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1-20 of 43 items from 2012 « Prev | Next »
Word and image: my top 10 books on film
18 May 2012 4:06 PM, PDT | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »
From Christopher Isherwood's 'limbo of mirror-images' to 'the projected film's best-kept secret'
We don't have to think about what we like, but thinking can be part of our pleasure, rather than opposed to it. When I was asked to write Film: A Very Short Introduction – the book became the 300th in a series that covers topics from advertising to witchcraft, anaesthesia to the World Trade Organisation – I jumped at the possibility, because I took it as a chance to think fast and hard about a much-loved topic. Not everybody thought this was a good idea. One of the publisher's readers said the project was distinctly amateurish, and the other said it was impossible. These responses were not unkindly meant, and I found them helpful. I realised I wanted the book to be the work of an amateur – a lover of film – though not amateurish in the sense of inept. »
- Michael Wood
Michel Hazanavicius’ The Artist: Has the film establishment forgotten everything it once knew?
8 May 2012 12:35 AM, PDT | DearCinema.com | See recent DearCinema.com news »
It may be a little late in the day to review Michel Hazanvicius’ The Artist. The Oscar ceremony is forgotten and, if The Artist did well at the last Cannes Festival where it premiered, the next Cannes Festival is just around the corner. Winning Oscars may not amount to a ‘high-brow’ achievement but The Artist received the Best Film, the Best Director and the Best Actor awards. The Artist is apparently the most awarded French film in history – and considering that France once produced the best cinema in the world, that is impressive. But after all these achievements have been listed it may perhaps be worthwhile to study the film a little closely because, to me at least, it looks like the work of someone who might have flunked film school. But rather than make unsubstantiated assertions as in most film criticism today, it may be necessary to provide actual reasons for this. »
- MK Raghvendra
Pin-up Girl Margie Stewart Dies, Aged 92
7 May 2012 12:06 PM, PDT | WENN | See recent WENN news »
Model/actress Margie Stewart has died at the age of 92.
The former pin-up passed away in Burbank, California on 26 April, according to the New York Times.
Born in 1919, Stewart dropped out of college at Indiana University to become a model and she was quickly approached to shoot a World War II recruitment poster for the Army in a bid to boost enrolment in America.
The iconic sheet has since been reproduced over 94 million times, catapulting Stewart - often dubbed Uncle Sam's Poster Girl - into the spotlight for her wholesome image.
Due to high demand, the beauty travelled across the U.S. with stars like Fred Astaire and Judy Garland to sell war bonds, subsequently appearing in over 20 films, many of them uncredited. Her list of movies include parts in Wonder Man, Frank Sinatra's Step Lively, The Fallen Sparrow, and Gildersleeve's Ghost.
Towards the later part of her life, Stewart produced shows at iconic California concert venue the Hollywood Bowl for such artists as The Beatles, The Beach Boys and Barbra Streisand. »
We celebrate May Day with five of our favorite May-centric pop culture references
1 May 2012 1:00 PM, PDT | EW.com - PopWatch | See recent EW.com - PopWatch news »
How best to celebrate the arrival of the fifth month, PopWatchers? Lacking a May pole in EW’s office, I decided to turn to pop culture. Though I considered expanding the net to include non-traditional picks like bunkin’ cousin Maeby Fünke from Arrested Development and Ghost’s Oda Mae Brown (“Molly, you in danger, girl!”), there was plenty of May love to go around without getting Fünke with it. Below, five of my favorite May touchstones.
“The Lusty Month of May,” Camelot
If this number from Lerner and Loewe’s hit 1960 musical doesn’t, ahem, get you in the mood for a new month, »
- Lanford Beard
The Raid: Redemption Movie Review
25 April 2012 10:51 AM, PDT | AreYouScreening.com | See recent AreYouScreening news »
With some movies, the title pretty much says it all, and this is most definitely the case with The Raid: Redemption.
Set in the drab slums of an Indonesian tenement, the film follows a Swat team in their harrowing attempt to arrest a drug kingpin and his associates who occupy one of the upper floors. Filled with psychotic drug attics and a seemingly endless supply of “soldiers”, all of whom seem fairly well-versed in martial arts, the Swat team quickly finds themselves in the thick of an urban war zone. As they ascend their way up the hellish nightmare, the situation deteriorates and as the body count rises, the team’s numbers rapidly dwindle.
To spice things up, the film’s plot throws a few wrenches into the equation. There are unexpected revelations about the connection between one of the Swat team members, Rama (Iko Uwais, who effectively serves as »
- Christopher Lominac
While We Were Here
24 April 2012 4:00 PM, PDT | eyeforfilm.co.uk | See recent eyeforfilm.co.uk news »
A couple head to Naples to try to revive their marriage.
