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Gemma Arterton Teams with Frears for Graphic Novel Adapt

17 July 2009 11:28 AM, PDT | From FilmSchoolRejects.com | See recent FilmSchoolRejects news

Most of us either met Gemma Arterton in RocknRolla or, most likely, as Strawberry Fields in Quantum of Solace. Now, she seems to be all over the map - showing up later this year in The Boat That Rocked if it ever actually gets released, and working currently on The Clash of the Titans and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. I suppose she didn't want to have a lull in her work schedule, so she's already signed on to reprise her roll in the sequel St. Trinian's: The Legend of Fritton's Gold alongside David Tennant. And now, we have one more to add to that list. According to Production Weekly, Arterton is signing on to play the titular role for Tamara Drewe, an adaptation of the Posy Simmond's comic of the same name being directed by Stephen Frears. The comic, just in case you don't happen to live in the UK where they publish it

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Dr. Cole Abaius

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Frears Writes Down Arterton for 'Tamara Drewe'

17 July 2009 | From ioncinema | See recent ioncinema news

- Gemma Arterton is in talks for the title role in Tamara Drewe, an adaptation of Posy Simmonds' graphic novel about a journalist who ruffles feathers in a rural writers' retreat. After directing Cheri, Stephen Frears would return to a more contemporary format and I imagine he might have personally come across Drewe when it was being published as a comic strip for the Guardian before it eventually became a non-graphic novel. Actors Tamsin Greig and Roger Allam are also attached. This is about a newspaper columnist whose recent nose job transforms her into a seductive flirt, to the chagrin of the quiet village's womenfolk.I'm looking forward in seeing if some before pictures will be shown for an actress who doesn't have any blemishes.    Arterton has been racking up some serious movie roles since her very brief stint as a Quantum of Solace Bond girl appearance under the delicious name Strawberry Fields.

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tMF Talkback: Which of Rob Pattinson's upcoming movie will blow you away?

4 July 2009 3:18 AM, PDT | From The Movie Fanatic | See recent The Movie Fanatic news

When I heard the news that Robert Pattinson is going to star in Bel Ami, I was shocked! I thought he's doing porno! You see, 'Bel Ami' when you do a google search will not show you the book by Guy de Maupassant - a popular author in my High School - but a gay porno film production company located in the Czech Republic. Don't bother looking at their site, you need to register and become a member to see the nude pics! Let me leave it at that!

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Before I forget, this post is supposedly about Rob's new movies and which of them would really blow you away - in terms of acting, story, co-stars, box office results, critical acclaim, relevance and more. So let me list down the four you have to consider: a historical drama based on a book - Bel Ami,

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tMF Talkback: Which of Rob Pattinson's upcoming movie will blow you away?

4 July 2009 3:18 AM, PDT | From The Movie Fanatic | See recent The Movie Fanatic news

When I heard the news that Robert Pattinson is going to star in Bel Ami, I was shocked! I thought he's doing porno! You see, 'Bel Ami' when you do a google search will not show you the book by Guy de Maupassant - a popular author in my High School - but a gay porno film production company located in the Czech Republic. Don't bother looking at their site, you need to register and become a member to see the nude pics! Let me leave it at that!

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Before I forget, this post is supposedly about Rob's new movies and which of them would really blow you away - in terms of acting, story, co-stars, box office results, critical acclaim, relevance and more. So let me list down the four you have to consider: a historical drama based on a book - Bel Ami,

(more)

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tMF Talkback: Which of Rob Pattinson's upcoming movie will blow you away?

4 July 2009 3:18 AM, PDT | From The Movie Fanatic | See recent The Movie Fanatic news

When I heard the news that Robert Pattinson is going to star in Bel Ami, I was shocked! I thought he's doing porno! You see, 'Bel Ami' when you do a google search will not show you the book by Guy de Maupassant - a popular author in my High School - but a gay porno film production company located in the Czech Republic. Don't bother looking at their site, you need to register and become a member to see the nude pics! Let me leave it at that!

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- - -

Before I forget, this post is supposedly about Rob's new movies and which of them would really blow you away - in terms of acting, story, co-stars, box office results, critical acclaim, relevance and more. So let me list down the four you have to consider: a historical drama based on a book - Bel Ami,

(more)

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Indie Roundup: Bombs, Immigrants, 'Daily' Stops

2 July 2009 7:02 PM, PDT | From Cinematical.com | See recent Cinematical news

Indie Roundup reviews the past week of news from the independent film community and provides a peek at what's coming soon.

Opening. Two films opened yesterday which couldn't have less in common: Agnès Varda's essay film The Beaches of Agnès and Nia Vardalos' I Hate Valentine's Day. Tomorrow comes Anne Fontaine's comedy The Girl From Monaco.

