. The highlight of the film for me, aside from a psychedelic freak-out dance party in the middle of the film, comes when all the children of the town march through the street bearing large drawings of cats. Chris Marker would have loved this film.The second event was the...
- 3/30/2016
- by Adrian Curry
- MUBI
The Garbage singer’s best and worst films ever both starred Kate Winslet
The childhood cinema trip that sticks in my mind the most would be to see The Incredible Journey, the one about the two dogs and the cat. My father took my sisters and me, which was unusual as we rarely did anything with my dad by ourselves, so that was exciting. I remember he took us for pizza afterwards. I was so involved in animals from a young age and was also insanely affected by Bambi – I sobbed like a baby and was quite traumatised by that. It was my first brush with the death of a mother figure and if you have a great mum, which I did, that’s utterly terrifying.
What’s your favourite film ever?
Continue reading...
The childhood cinema trip that sticks in my mind the most would be to see The Incredible Journey, the one about the two dogs and the cat. My father took my sisters and me, which was unusual as we rarely did anything with my dad by ourselves, so that was exciting. I remember he took us for pizza afterwards. I was so involved in animals from a young age and was also insanely affected by Bambi – I sobbed like a baby and was quite traumatised by that. It was my first brush with the death of a mother figure and if you have a great mum, which I did, that’s utterly terrifying.
What’s your favourite film ever?
Continue reading...
- 10/26/2015
- by Michael Cragg
- The Guardian - Film News
★★★★☆ The latter part of that old adage about never working with children or animals has been taken on and smashed beyond all recognition in the strikingly original Hungarian parable White God (2014). What starts off as what could be only be described as a dark reboot of The Incredible Journey, directed by Lukas Moodysson, later settles into a much more chilling and unpredictable fable, complete with a moving coming-of-age tale subtly interwoven throughout. When teenager Lili (an appealing turn by Zsófia Psotta) is unceremoniously dumped by her mother on her divorced scientist father Daniel (Sándor Zsótér), it's clear he isn't happy with Lili's faithful hound Hagen.
- 8/4/2015
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Doggedly heavy on allegory, Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó's White God (originally Fehér Isten) has a relatively simple premise: beware the comeuppance for those that treat badly those they believe to be inferior. At its heart, the film plays as if Samuel Peckinpaw [sic] directed The Incredible Journey, that Disney Animal film referenced in last year's Cannes hit Inside Llewyn Davis. The title was at first a mystery and mere pun, but appears to at least partially be a play on White Dog, Sam Fuller's 1982 canines-and-racism flick. A revenge fantasy from the canine perspective, this is part political polemic, part action thriller, with a climax that is equal parts hyperbolic and effective. The archetypes abound, be they in the notion of the denigration of those...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 3/26/2015
- Screen Anarchy
White God
Written by Kornél Mundruczó, Viktória Petrányi and Kata Wéber
Directed by Kornél Mundruczó
Hungary/Germany/Sweden, 2014
Dogs rise up against their human masters in Kornél Mundruczó’s White God, a film that is part-political allegory and part-bloody genre piece. The opening sequence shows a girl riding her bicycle through the sunny but deserted streets of Budapest, looking anxiously around her as she passes abandoned cars and empty buildings. Suddenly, from around the corner, hundreds of dogs appear, running with purpose, chasing and overtaking her. At this point, it feels like an apocalyptic dream, but, when White God returns to the scene later on, it has been contextualised in a narrative of oppression and justified revolt.
The girl on the bicycle is Lili (Zsófia Psotta), a smart but surly thirteen-year-old who has an intimate bond with her mongrel dog Hagen. When her mother temporarily moves abroad, Lili is forced...
Written by Kornél Mundruczó, Viktória Petrányi and Kata Wéber
Directed by Kornél Mundruczó
Hungary/Germany/Sweden, 2014
Dogs rise up against their human masters in Kornél Mundruczó’s White God, a film that is part-political allegory and part-bloody genre piece. The opening sequence shows a girl riding her bicycle through the sunny but deserted streets of Budapest, looking anxiously around her as she passes abandoned cars and empty buildings. Suddenly, from around the corner, hundreds of dogs appear, running with purpose, chasing and overtaking her. At this point, it feels like an apocalyptic dream, but, when White God returns to the scene later on, it has been contextualised in a narrative of oppression and justified revolt.
