Few 20th century American writers had the wide-ranging influence of Tom Wolfe. Don’t believe that? Well, here comes a new doc about the writer and New Journalism pioneer that proves that point, and it hits NYC/LA theaters next month before opening wide later this year.
Read More: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2023
Richard Dewey‘s “Radical Wolfe” charts the life and career of Wolfe, including his most famous books like “The Right Stuff,” “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test,” and “The Bonfire Of The Vanities.” Dewey bases his doc on the Vanity Fair article by Michael Lewis.
Continue reading ‘Radical Wolfe’ Trailer: Documentary About Iconic Writer & Journalist Tom Wolfe Hits NYC On September 15, LA On September 22 at The Playlist.
Read More: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2023
Richard Dewey‘s “Radical Wolfe” charts the life and career of Wolfe, including his most famous books like “The Right Stuff,” “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test,” and “The Bonfire Of The Vanities.” Dewey bases his doc on the Vanity Fair article by Michael Lewis.
Continue reading ‘Radical Wolfe’ Trailer: Documentary About Iconic Writer & Journalist Tom Wolfe Hits NYC On September 15, LA On September 22 at The Playlist.
- 8/25/2023
- by Ned Booth
- The Playlist
For the better part of 50 years, Tom Wolfe occupied an outsized role in American life that no contemporary journalist could hope to match. From providing the spark that launched the New Journalism movement with his essays in the 1960s to captivating the nation with “The Right Stuff” in 1979, Wolfe approached nonfiction writing with a level of creativity that forever blurred the lines between reporting and literature.
Once he had nothing left to prove, he turned his attention to fiction and enjoyed even more success. His Wall Street satire “The Bonfire of the Vanities” is widely regarded as one of the decade-defining novels of the 1980s. The book continued to explore Wolfe’s lifelong fascination with the way the quest for status shapes human ecosystems across socioeconomic classes. While the novel is a distinct product of its time, it remains relevant for introducing phrases like “Masters of the Universe” that never left our collective vocabularies.
Once he had nothing left to prove, he turned his attention to fiction and enjoyed even more success. His Wall Street satire “The Bonfire of the Vanities” is widely regarded as one of the decade-defining novels of the 1980s. The book continued to explore Wolfe’s lifelong fascination with the way the quest for status shapes human ecosystems across socioeconomic classes. While the novel is a distinct product of its time, it remains relevant for introducing phrases like “Masters of the Universe” that never left our collective vocabularies.
- 8/24/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
The orchestra is tuning up.
Netflix has released five images from the set of “Maestro,” Bradley Cooper’s forthcoming biopic of the late composer/conductor/educator/raconteur Leonard Bernstein, out in 2023. And even though no one’s heard even one note, the “bravo!”s are in, at least as the makeup and costuming is concerned.
The first of the three images show Bernstein as a younger man, with Carey Mulligan as Felicia Montealgre, a stage and television actress who married Bernstein in 1951. The second picture is probably shot on location at the Koussevitzky Music Shed at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts. (The production did go up there for a time.)
The fourth and fifth pictures are the real stunners from a transformation perspective. Bernstein is shown “at work” (e.g. conducting and agonizing over his art) later in life. You’ll note there is a deep red jacket slung over a chair.
Netflix has released five images from the set of “Maestro,” Bradley Cooper’s forthcoming biopic of the late composer/conductor/educator/raconteur Leonard Bernstein, out in 2023. And even though no one’s heard even one note, the “bravo!”s are in, at least as the makeup and costuming is concerned.
The first of the three images show Bernstein as a younger man, with Carey Mulligan as Felicia Montealgre, a stage and television actress who married Bernstein in 1951. The second picture is probably shot on location at the Koussevitzky Music Shed at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts. (The production did go up there for a time.)
The fourth and fifth pictures are the real stunners from a transformation perspective. Bernstein is shown “at work” (e.g. conducting and agonizing over his art) later in life. You’ll note there is a deep red jacket slung over a chair.
- 5/31/2022
- by Jordan Hoffman
- Gold Derby
[Note: The following contains music-based spoilers for Season 1 of “High Fidelity.”]