Deals. Xavier Dolan's family drama I Killed My Mother, Kenneth Branagh's The Magic Flute, and Asghar Farhadi's drama About Elly have all been acquired by Here Films, the company formerly known as Regent Releasing. All three are headed for theaters next year. [indieWIRE]

Online Viewing. The 4th of July weekend inevitably brings thoughts of America as a land of immigrants, and that's the topic of Home, which debuts on Amazon VOD this week, featuring interviews with Mike Myers, Alfred Molina, and Liam Neeson. Also somewhat topical: if Michael Jackson

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Peter Martin

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Review: Chéri

2 July 2009 12:20 PM, PDT | From FilmSchoolRejects.com | See recent FilmSchoolRejects news

Like its courtesan protagonist, Chéri is a fancy, dolled up affair, a glamorous evocation of the waning days of the Belle Époque, the last period before the grim realities of the contentious 20th century set in for France and the rest of the world. From Stephen Frears and Christopher Hampton, and starring Michelle Pfeiffer, its narrative features games of the heart and bedroom, not unlike Dangerous Liaisons, their wildly successful first collaboration. Still, there’s no depth to these surface machinations, no sense that the central romance features fully formed individuals connecting on an elemental level. It’s breezy, lightweight stuff that never avoids being inextricably entwined to the meticulously constructed milieu. Pfeiffer plays Lea de Lonval, courtesan to the wealthy and friend to the gregarious society gossip Madame Peloux (Kathy Bates), who asks Lea to take her teenage son Chéri (Rupert Friend) under her wing. Their relationship quickly transforms into a strange, oedipal

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Robert Levin

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Cheri

30 June 2009 5:10 PM, PDT | From The Scorecard Review | See recent Scorecard Review news

Cheri

Directed by: Stephen Frears

Cast: Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Friend, Kathy Bates

Running Time: 1 hr 40 mins

Rating: R

Release Date: June 26, 2009

Plot: A high class prostitute (Pfeiffer) falls in love with Cheri (Friend), the son of her old rival, Madame Peloux (Bates).

Who’s It For? There’s little entertainment value in the film, but those who are really into costuming will get their kicks.

Expectations: From a quick glance, the trailer had me hoping this was going to have the same type of poisonous juiciness that made seemingly stiff period pieces like Dangerous Liaisons delectable. Plus, with the casting on Pfeiffer, one can only really expect cougar hunting.

Scorecard (0-10)

Actors:

Michelle Pfeiffer as as Lea de Lonval: It doesn’t take more than a monocle to see that the woman who once zipped up the tight rubber suit of Catwoman has now evolved into a full blown cougar.

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Nick Allen

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"Chéri" - New clip added from the Michelle Pfeiffer starrer.

30 June 2009 | From Movie Jungle | See recent Movie Jungle news

See a new clip courtesy of Apple from Miramax's "Chéri," starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathy Bates, Rupert Friend, Felicity Jones, Frances Tomelty, Harriet Walter and Anta Pallenberg. Stephen Frears directs from the writing by Christopher Hampton based on the novel by Colette. Bill Kenwright, Thom Mount and Andras Hamori produce the film. It is turn of the century in Belle Epoque Paris and a scandalous romp is underfoot. The sensational tale begins as the ravishing Lea (Michelle Pfeiffer) contemplates retirement from her renowned stature as Paris’s most envied seductress to the rich and famous...

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The Cheatin' Heart of Cheri

29 June 2009 2:53 PM, PDT | From Huffington Post | See recent Huffington Post news

Sex is in the air, what with Governor Sanford going Awol for a cruise with his Argentine hottie (joining the club of Republicans with conservative mouths and liberal dicks). Which brings me to Cheri, Stephen Frears's new film about courtesans of the Belle Epoque who parlayed sexual savoir faire into hefty fortunes. Adapted from Colette's eponymous novel, the film follows the affair of Lea de Lonval (Michelle Pfeiffer), a retired, luscious courtesan in her fifty's, and Cheri (Rupert Friend), the exquisite, wanton son of a rival demimondaine (Kathy Bates). At fifty-one Michelle Pfeiffer is roughly the same age as Lea. So we could be forgiven for hoping that here at last was an Anglo-Saxon breakthrough flick with a middle-aged woman as object of desire. But in fact, we've been cheated. Except for a final shot...

Erica Abeel

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10 Hottest “Cougars” in Movies

29 June 2009 1:35 PM, PDT | From Spout.com | See recent Spout news

Apparently three-time Oscar nominee Michelle Pfeiffer has been relegated to playing only “cougars.” The slang term has been used heavily to describe the actress’ latest character, a Parisian courtesan who has an affair with a pretty boy half her age (Rupert Friend). But just prior to appearing in Chéri, which reunites her with the Dangerous Liaisons writer-director team-up of Christopher Hampton and Stephen Frears, Pfeiffer starred in two direct-to-video releases in which she similarly ends up with a much younger guy. In Amy Heckerling’s I Could Never Be Your Woman she falls for Paul Rudd, while in Personal Effects she has an ...