The girl on the bicycle is Lili (Zsófia Psotta), a smart but surly thirteen-year-old who has an intimate bond with her mongrel dog Hagen. When her mother temporarily moves abroad, Lili is forced...
- 2/23/2015
- by Rob Dickie
- SoundOnSight
Exclusive: Chinese child abduction film to screen in Toronto following world premiere in Venice.
Paris-based Versatile has acquired international sales on Peter Ho-Sun Chan’s child abduction drama Dearest ahead of a Special Presentation screening at the Toronto International Film Festival (Sept 4-14).
“It’s gives us great pleasure to be working with an Asian film by a director with such a strong international reputation and track record,” said Boye.
The deal was sealed at the Venice Film Festival (Aug 27 - Sept 6) where the film was given a high profile Out of Competition world premiere in the presence of the director and key cast last week (Aug 28).
“We’ve been interested in the film for some time and wanted to meet the makers in person in Venice to seal the deal,” said Versatile co-chief Pape Boye.
Boye and Versatile co-chief Violaine Pichon brokered the deal with Chan and Katherine Lee of We Distribution Limited, the sales arm...
Paris-based Versatile has acquired international sales on Peter Ho-Sun Chan’s child abduction drama Dearest ahead of a Special Presentation screening at the Toronto International Film Festival (Sept 4-14).
“It’s gives us great pleasure to be working with an Asian film by a director with such a strong international reputation and track record,” said Boye.
The deal was sealed at the Venice Film Festival (Aug 27 - Sept 6) where the film was given a high profile Out of Competition world premiere in the presence of the director and key cast last week (Aug 28).
“We’ve been interested in the film for some time and wanted to meet the makers in person in Venice to seal the deal,” said Versatile co-chief Pape Boye.
Boye and Versatile co-chief Violaine Pichon brokered the deal with Chan and Katherine Lee of We Distribution Limited, the sales arm...
- 9/2/2014
- ScreenDaily
Here's the latest Austin and Texas film news.
The Austin Film Festival's list of 2014 conference panelists grows with the recent additions of writer Lawrence Kasdan (various Star Wars films), writer/director John Patrick Shanley Doubt), writer Randall Wallace (Braveheart), writer Oren Uziel (22 Jump Street) and Ilysse McKimmie, director of the Sundance Labs feature film program. Badges are still available for the conference and festival, which takes place Oct. 23-30.In more Aff news, the nonprofit's Free Family Film Series presents a screening of Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey Sunday at 3 pm at the Texas Spirit Theater. The 1993 family drama based on the book The Incredible Journey follows two adventurous dogs and a cat as they escape from a ranch to reunite with their owners. Co-screenwriter of Homeward Bound, Caroline Thompson, will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A.Aff news continues: The nonprofit will co-sponsored the film series "1968's Past,...
The Austin Film Festival's list of 2014 conference panelists grows with the recent additions of writer Lawrence Kasdan (various Star Wars films), writer/director John Patrick Shanley Doubt), writer Randall Wallace (Braveheart), writer Oren Uziel (22 Jump Street) and Ilysse McKimmie, director of the Sundance Labs feature film program. Badges are still available for the conference and festival, which takes place Oct. 23-30.In more Aff news, the nonprofit's Free Family Film Series presents a screening of Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey Sunday at 3 pm at the Texas Spirit Theater. The 1993 family drama based on the book The Incredible Journey follows two adventurous dogs and a cat as they escape from a ranch to reunite with their owners. Co-screenwriter of Homeward Bound, Caroline Thompson, will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A.Aff news continues: The nonprofit will co-sponsored the film series "1968's Past,...
- 6/30/2014
- by Jordan Gass-Poore'
- Slackerwood
Behind-the-scenes e-sports cross-media project follows pro-games stars such as sOs, Li “Sky” Xiofeng and Sophistie.