It would have been very easy for the Hulu adaptation of “High Fidelity” to stick to a narrow set of musical ideas to help tell its story. But at the end of the show’s opening season, not only did series co-creators Veronica West and Sarah Kucserka look back on a show that had stretched its musical taste in a number of different directions, it had done so on a global scale.
“These people sit in a record store all day every day. They’re listening to everything. To make it feel like there’s one genre of music or, or one time period of music that is all that we’ve listened to, would feel inauthentic,” West told IndieWire. “It was very cool that at the end of the season, we had a song from every single continent.”
The search for far-reaching songs spanning time zones around the world — “except Antarctica,...
It would have been very easy for the Hulu adaptation of “High Fidelity” to stick to a narrow set of musical ideas to help tell its story. But at the end of the show’s opening season, not only did series co-creators Veronica West and Sarah Kucserka look back on a show that had stretched its musical taste in a number of different directions, it had done so on a global scale.
“These people sit in a record store all day every day. They’re listening to everything. To make it feel like there’s one genre of music or, or one time period of music that is all that we’ve listened to, would feel inauthentic,” West told IndieWire. “It was very cool that at the end of the season, we had a song from every single continent.”
The search for far-reaching songs spanning time zones around the world — “except Antarctica,...
- 2/18/2020
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
It’s been quite a week for the fourth estate, or the enemy of the people, depending on your viewpoint. Most notably, BuzzFeed has had a bipolar ride and NBC’s Savannah Guthrie took heat for being either too tough or too soft on the Kentucky high school student accused of harassing a Native American man. So consider it a momentary balm that three classic 20th century journalists — about whom few questioned their honesty and craft — are back in the news.
Speaking about Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamill in the HBO documentary “Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists,” new Oscar nominee Spike Lee says, “These guys were superstars.” Breslin and Hamill were as colorful as any characters they covered in their long New York City newspaper careers. They — and the film — were even mentioned in the New York Times obit for Russell Baker, another award-winning New York-based columnist, who passed away...
Speaking about Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamill in the HBO documentary “Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists,” new Oscar nominee Spike Lee says, “These guys were superstars.” Breslin and Hamill were as colorful as any characters they covered in their long New York City newspaper careers. They — and the film — were even mentioned in the New York Times obit for Russell Baker, another award-winning New York-based columnist, who passed away...
- 1/25/2019
- by Mary Murphy and Michele Willens
- The Wrap
Rob Leane Oct 19, 2017
We said hello to Jason Isaacs, before chatting about The Death Of Stalin and Star Trek: Discovery...
Jason Isaacs has been on our screens a lot of late. The former Lucius Malfoy actor is currently gracing online streaming services around the globe as Captain Lorca in Star Trek: Discovery, and his hilarious turn as General Zhukov in The Death Of Stalin will be lighting up a cinema near you very soon.
See related Gunpowder: air date announced for Kit Harington's new show Game Of Thrones: the things Jon Snow does know 26 new TV shows to watch in 2017
As part of his promotional tour for the aforementioned Russian romp – which has satirical mastermind Armando Iannucci (Alan Partridge, The Thick Of It, Veep) at its helm – Isaacs sat with us for twenty minutes in a swanky London hotel to have a ruddy good chat.
As I shuffled in and sat down,...
We said hello to Jason Isaacs, before chatting about The Death Of Stalin and Star Trek: Discovery...
Jason Isaacs has been on our screens a lot of late. The former Lucius Malfoy actor is currently gracing online streaming services around the globe as Captain Lorca in Star Trek: Discovery, and his hilarious turn as General Zhukov in The Death Of Stalin will be lighting up a cinema near you very soon.
See related Gunpowder: air date announced for Kit Harington's new show Game Of Thrones: the things Jon Snow does know 26 new TV shows to watch in 2017
As part of his promotional tour for the aforementioned Russian romp – which has satirical mastermind Armando Iannucci (Alan Partridge, The Thick Of It, Veep) at its helm – Isaacs sat with us for twenty minutes in a swanky London hotel to have a ruddy good chat.