Christopher Campbell

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'Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen' Tramples Box Office Competition

29 June 2009 7:43 AM, PDT | From MTV Movie News | See recent MTV Movie News news

Moviegoers also accepted 'Proposal' again, putting romantic comedy at #2.

By Elisabeth Rappe

Megan Fox in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"

Photo: Paramount

The Box-Office Top Five

#1 "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" ($112 million)

#2 "The Proposal" ($18.5 million)

#3 "The Hangover" ($17.2 million)

#4 "Up" ($13 million)

#5 "My Sister's Keeper" ($12 million)

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" exploded at the box office last week, defying negative reviews, shattering Paramount's expectations and leaving several records smoldering in its robotic wake. Michael Bay's highly anticipated sequel bowed on Wednesday, and with a $60.6 million take in its first day, it broke the Wednesday record previously held by "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" back in 2007.

"Transformers" went on to make another $112 million over the weekend, enjoying a five-day cumulative of $201.2 million, bringing it right behind "The Dark Knight" for the largest five-day gross in movie history. It's a very close call, as "The Dark Knight" stands at $203.8 million,

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Interview: 'Cheri' Director Stephen Frears

26 June 2009 7:02 PM, PDT | From Cinematical.com | See recent Cinematical news

Multiple Oscar nominee Stephen Frears is a tough nut to crack. Amiable but terse, his excellent multilayered films do the talking for him, from his first collaboration with Christopher Hampton and Michelle Pfeiffer on 1998's Dangerous Liaisons to 2007's The Queen. In his latest film, Cheri (read Cinematical's review here), Frears turns his lens onto the cloistered and often duplicitous world of wealthy courtesans. Frears' films often focus on subversive outsiders who must make their own "family," as it were, such as Dirty Pretty Things, The Grifters, and My Beautiful Laundrette. But Cheri's delicious spin on sex, love, and aging is typical of its source material from author Colette, whose books Cheri and The Last of Cheri present a world of upside-down relationships and self-sufficient, frankly sexual women.

Michelle Pfeiffer leads the cast as the stunning Lea de Lonval, a famous courtesan whose friend Madame Peloux, played with busty abandon by Kathy Bates,

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Jenni Miller

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Scenes We Love: Ladyhawke

26 June 2009 6:02 PM, PDT | From Cinematical.com | See recent Cinematical news

The Princess Bride definitely wasn't the first romance rife with corrupt authority, innocent love, dueling, and quirky friends of the cause. It wasn't even the first of that '80s generation. Two years before inconceivable stories of true love, there was Richard Donner's Ladyhawke.

As much as I love the story of Wesley and Buttercup, theirs wasn't an iconic love. Sure, it was described as such -- and Wesley may have fought off death in the name of it -- but it was a movie of sweetness, not passionate, gut-wrenching love. That was saved for Captain Etienne Navarre and Isabeau d'Anjou -- the wolf and the ladyhawke. No voiceover needed to explain their attraction. It was there, even as their human form was not, in every tortured look. Navarre and Isabeau are the first iconic cinematic couple that my mind can remember, and their fleeting moment between transformations is

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Monika Bartyzel

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Review: Cheri

26 June 2009 5:02 PM, PDT | From Cinematical.com | See recent Cinematical news

The French writer Colette, born Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1873 - 1954), lived one of those witty, charming lives you've read about, doing things like performing at the Moulin Rouge and having affairs with Josephine Baker, while marrying several rich husbands. She wrote, among many other things, what would become the famous musical Gigi, which Director Vincente Minnelli turned into a dull, immobile Oscar-winning hit in 1958. The English film director Stephen Frears would have been 13 when Colette died, though at that age, he had most likely never heard of her. But now, 55 years later, the two have teamed up for the new movie Cheri, based on Collete's 1920 novel about a passionate affair between an aging courtesan and a spoiled younger man.