Beijing-based Oriental Companion Media has boarded French director Hervé Martin Delpierre’s feature documentary and web series, Game Fever,about the world of professional video gaming, otherwise known as e-sports.
It is among the first projects being put together by respected documentary producer Christine Le Goff following her recent arrival at Paris-based non-fiction specialist Zed Productions.
The €1.4m ($1.9m) project goes behind scenes of the burgeoning global e-sports scene in which professional video game players, or pro-gamers, compete for big cash prizes in online and venue-based tournaments.
It follows on from Delpierre’s 2013 Arte-produced Game Over about the evolution of the videogame scene.
“Thousands of spectators attend the live events and millions of people watch these competitions online,” said Le Goff. More than 1 billion people play the games worldwide.
Tickets for the 2013 final of a global tournament revolving around the multiplayer battle...
Beijing-based Oriental Companion Media has boarded French director Hervé Martin Delpierre’s feature documentary and web series, Game Fever,about the world of professional video gaming, otherwise known as e-sports.
It is among the first projects being put together by respected documentary producer Christine Le Goff following her recent arrival at Paris-based non-fiction specialist Zed Productions.
The €1.4m ($1.9m) project goes behind scenes of the burgeoning global e-sports scene in which professional video game players, or pro-gamers, compete for big cash prizes in online and venue-based tournaments.
It follows on from Delpierre’s 2013 Arte-produced Game Over about the evolution of the videogame scene.
“Thousands of spectators attend the live events and millions of people watch these competitions online,” said Le Goff. More than 1 billion people play the games worldwide.
Tickets for the 2013 final of a global tournament revolving around the multiplayer battle...
- 6/23/2014
- ScreenDaily
Doggedly heavy on allegory, the film by Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó's White God (Fehér Isten) has a relatively simple premise - beware the comeuppance for those that treat badly those they believe to be inferior.At its heart, the film plays as if Samuel Peckinpaw [sic] directed The Incredible Journey, that Disney Animal film referenced in last year's Cannes hit Inside Llewyn Davis. The title was at first a mystery and mere pun, but appears to at least partially be a play on White Dog, Fuller's 1982 Dog fighting flick. A revenge fantasy from the canine perspective, this is part political polemic, part action thriller, with a climax that is equal parts hyperbolic and effective.The archetypes abound, be they in the notion of the denigration of...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 5/26/2014
- Screen Anarchy
[lots of spoilers for Inside Llewyn Davis]
We need to talk about Llewyn Davis.
Cuz there’s a thing that no one else has been talking about, that I’ve been able to find. There’s lots of discussion about what the cat means; I like Emma Dibdin at Digital Spy, who makes a convincing case for it being a representation of the spirit of Mike Timlin, the dead musical partner of early 1960s — ie, pre Dylan — folk singer Llewyn Davis. Sam Adams at IndieWire, in an essay about how the film isn’t about artistic failure (which seems to be the consensus opinion) but instead about mental depression, touches on the thing I want to talk about when he briefly refers to the film’s “circular structure [that] suggests a Sisyphean loop, a depressive Groundhog Day.” But he drops this as soon as he mentions it.
But that circular structure, that Sisyphean loop… it’s a huge thing,...
We need to talk about Llewyn Davis.
Cuz there’s a thing that no one else has been talking about, that I’ve been able to find. There’s lots of discussion about what the cat means; I like Emma Dibdin at Digital Spy, who makes a convincing case for it being a representation of the spirit of Mike Timlin, the dead musical partner of early 1960s — ie, pre Dylan — folk singer Llewyn Davis. Sam Adams at IndieWire, in an essay about how the film isn’t about artistic failure (which seems to be the consensus opinion) but instead about mental depression, touches on the thing I want to talk about when he briefly refers to the film’s “circular structure [that] suggests a Sisyphean loop, a depressive Groundhog Day.” But he drops this as soon as he mentions it.
But that circular structure, that Sisyphean loop… it’s a huge thing,...