As I shuffled in and sat down,...
- 10/18/2017
- Den of Geek
United Talent Agency has acquired Don Epstein’s 35-year-old speakers bureau Greater Talent Network, the companies announced Tuesday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Epstein, who launched Gtn in the basement of a New York brownstone in 1982 by signing initial clients P.J. O’Rourke and Tom Wolfe, will become a partner in UTA as part of the deal. Gtn boasts some of the top lecture agents and professional event coordinators representing talent from the worlds of business, entertainment, sports, media, technology, news and politics. Gtn will continue to operate out of its New York City and Florida offices.
- 9/12/2017
- by Thom Geier
- The Wrap
UTA has just acquired New York-based Greater Talent Network, one of the world's most influential speakers bureaus which was founded in 1982 by CEO Don Epstein, now a UTA partner. Gtn started at that time with political satirist Pj O’Rourke and author Tom Wolfe and then added Hunter S. Thompson, Abbie Hoffman and Timothy Leary. It is now one of the foremost market leaders in live speaking engagements. Over 35 years, Gtn has built a client roster the New York Times has…...
- 9/12/2017
- Deadline
The use of The Clash’s 1982 hit single, “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” in “Stranger Things” is a great example of why there’s a new Emmy category this season honoring the creativity of the music supervisor. The Duffer Brothers inserted the song into their ’80s sci-fi script to emotionally connect the Indiana family that’s separated by the Upside Down dimension. However, if Emmy-nominated music supervisor Nora Felder hadn’t convinced The Clash of its importance, the Duffers would’ve had to find a replacement.
Fortunately, the “Stranger Things” showrunners (Matt and Ross Duffer) were never aware there was even a problem obtaining the licensing rights. “It was my job to protect them,” said Felder Thursday night during a Q&A panel discussion. “They were worried about trivializing the song and needed to see how it was going to be used in scenes, and for the first...
Fortunately, the “Stranger Things” showrunners (Matt and Ross Duffer) were never aware there was even a problem obtaining the licensing rights. “It was my job to protect them,” said Felder Thursday night during a Q&A panel discussion. “They were worried about trivializing the song and needed to see how it was going to be used in scenes, and for the first...
- 8/18/2017
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment proudly presents the return of America’s favorite animated family on DVD when The Simpsons”– Season 18 arrives on December 5. Featuring Springfield’s lovable legitimate businessman, this long-awaited season features commentary on each of the 22 episodes and never-before-seen deleted scenes along with the bonus episode “22 For 30” from Season 28 that includes a memorable scene with Fat Tony.
The Simpsons”– Season 18 was a historic one; the last before The Simpsons Movie, the season-finale 400th episode, “You Kent Always Get What You Want”, “24 Minutes” with guest star Kiefer Sutherland, Treehouse of Horror Xvii with the sepia-tone classic “The Day the Earth Looked Stupid” and much much more. Guest stars include Michael Imperioli, The White Stripes, Tom Wolfe and Natalie Portman and classic episodes include the Emmy-nominated “The Haw-Hawed Couple” and WGA winner “Kill Gil, Volumes I & II.”
Bonus Features
4-Disc Set Contains The Complete Eighteenth Season With All 22 Episodes Welcome Back,...
The Simpsons”– Season 18 was a historic one; the last before The Simpsons Movie, the season-finale 400th episode, “You Kent Always Get What You Want”, “24 Minutes” with guest star Kiefer Sutherland, Treehouse of Horror Xvii with the sepia-tone classic “The Day the Earth Looked Stupid” and much much more. Guest stars include Michael Imperioli, The White Stripes, Tom Wolfe and Natalie Portman and classic episodes include the Emmy-nominated “The Haw-Hawed Couple” and WGA winner “Kill Gil, Volumes I & II.”
Bonus Features
4-Disc Set Contains The Complete Eighteenth Season With All 22 Episodes Welcome Back,...
- 7/25/2017
- by ComicMix Staff
- Comicmix.com
The new Music Supervisor category this Emmy season finally honors the supervisor’s creative contribution to narrative storytelling and music aesthetic: Licensing songs that are appropriately iconic and emotionally resonant, while touting some of the hottest new talent.