Frears seems like the right man for the job. After all, his similarly sexy costume drama Dangerous Liaisons (1988) was another Oscar-winning hit. And in his Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005) he dealt with issues of

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Jeffrey M. Anderson

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Interview: Michelle Pfeiffer

26 June 2009 3:30 PM, PDT | From cinemablend.com | See recent Cinema Blend news

Michelle Pfeiffer isn't worried about her age. Not only is she happy to mention the funny irony of filming Cheri-- a movie about a woman coming to terms with aging-- on her 50th birthday, but she also admits roles as great as the one she plays here wouldn't have come to her when she was 20. As Lea, an aging French courtesan who strikes up an affair with her best friend's young son, Pfeiffer is sexy, melancholy and vibrant through the whole thing; it's hard to imagine anyone else in the role. That's probably what Stephen Frears figured too, when he teamed back up with Pfeiffer 20 years after they made Dangerous Liaisons. Read below for our roundtable interview with Pfeiffer, in which she opens up about the challenges of playing Lea, her looming empty nest syndrome, and her thoughts on plastic surgery. (Yes, a reporter from People was in the room,

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“Transformers” -- How Gigantic Will It Become?

26 June 2009 1:43 PM, PDT | From Studio Briefing - Film News | See recent Studio Briefing - Film News news

After its $60.6 million debut on Wednesday, Paramount's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen fell to $27 million on Thursday -- not nearly so impressive as the Wednesday result but impressive for a Thursday nonetheless. With $67.2 million already accumulated, box-office analysts are predicting that it could wind up with one of the heftiest five-day grosses ever. The movie is packing them overseas as well. Daily Variety reported on its website Thursday that the Michael Bay movie earned a whopping $59 million on Wednesday. "This is the best opening number I can ever remember," Andrew Cripps, Paramount's head of international distribution, told Variety. It's expected to dwarf the competition at the box office this weekend as it tries to unseat The Dark Knight, the current record holder with $203.8 million over five days. Its principal competition this weekend will come from two romantic comedies, the holdover The Proposal from Disney and the Warner Bros./New Line drama My Sister's Keeper, starring Abigail Breslin and Cameron Diaz. Also opening in limited release -- but in most of the major markets -- will be the Stephen Frears costume drama Cheri, starring Michelle Pfeiffer.

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HuffPost Review: Cheri

26 June 2009 10:05 AM, PDT | From Huffington Post | See recent Huffington Post news

It's such a pleasure to watch Michelle Pfeiffer hold the screen in a way she hasn't for far too long that one can almost forgive Cheri its flaws. Almost. Based on novels by Colette, Cheri reunites Pfeiffer with director Stephen Frears and writer Christopher Hampton, with whom she worked on Dangerous Liaisons two decades ago. The story is set 150 years later, but the subject is the same: love, lust and the manipulation of both in the name of personal power. Pfeiffer plays Lea de Lonval, a rich, aging Paris courtesan during La Belle Epoque. Enriched by past lovers, she agrees to take the son of a friend -- another wealthy courtesan (Kathy Bates) -- to the south of France to get him away from bad influences in Paris. The boy, known as Cheri (Rupert Friend), is only 19, though he's already developed...

Marshall Fine

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Dueling with Stephen Frears

26 June 2009 7:56 AM, PDT | From ifc.com | See recent IFC news

Stephen Frears burst on the scene in 1985 with his cheeky "My Beautiful Laundrette," igniting a winning streak that included "Prick Up Your Ears," "Dangerous Liaisons," "The Grifters" and "The Queen." Though famously hard to pigeonhole, the genre-spanning filmmaker gravitates toward folks struggling on the social margins or engaged in emotional gamesmanship. Frears is also, famously, a royal pain to interview. He almost defies you to extract responses from him, looking simultaneously gleeful and contrite, so you somehow empathize with him. In a sit-down for his new film "Cheri," he was reliably armored -- perhaps because his antennae are exquisitely attuned to pick up what he might call a "dodgy" reaction to his latest project.

More than two decades after "Liaisons," "Cheri" reunites Frears with ace screenwriter Christopher Hampton and Michelle Pfeiffer. Set in Belle Époque Paris, the saucy tragicomedy centers on the sumptuous world of courtesans -- demimondaines -- banned from polite society,

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Erica Abeel

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New To Theatres This Weekend: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, My Sister’s Keeper, The Hurt Locker

26 June 2009 6:04 AM, PDT | From FilmJunk | See recent FilmJunk news

There's a little movie opening this weekend that you might have heard of called Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and based on some of the early box office numbers, it seems poised to break a few records regardless of the poor critical reception [1]. Of course, if for some strange reason you're not into giant robots, there are a few other alternatives hitting theatres this weekend. The only other wide release is the new Nick Cassavetes film My Sister's Keeper starring Abigail Breslin and Cameron Diaz, but in select theatres we also have Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker and Jennifer Lynch's Surveillance, in addition to Stephen Frears's Cheri. Are you planning to see Transformers 2, or will you spend your money elsewhere this weekend? Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen [2] My Sister's Keeper [3] The Hurt Locker [4] (limited) Surveillance [5] (limited) Cheri [6] (limited) The Stoning of Soraya M. [7] (limited) New York

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Sean

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2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998

1-20 of 87 articles from 2009   « Prev | Next »

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