Here's to the beautiful ladies...
Visual pleasure can be found in abundance in Kat Coiro's chic While We Were Here, filmed in black and white on location in Naples and on the island of Ischia, which had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this week.
The opening number of Ziegfeld Follies (1945) has Fred Astaire sing about what makes it worthwhile to go to the theatre: "Here's to the beautiful ladies, here's to those wonderful girls…" I found myself humming »
- Anne-Katrin Titze
Win a VIP weekend to London to see Top Hat!
19 April 2012 2:15 AM, PDT | digitalspy | See recent digitalspy news »
It's time to 'put on your top hat and brush off your tails' 77 years after Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers lit up Hollywood's silver screen with one of the greatest dance musicals of all time, Rko Pictures' Top Hat is now on in London's West End! Judging by the sensational reviews, standing ovations and sold out theatres around the country on its pre-London tour, it has been well worth the wait. Tom Chambers (Holby City heartthrob and Strictly Come Dancing winner) plays the irrepressible Broadway sensation Jerry Travers who dances his way across Europe to win the heart of society model Dale Tremont, played by triple Olivier Award nominee Summer Strallen (Love Never Dies, The Sound of Music, The Drowsy Chaperone). Packed full of Irving Berlin's greatest hits, such as Let's Face the Music and Dance, Cheek to Cheek, Puttin' (more) »
- By Rob Collingbourne
'Dancing With the Stars' Dance Off: Gavin Degraw was robbed of his final moment
18 April 2012 5:47 PM, PDT | Zap2It - From Inside the Box | See recent Zap2It - From Inside the Box news »
"Dancing With the Stars" is on it's fourteenth season and often tries new things. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. Week 4's Dance Off had the two couples at the bottom of the leader board dancing a cha cha cha that they had two hours to learn. This one definitely goes into the "doesn't work" category.
The problem here is that the couples dance at the same time with a split screen. It was impossible to see what was going on for an audience and it has to be just as difficult to see it as judges. It was a mishmash of spinning fringe and glitter. This short burst of chaos, which is more likely to cause nausea and a headache than entertain audiences, is how the judges decide who is going home that night.
In week 4, the very first person to go home was singer Gavin Degraw. While »
- editorial@zap2it.com
Tsr Exclusive: ‘Damsels in Distress’ interview with actress Greta Gerwig
17 April 2012 7:00 AM, PDT | The Scorecard Review | See recent Scorecard Review news »
With a start in independent films like Nights and Weekends with “mumblecore” director Joe Swanberg, actress Greta Gerwig has recently expanded her quirky prowess to larger films, both from the independent and Hollywood scene. Recently, she played Russell Brand’s on-screen love interest in Arthur, playing the part once made famous by Liza Minnelli. Now, she’s in Damsels in Distress, the latest movie from Metropolitan and The Last Days of Disco filmmaker Whit Stillman.
In the vibrant comedy Damsels, Gerwig plays a college student named Violet, an eccentric character with an unusual circle of friends. As tap dance-loving Violet falls into a “downward spiral,” her group of friends incorporate a new student (played by Crazy Stupid Love’s Analeigh Tipton) into their deadpan world of boys, suicide prevention centers, and the “Sambola.”
I sat down with Gerwig to talk about her unique character, the difference between working on a »
- Nick Allen
TCM Classic Film Festival 2012
14 April 2012 3:22 AM, PDT | MUBI | See recent MUBI news »
"Style in the Movies" is the central theme of this year's TCM Classic Film Festival, opening tonight in Los Angeles with the world premiere of the new restoration of Cabaret (1972) and running through the weekend. For the AP, Lynn Elber calls up Liza Minnelli, who'll be there with Joel Grey and, if he can make it, Michael York: "Minnelli, whose turn as cabaret singer Sally Bowles captured a best actress Academy Award and cemented her young stardom, said making Cabaret was a joyful 'secret,' filmed in Munich and far away from meddling Los Angeles studio bosses. Director Bob Fosse 'got away with murder. We all did,' Minnelli said… 'We'd take chances, and the studio would send notes like, "Too cloudy. It will break up on drive-in (screens)." Fosse would read that out loud, tear it up and throw it over his shoulder — in front of the whole cast and crew. »
Bruce Forsyth: My family values
13 April 2012 4:07 PM, PDT | The Guardian - TV News | See recent The Guardian - TV News news »
The showbusiness legend talks about his family
I had an unlikely start in showbusiness. I grew up in Edmonton, north London, where my father ran a garage business alongside our house, working all hours to support our family of five.We weren't destitute, but money didn't come easily. My parents were devout Salvationists, and at meetings my father would play the euphonium and cornet, while my mother, the star vocalist, would sing wonderful hymns.