Here are the nominees: Thomas Golubic (“Better Call Saul” — “Sunk Costs”), Susan Jacobs (“Big Little Lies” — “You Get What You Need”), Manish Raval, Jonathan Leahy, Tom Wolfe (“Girls”— “Goodbye Tour”), Zach Cowie, Kerri Drootin (“Master of None” — “Amarsi Un Po”), and Nora Felder (“Stranger Things” — “Chapter Two: The Weirdo on Maple Street”).
The results included three female supervisors (Jacobs, Drootin, and Felder) and demonstrated the brand power of HBO (“Big Little Lies,” “Girls”) and Netflix (“Master of None,” “Stranger Things”). But in the end, it came down to a battle of dueling playlists.
“Better Call Saul” — “Sunk Costs”
In the third season of the “Breaking Bad” prequel, Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) gets...
Here are the nominees: Thomas Golubic (“Better Call Saul” — “Sunk Costs”), Susan Jacobs (“Big Little Lies” — “You Get What You Need”), Manish Raval, Jonathan Leahy, Tom Wolfe (“Girls”— “Goodbye Tour”), Zach Cowie, Kerri Drootin (“Master of None” — “Amarsi Un Po”), and Nora Felder (“Stranger Things” — “Chapter Two: The Weirdo on Maple Street”).
The results included three female supervisors (Jacobs, Drootin, and Felder) and demonstrated the brand power of HBO (“Big Little Lies,” “Girls”) and Netflix (“Master of None,” “Stranger Things”). But in the end, it came down to a battle of dueling playlists.
“Better Call Saul” — “Sunk Costs”
In the third season of the “Breaking Bad” prequel, Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) gets...
- 7/21/2017
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
The United States is “my country, right or wrong,” of course, and I consider myself a patriotic person, but I’ve never felt that patriotism meant blind fealty to the idea of America’s rightful dominance over global politics or culture, and certainly not to its alleged preferred status on God’s short list of favored nations, or that allegiance to said country was a license to justify or rationalize every instance of misguided, foolish, narrow-minded domestic or foreign policy.
In 2012, when this piece was first posted, it seemed like a good moment to throw the country’s history and contradictions into some sort of quick relief, and the most expedient way of doing that for me was to look at the way the United States (and the philosophies at its core) were reflected in the movies, and not just the ones which approached the country head-on as a subject.
In 2012, when this piece was first posted, it seemed like a good moment to throw the country’s history and contradictions into some sort of quick relief, and the most expedient way of doing that for me was to look at the way the United States (and the philosophies at its core) were reflected in the movies, and not just the ones which approached the country head-on as a subject.
- 7/2/2017
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
The New York Observer has laid off longtime film critic Rex Reed, in addition to several other members of its entertainment staff, in the latest cutbacks to the newspaper since owner Jared Kushner divested from the paper after the 2016 presidential election.
Reed was notified of the decision last week, he said, concluding a career at the paper that lasted more than 25 years. His last reviews, for “Alien: Covenant” and “Wakefield,” ran May 19. Reed’s editor at the Observer did not return a request for comment.
“The shocking truth is that the Observer has been going down the drain financially for quite some time,” Reed said via email, adding that he felt the future of the paper was thrown into doubt after investment banker Arthur Carter sold it to 25-year-old Kushner in 2006. The young mogul left the paper after his father-in-law, Donald J. Trump, was elected President of the United States last fall.
Reed was notified of the decision last week, he said, concluding a career at the paper that lasted more than 25 years. His last reviews, for “Alien: Covenant” and “Wakefield,” ran May 19. Reed’s editor at the Observer did not return a request for comment.
“The shocking truth is that the Observer has been going down the drain financially for quite some time,” Reed said via email, adding that he felt the future of the paper was thrown into doubt after investment banker Arthur Carter sold it to 25-year-old Kushner in 2006. The young mogul left the paper after his father-in-law, Donald J. Trump, was elected President of the United States last fall.