- 5/8/2014
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
Finding Nemo encompasses a tremendous amount of positive imagery that makes up Disney and Pixar’s populous appeal. From learning how to trust family and friends, to overcoming biggest fears and obstacles, Finding Nemo understands how to tap into the audience’s heartstrings and neatly ties in a meaningful message for the viewer to take home. Yet with every good side, there is a dark presence that even Disney can’t back away from. Like many Disney films, from Bambi to Frozen, Finding Nemo deals with a story whose basis stems from a broken household struggling with a great deal of separation. Why does Disney cling onto threads of such despair and heartache? Perhaps it’s a factor many can relate to. Or perhaps it’s a working formula that sweetens the arc of a happy ending. Either way, separation is a tapped fountain of which Hollywood has dipped into time after time again.
- 3/2/2014
- by Christopher Clemente
- SoundOnSight
The Coens' tale of a of a once feted folk singer on the slide has brilliant elements that don't quite make a satisfying whole
"How does it feel, to be on your own… Like a complete unknown… ?" Llewyn Davis knows exactly how that feels. Dragging his self-pitying butt around the freezing backstreets of early 1960s Greenwich Village, he is indeed "without a home", a formerly feted singer who made his name as one half of a popular duo until his partner threw himself to an early death, a result, perhaps, of spending too much time with Llewyn. He's an arsehole and everyone tells him so – from fellow folk singer Jean (Carey Mulligan), who is pregnant with his child and wants money for an abortion, to John Goodman's aggressive jazz fiend who callously mocks Davis's former partner's suicide ("You throw yourself of the Brooklyn bridge, traditionally. George Washington bridge? Who does that?...
"How does it feel, to be on your own… Like a complete unknown… ?" Llewyn Davis knows exactly how that feels. Dragging his self-pitying butt around the freezing backstreets of early 1960s Greenwich Village, he is indeed "without a home", a formerly feted singer who made his name as one half of a popular duo until his partner threw himself to an early death, a result, perhaps, of spending too much time with Llewyn. He's an arsehole and everyone tells him so – from fellow folk singer Jean (Carey Mulligan), who is pregnant with his child and wants money for an abortion, to John Goodman's aggressive jazz fiend who callously mocks Davis's former partner's suicide ("You throw yourself of the Brooklyn bridge, traditionally. George Washington bridge? Who does that?...
- 1/26/2014
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
Above: Fan art poster for Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, USA, 2013); designer: Peter Stults.
In this latest run-down of the most popular posters on my Movie Poster of the Day Tumblr—covering the last four months of daily posts—I’m not leading off with the number one most liked and reblogged poster (the Hitch-centric Rear Window, below) because that was the main poster in my loquacious posters post a couple of months ago. So I’m starting with the second most popular: a superb retro take on Gravity by artist Peter Stults which was one of a number of alternative takes on the film commissioned by the UK magazine ShortList back in October.
The rest of the top 20, shown in descending order, are a pleasingly eclectic grab bag, with posters from nine different countries and seven different decades. Three of my very favorite recent discoveries appear all in a row: that French La notte,...
In this latest run-down of the most popular posters on my Movie Poster of the Day Tumblr—covering the last four months of daily posts—I’m not leading off with the number one most liked and reblogged poster (the Hitch-centric Rear Window, below) because that was the main poster in my loquacious posters post a couple of months ago. So I’m starting with the second most popular: a superb retro take on Gravity by artist Peter Stults which was one of a number of alternative takes on the film commissioned by the UK magazine ShortList back in October.
The rest of the top 20, shown in descending order, are a pleasingly eclectic grab bag, with posters from nine different countries and seven different decades. Three of my very favorite recent discoveries appear all in a row: that French La notte,...
- 1/7/2014
- by Adrian Curry
- MUBI
Inside Llewyn Davis
Written and directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
USA, 2013
It takes only a few minutes of Inside Llewyn Davis for its title character to comfortably enter the pantheon of iconic characters created by Joel and Ethan Coen. There’s no point, granted, in comparing him directly to Barton Fink or Marge Gunderson or Ulysses Everett McGill, but Davis is a person of great, maddening, recognizable complexities as much as any of those others. And though Llewyn is a consummate failure of a man, self-loathing enough that he can barely acknowledge his own faults, this new film from the Coen brothers is another high point in a filmography that is almost insultingly, consistently brilliant.