Both my parents were ambitious for me and I was devoted to them. When I began performing in amateur shows during the war, my father made a makeshift stage by rigging up a tap-dancing mat on the kitchen table, on which he trained two spotlights powered by car batteries. I also practised on the metal roof of his lock-up garages, which can't have been much fun for the neighbours. All kids love to get dirty, but »
Spinning in Circles: From Fred Astaire's Royal Wedding to 2001 and Inception
6 April 2012 4:19 PM, PDT | Rope of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news »
I've never actually seen Royal Wedding, but before Stanley Kubrick's spinning stewardess in 2001: A Space Odyssey and Christopher Nolan's hallway fight in Inception, Fred Astaire was playing with the minds of audiences as he danced on the walls and ceiling in the 1951 musical. I tried thinking of some other instances where similar gravity-defying scenes played out but couldn't. I looked for a clip of the gravity books from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and there are a few other instances as this one from "The Avengers" television series and I've included one of several music videos to use the technique below, but what else? Can you think of more? Coming soon, there are apparently zero-gravity fight and training sequences in the upcoming Ender's Game adaptation, which may open up the door for some interesting possibilities. Roberto Orci tells io9 for that shoot they will absolutely film the zero-gravity sequences "using tanks, »
- Brad Brevet
Director Whit Stillman and Greta Gerwig Talk Damsels In Distress, Favorite Movies, Karaoke, and More
6 April 2012 8:00 AM, PDT | Collider.com | See recent Collider.com news »
Opening this weekend is writer-director Whit Stillman‘s (Metropolitan, Barcelona, The Last Days of Disco) first movie in thirteen years: Damsels in Distress. Filled with the unique characters and dialogue that populate all of his works, Stillman’s latest film is about a group of college coeds (Greta Gerwig, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Carrie MacLemore, Adam Brody, and Analeigh Tipton) whose friendship is threatened by a series of romances, “including slick Charlie (Brody), dreamboat Xavier (Hugo Becker), the mad frat-pack of Frank (Ryan Metcalf), and Thor (Billy Magnussen) — who threaten their friendship and sanity.” For more on the film, here’s the trailer. At the recent Los Angeles press day, I got to speak with Stillman and Gerwig. We talked about the dialogue, favorite movies and actors, karaoke, and a lot more. Hit the jump to watch. Finally, if you missed my extended interview with Stillman which goes into a lot more »
- Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub
Essential Viewing for fans of ‘The Raid: Redemption’ – 15 Classic Martial Arts Films
5 April 2012 10:42 PM, PDT | SoundOnSight | See recent SoundOnSight news »
The release of The Raid: Redemption has made us revisit our favourite martial arts flicks and pick five favourite films to suggest for Sound on Sight readers.
Before I give my five picks though, I would like to turn the floor over to a man who has been a friend of mine since grade seven at Oxford Street Junior High School in Halifax. As the line editor for Steve Jackson Games’ “Generic Universal RolePlaying System”, Sean Punch aka Dr. Kromm has been directly or indirectly responsible for a number of source-books on the Martial Arts including writing and editing Gurps Martial Arts.
I asked him earlier this week what films he would put on his list. He named three.
You’re not looking for goofy, cinematic Asian martial arts are you? Because I tend to like stuff that is more realistic, more like what commandos would use. You mentioned Steven Seagal »
- Michael Ryan
Hit Me With Your Best Shot: "Easter Parade"
4 April 2012 9:23 PM, PDT | FilmExperience | See recent FilmExperience news »
If you have yet to join in the "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" series we urge you to participate next week on April 11th when we look at a movie you've surely seen: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937). Last time we did an animated film we had a super turnout. All you have to do is 1) choose your favorite shot 2) post it on your blog, tumblr, site or pinterest page before next Wednesday night and 3) let me know. Presto, The Film Experience links up. The first step, choosing your best shot, is the only hard part.
This week's film is Easter Parade (1948).