Llewyn, as played expertly by Oscar Isaac, performs folk music in Greenwich Village, circa 1961, but wants very badly to be an Important Musician, someone as big and influential a star at the time as Elvis Presley.
Written and directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
USA, 2013
It takes only a few minutes of Inside Llewyn Davis for its title character to comfortably enter the pantheon of iconic characters created by Joel and Ethan Coen. There’s no point, granted, in comparing him directly to Barton Fink or Marge Gunderson or Ulysses Everett McGill, but Davis is a person of great, maddening, recognizable complexities as much as any of those others. And though Llewyn is a consummate failure of a man, self-loathing enough that he can barely acknowledge his own faults, this new film from the Coen brothers is another high point in a filmography that is almost insultingly, consistently brilliant.
Llewyn, as played expertly by Oscar Isaac, performs folk music in Greenwich Village, circa 1961, but wants very badly to be an Important Musician, someone as big and influential a star at the time as Elvis Presley.
- 12/20/2013
- by Josh Spiegel
- SoundOnSight
Until they met Oscar Isaac, the Coen Brothers were pretty sure that their tragicomic Inside Llewyn Davis screenplay was unfilmable: Where would they find a crazy-talented singer-guitarist with movie-star presence and major comic acting chops? Isaac, a 33-year-old lifelong rock musician and Juilliard-trained actor who had a Miller's Crossing poster on his wall as a teen in Florida, saw his chance. "I heard they were making it," he says, "and was like, 'This is me, man!'" Thinner, with close-cropped hair and light stubble instead of Llewyn's beatnik beard, Isaac...
- 12/12/2013
- Rollingstone.com
The incredible journey of The Lunchbox continues. After wowing audiences here in India, Ritesh Batra’s charming directorial debut starring Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqui has now picked up more awards abroad.
The film, starring Irrfan Khan and Nimrat Kaur in the lead as two lonely people who fall in love, has won Best Feature Film at the prestigious Zagreb Film Festival. “It is an emotionally engaging, visually stunning arthouse film that communicates with audience all around the world,” was how the jury described The Lunchbox. Ritesh won the Golden Pram Award and the prize money of Eur 4,000.00.
That’s not all, The Lunchbox also won Best Feature Film at the inaugural Extravagant Indian Film Festival in Paris. Plus, Ritesh Batra won Best Director at the Saint Jean De Luz Film Festival in France. And now The Lunchbox has also been selected for the prestigious AFI (American Film...
The film, starring Irrfan Khan and Nimrat Kaur in the lead as two lonely people who fall in love, has won Best Feature Film at the prestigious Zagreb Film Festival. “It is an emotionally engaging, visually stunning arthouse film that communicates with audience all around the world,” was how the jury described The Lunchbox. Ritesh won the Golden Pram Award and the prize money of Eur 4,000.00.
That’s not all, The Lunchbox also won Best Feature Film at the inaugural Extravagant Indian Film Festival in Paris. Plus, Ritesh Batra won Best Director at the Saint Jean De Luz Film Festival in France. And now The Lunchbox has also been selected for the prestigious AFI (American Film...
- 10/30/2013
- by Stacey Yount
- Bollyspice
Okay, okay. So we don’t actually know if the Evil Dead remake is going to be any good. Remember the Prometheus trailer? That thing is a work of art where as the movie itself…well, it was a work of fart. A true work of fart. As huge Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell fans, we were more than a little leery of an Evil Dead remake, but today’s new (incredibly gory) red band trailer fills us with glee. And by “glee,” we mean “some kind of gross black ooze that slides out of our mouth like a waking nightmare.”
And that ooze got us thinking. From Total Recall to Dredd, there were so many mediocre remakes last year (see also: every movie coming out in the next three years), it’s hard to remember that a lot of remakes are actually really, really good. Don’t believe us?...
And that ooze got us thinking. From Total Recall to Dredd, there were so many mediocre remakes last year (see also: every movie coming out in the next three years), it’s hard to remember that a lot of remakes are actually really, really good. Don’t believe us?...
- 1/4/2013
- by Halle Kiefer
- TheFabLife - Movies
An Alice in Wonderland sequel could be picked up by Disney after the studio reportedly declared its interest. Linda Woolverton is writing a follow-up to Tim Burton's 2010 movie, according to Variety. The first film starred Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway and Helena Bonham-Carter. Joe Roth, Suzanne Todd and Jennifer Todd would return as producers, the report claims. The 3D movie earned $$1 billion worldwide and won Oscars for art direction and costume design. Woolverton previously wrote Disney films such as Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, The Incredible Journey and Homeward Bound. The studio is apparently (more)...
- 12/8/2012
- by By Paul Millar
- Digital Spy
First Michael Bay decided to destroy our childhoods by turning mutant turtles into aliens; now Waterman Entertainment plans to transform animated toasters into CGI iPhones … or something like that.
Film Stage informs us that the late-80s cult kids’ movie The Brave Little Toaster has been picked on for a remake with live-action and CGI replacing the hand-drawn animation of the original.
Admittedly, The Brave Little Toaster might not be everyone’s warm childhood memory. It was a small film that garnered praise at Sundance, but never received theatrical distribution. In the end, The Disney Channel picked it up and it was eventually released on home video, where many of its acolytes (your humble correspondent included) experienced it for the first time.
The story centers around obsolete appliances – a toaster, a blanket, a lamp, a radio and a vacuum cleaner – stranded in a sold summer home that are trying to...
Film Stage informs us that the late-80s cult kids’ movie The Brave Little Toaster has been picked on for a remake with live-action and CGI replacing the hand-drawn animation of the original.
Admittedly, The Brave Little Toaster might not be everyone’s warm childhood memory. It was a small film that garnered praise at Sundance, but never received theatrical distribution. In the end, The Disney Channel picked it up and it was eventually released on home video, where many of its acolytes (your humble correspondent included) experienced it for the first time.
The story centers around obsolete appliances – a toaster, a blanket, a lamp, a radio and a vacuum cleaner – stranded in a sold summer home that are trying to...
- 9/14/2012
- by Lauren Humphries-Brooks
- We Got This Covered
We’re back with our latest Indie Spotlight. This weekend’s coverage includes The Fields‘ Blu-ray/DVD release, a zombie-killing gorilla with a baseball bat, paranormal investigators, and much more…
The Fields Blu-ray/DVD Release: Academy Award winner Cloris Leachman’s (Fox’s “Raising Hope”) thriller The Fields is coming to Blu-Ray (Srp $29.99) and DVD (Srp 24.99) from Breaking Glass Pictures (5 Star Day, Cropsey, The Living Wake). Written by Harrison Smith (Six Degrees of Hell) and directed by Tom Mattera and David Mazzoni (cult favorite The 4th Dimension), the film also stars Tara Reid (American Reunion) and newcomer Joshua Ormond (Sundance hit Robot and Frank).
Based on actual events, The Fields follows a young boy named Steven during the summer of 1973. Steven (Ormond) is sent to live in the Pennsylvania countryside with his grandparents while his mother (Reid) and father (Faust Checho) work through their marital troubles. Though his grandmother (Leachman...
The Fields Blu-ray/DVD Release: Academy Award winner Cloris Leachman’s (Fox’s “Raising Hope”) thriller The Fields is coming to Blu-Ray (Srp $29.99) and DVD (Srp 24.99) from Breaking Glass Pictures (5 Star Day, Cropsey, The Living Wake). Written by Harrison Smith (Six Degrees of Hell) and directed by Tom Mattera and David Mazzoni (cult favorite The 4th Dimension), the film also stars Tara Reid (American Reunion) and newcomer Joshua Ormond (Sundance hit Robot and Frank).
Based on actual events, The Fields follows a young boy named Steven during the summer of 1973. Steven (Ormond) is sent to live in the Pennsylvania countryside with his grandparents while his mother (Reid) and father (Faust Checho) work through their marital troubles. Though his grandmother (Leachman...