I love a perfect title. Easter Parade promises exactly what it delivers. The Judy Garland / Fred Astaire musical features two actual easter parades which form a through line on which the film can hang its gowns and musical numbers. In the first Nadine (Ann Miller), Don »
- NATHANIEL R
Emma Thompson/Holly Hunter Double Oscar Nominations Meaning
4 April 2012 5:08 PM, PDT | Alt Film Guide | See recent Alt Film Guide news »
Writing about Emma Thompson possibly reprising her role as human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce made me remember comments I've read about the 1993 Academy Awards. In early 1994, Thompson was nominated for two Oscars: as Best Actress for James Ivory's social/psychological drama The Remains of the Day (photo) and as Best Supporting Actress for Jim Sheridan's family melodrama / political & prison drama In the Name of the Father. That same year, Holly Hunter was another double nominee — the first (and to date only) time two performers have been in the running in two acting categories in the same year. Hunter was up for the Best Actress Oscar for Jane Campion's The Piano (photo) and as Best Supporting Actress for Sydney Pollack's The Firm. She eventually won for The Piano; she and Thompson lost in the Best Supporting Actress category to The Piano's Anna Paquin. Some have claimed »
- Andre Soares
'Singin' in the Rain' 60th Anniversary: 25 Things You Didn't Know About Hollywood's Greatest Musical
29 March 2012 6:47 PM, PDT | Moviefone | See recent Moviefone news »
In a year when the Best Picture Oscar went to a comedy about Hollywood's turbulent transition from silence to sound, "Singin' in the Rain" suddenly seems timely again. The beloved musical, which marks the 60th anniversary of its release in U.S. theaters in April, is not only fondly remembered for its exuberantly athletic song-and-dance numbers, but also for its witty dramatization of the birth of Hollywood's sound era. If you haven't seen it, imagine 2011's "The Artist" with spoken dialogue and without the heroic dog. But of course, you have seen it, even if you don't realize it. The title number, featuring a soaked but joyful Gene Kelly, is one of the most iconic (and most frequently parodied) sequences in film history. The film's impact on popular culture is enormous, from making stars out of Debbie Reynolds and Cyd Charisse to influencing directors as far-flung as Jacques Demy and Stanley Kubrick. »
- Gary Susman
We Read It: Michael Mann & John Logan's Unmade 1930s Noir A Nasty Look At Old Hollywood That Doesn't Quite Work
21 March 2012 10:56 AM, PDT | The Playlist | See recent The Playlist news »
Of all the unmade, potentially great projects of the last few years, one of the most talked about is the untitled 1930s noir thriller penned by Oscar nominee John Logan ("The Aviator," "Hugo") with the intention that Michael Mann would direct and Leonardo DiCaprio would star. The project started doing the rounds back in 2007, but despite interest from New Line, the film, with an estimated budget of $120 million, proved too expensive and too risky to get made.
But a piece last month in Slate has brought the project back into the spotlight, even if details on the script remain at this point a little vague. As such, we thought it warranted a little more investigation, so we managed to obtain a copy of the script to take a closer look at what could have been: the plot, the characters, the influences and the references.
It begins in 1938 in a Beverly »
- Oliver Lyttelton
Daily Briefing. Bordwell + Thompson + Criterion, Reverse Shot on Spielberg II, More
19 March 2012 10:50 AM, PDT | MUBI | See recent MUBI news »
For the tenth edition of Film Art: An Introduction, David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson are partnering with Criterion to present Connect Film, an hour-long set of twenty videos on various aspects of filmmaking addressed in the now-classic textbook. Above: "Elliptical Editing in Vagabond (1985)." Kristin Thompson: "Most of the other Connect examples illustrate the chapters on the four types of film technique: mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, and sound. There's also a short documentary about digital animation."
More books. You may remember that Dave Kehr is quite an admirer of the writing of Arlene Croce, a dance critic for the New Yorker from 1973 to 1998. She's also the author of The Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers Book and, in the new issue of the New York Review of Books, she reviews Todd Decker's Music Makes Me: Fred Astaire and Jazz and Kathleen Riley's The Astaires: Fred and Adele. As the Boston Globe's Mark Feeney writes, »
Louis Vuitton goes to court over 'Lewis Vuitton' bag in The Hangover II
19 March 2012 4:59 AM, PDT | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »
Warner Bros representatives look to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers case to defend film's fake Vuitton brand
Studio Warner Bros has already been forced to settle with a tattoo artist who said comedy blockbuster The Hangover Part II stole his design, along with a stuntman who claimed he suffered brain trauma during a stunt gone wrong. Now it has gone to court to fend off claims from the fashion house Louis Vuitton that the sequel to Todd Phillips's 2009 sleeper hit, about a group of friends who travel to Thailand for a highly eventful stag do, created consumer confusion by depicting a counterfeit handbag branded a "Lewis Vuitton".
Warner representatives last week told a New York federal court that its use of a fake bag made by the Chinese-American company Diophy, which Louis Vuitton is also suing, was justified by a 1989 Us court decision in which Hollywood star Ginger Rogers »
- Ben Child
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