- 3/11/2012
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Last year, James Miller reviewed War Horse for CultureCatch. Now, with interest in the show growing after the recent release of the movie, which is up for six Oscars, C. Jefferson Thom weighs in with a dissenting opinion.
What is it about animals that pulls on our sense of compassion? An invading alien army can spend the better part of a disaster film evaporating countless numbers of people, but as long as a single dog escapes its death rays there’s a collective sign of relief. Are animals somehow easier to love and care for? War Horse would certainly suggest that this is the case.
Letting it all ride on its horses, the creators of War Horse have underestimated the importance of a good story and solid characters, transfusing every ounce of development and significance from the speaking Homo sapiens to their silent equine counterparts. This gamble seems inspired by...
What is it about animals that pulls on our sense of compassion? An invading alien army can spend the better part of a disaster film evaporating countless numbers of people, but as long as a single dog escapes its death rays there’s a collective sign of relief. Are animals somehow easier to love and care for? War Horse would certainly suggest that this is the case.
Letting it all ride on its horses, the creators of War Horse have underestimated the importance of a good story and solid characters, transfusing every ounce of development and significance from the speaking Homo sapiens to their silent equine counterparts. This gamble seems inspired by...
- 2/20/2012
- by C. Jefferson Thom
- www.culturecatch.com
At first glance, it might look like Jennifer Lopez, Ryan Seacrest, Steven Tyler, and Randy Jackson have been cast in an I’m Not There-style retelling of the Pied Piper story.
But nope, in much the same way your local Hallmark shop’s Christmas decorations seem to spring up earlier and earlier every year, so too is Fox trying to get visions of American Idol‘s 11th season dancing in your head well before Halloween.
Idol‘s new promo features Ryan, Randy, J.Lo, and Steven wandering the city “streets” collecting aspiring singers to a tune that sounds like it...
But nope, in much the same way your local Hallmark shop’s Christmas decorations seem to spring up earlier and earlier every year, so too is Fox trying to get visions of American Idol‘s 11th season dancing in your head well before Halloween.
Idol‘s new promo features Ryan, Randy, J.Lo, and Steven wandering the city “streets” collecting aspiring singers to a tune that sounds like it...
- 10/24/2011
- by Michael Slezak
- TVLine.com
Warner Brothers has unveiled their scheduling release date for some very important films. The studio will be releasing Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar in limited release on November 9th this year, with a wide expansion right after. The film starring Armie Hammer, Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts, Josh Lucas, and others has already positioned itself to be nominated and possibly win some Oscars. Another film schedule for release this year that’s considered to be nominated for some major awards is Stephen Daldry’s adaptation of Extremely Close and Incredibly Loud. The film starring Sandra Bullock, Tom Hanks and Thomas Horn is scheduled for limited release on Christmas day.
Looking towards the future, Alfonso Cuarón’s new sci-fi Gravity in 3D, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, scheduled for a November 21st 2012 release and Journey 2: The Incredible Journey, starring Josh Hutcherson, Dwayne Johnson and Michael Caine, is set for February 10th,...
Looking towards the future, Alfonso Cuarón’s new sci-fi Gravity in 3D, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, scheduled for a November 21st 2012 release and Journey 2: The Incredible Journey, starring Josh Hutcherson, Dwayne Johnson and Michael Caine, is set for February 10th,...
- 8/4/2011
- by Mike Lee
- FusedFilm
As a spin-off from the globally popular sci-fi series Doctor Who, it seemed impossible to conceive that Russell T Davies could create two addictive universes. Yet upon the creation of Captain Jack Harkness in Series 1 of Doctor Who, which starred Christopher Eccleston, that is exactly what happened. Creating a character larger than the multi-episode arc could contain, Russell T Davies did the unthinkable and with a wave of his magical wand – the writing pen – he dazzled fans once again by creating Torchwood. Not only poaching one of the more flamboyant and captivating characters of the new series of Doctor Who, Russell also chose to use an anagram of Doctor Who and came up with the name Torchwood.
Thus, one year after his successful debut as Captain Jack in Doctor Who, John Barrowman debuted in his own television series as the infamous time-traveler now stuck on Earth. Being an earthbound extraterrestrial...
Thus, one year after his successful debut as Captain Jack in Doctor Who, John Barrowman debuted in his own television series as the infamous time-traveler now stuck on Earth. Being an earthbound extraterrestrial...
- 7/29/2011
- by Tiffany Vogt
- The TV Addict
Sony Pictures Animation has something of a history with A) picking up former Pixar bods (Surf’s Up's Ash Brannon) and finding success with CG movies based on children’s stories (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs). And its latest acquisition ticks both boxes, as Doug Sweetland has signed on to make his first full-length film with Familiars.The book, written by Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson, finds three young magical apprentices who are spirited away by an evil queen. Their only hope for rescue lies with their companion animal familiars – a cat, a blue jay and a tree frog. While we’re still puzzling over the tree frog as a familiar (we’re guessing a toad was too gross or cliché for today’s whippersnappers), the story sounds like a blend of Harry Potter and The Incredible Journey, which Epstein and Jacobson are now turning into a script.
- 10/4/2010
- EmpireOnline
To commemorate the 30th anniversary of Airplane!, and the free DVD you're going to get in next Saturday's Guardian, here are 30 facts on Shirley the mother of all movie spoofs ...
1 Airplane! is a remake of a 1957 TV movie called Zero Hour!
2 The "food-poisoning on a plane" plot and many of the lines were lifted straight from the original.
3 They bought the rights to Zero Hour! so that's Ok.
4 Zero Hour! was written by Arthur Hailey, who went on to write the hugely successful Airport book/movie franchise which Airplane! spoofs so mercilessly.
5 Thus Hailey is credited as a writer of a movie that basically takes the piss out of his own work.
6 Airplane! was the fourth highest-grossing movie of 1980 in the Us, and the highest-grossing comedy in history until Ghostbusters.
7 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who played co-pilot Roger Murdock, is the highest-scoring NBA basketball player of all time, with 38,387 points.
8 The film's...
1 Airplane! is a remake of a 1957 TV movie called Zero Hour!
2 The "food-poisoning on a plane" plot and many of the lines were lifted straight from the original.
3 They bought the rights to Zero Hour! so that's Ok.
4 Zero Hour! was written by Arthur Hailey, who went on to write the hugely successful Airport book/movie franchise which Airplane! spoofs so mercilessly.
5 Thus Hailey is credited as a writer of a movie that basically takes the piss out of his own work.
6 Airplane! was the fourth highest-grossing movie of 1980 in the Us, and the highest-grossing comedy in history until Ghostbusters.
7 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who played co-pilot Roger Murdock, is the highest-scoring NBA basketball player of all time, with 38,387 points.
8 The film's...
- 9/24/2010
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
book review: The Lion And The Giraffe by Jack Couffer (BearManor Media) The author of this colorful memoir may not be a household name, but he’s been involved in everything from Walt Disney’s The Living Desert to Out of Africa, from Disney animal movies like The Incredible Journey to Never Cry Wolf…and he has great stories to tell. Couffer was a naturalist and a seaman before he ever thought of looking through a viewfinder. It was only by chance, when he attended USC on the G.I. bill after World War Two, that he became friendly with a fellow student named…...
- 8/18/2010
- Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy
In what looks to be a blend of Into The Wild and The Incredible Journey, Universal has picked up The Story Of Edgar Sawtelle, with Jarhead/Apollo 13 writer William Broyles Jr hired to adapt it into a script.Based on David Wroblewski's novel, the plot will find a mute teenager reacting to the mysterious death of his father by running off into the woods of Wisconsin with three of the incredible dogs his family is in the business of raising and training.Tom Hanks' Playtone company is producing the film and we hear Hanks is near a deal to play one of the dogs via Avatar-style performance capture.Or did we dream that bit? Probably: the film has yet to track down a director or any cast.
- 2/2/2010
- EmpireOnline
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