- 5/31/2017
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Last year marked the 15th anniversary of Donnie Darko, and Arrow Films is making sure that the film celebrates in style. They've teamed up with director Richard Kelly for a 4K restoration of the beloved cult movie, and following its UK theatrical release that began late last year, the 4K presentation is now coming to big screens in the Us (and on a new Blu-ray release this April). Recently, I had the great pleasure of speaking with Kelly to reflect on the making of Donnie Darko, restoring it in 4K, potentially returning to the world of Southland Tales, and the intriguing multiverse connection between his movies.
Thanks for taking the time to talk with me today, Richard. How did the restoration and the theatrical re-release of Donnie Darko come about? Did Arrow Films approach you, and was this something that you had been wanting to do anyway?
Richard Kelly: Yes,...
Thanks for taking the time to talk with me today, Richard. How did the restoration and the theatrical re-release of Donnie Darko come about? Did Arrow Films approach you, and was this something that you had been wanting to do anyway?
Richard Kelly: Yes,...
- 3/30/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Gay Talese on James Baldwin: "Baldwin had his words and his voice in the forefront of the change in American politics."
In the 1960s, Gay Talese developed a friendship with James Baldwin when they were regular contributors to Esquire magazine along with Norman Mailer, Tom Wolfe, Gore Vidal, William F Buckley Jr, and others and he stayed in touch with Baldwin until his death in 1987. In Raoul Peck's I Am Not Your Negro, James Baldwin's writing is voiced by Samuel L Jackson over clips from movies that include an Indian-shooting John Wayne in John Ford's Stagecoach, Harry Beaumont's Dance, Fools, Dance with a tap dancing Joan Crawford, Sydney Poitier and Rod Steiger's goodbye in Norman Jewison's In The Heat Of The Night, and Richard Widmark's breakdown in Joseph L Mankiewicz's No Way Out.
Anne-Katrin Titze captures High Notes author Gay Talese Photo:...
In the 1960s, Gay Talese developed a friendship with James Baldwin when they were regular contributors to Esquire magazine along with Norman Mailer, Tom Wolfe, Gore Vidal, William F Buckley Jr, and others and he stayed in touch with Baldwin until his death in 1987. In Raoul Peck's I Am Not Your Negro, James Baldwin's writing is voiced by Samuel L Jackson over clips from movies that include an Indian-shooting John Wayne in John Ford's Stagecoach, Harry Beaumont's Dance, Fools, Dance with a tap dancing Joan Crawford, Sydney Poitier and Rod Steiger's goodbye in Norman Jewison's In The Heat Of The Night, and Richard Widmark's breakdown in Joseph L Mankiewicz's No Way Out.
Anne-Katrin Titze captures High Notes author Gay Talese Photo:...
- 2/22/2017
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
In the 1960s, Gay Talese developed a friendship with James Baldwin when they were regular contributors to Esquire magazine along with Norman Mailer, Tom Wolfe, Gore Vidal, William F Buckley Jr, and others and he stayed in touch with Baldwin until his death in 1987. In Raoul Peck's I Am Not Your Negro, James Baldwin's writing is voiced by Samuel L Jackson over clips from movies that include an Indian-shooting John Wayne in John Ford's Stagecoach, Harry Beaumont's Dance, Fools, Dance with a tap dancing Joan Crawford, Sydney Poitier and Rod Steiger's goodbye in Norman Jewison's In The Heat Of The Night, and Richard Widmark's breakdown in Joseph L Mankiewicz's No Way Out.
Gay Talese notes that one of the New Yorker's great achievements was when editor William Shawn published James Baldwin's Letter From A Region In My Mind. Truman Capote's In Cold.
Gay Talese notes that one of the New Yorker's great achievements was when editor William Shawn published James Baldwin's Letter From A Region In My Mind. Truman Capote's In Cold.
- 2/22/2017
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The seventh annual Guild of Music Supervisors Awards will take place Feb. 16 at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles.
The awards recognize outstanding music supervisors in 14 categories, representing movies, television, games and trailers. Among the supervisors receiving multiple nominations are Steven Gizicki, Julia Michels, Julianne Jordan, Joel C. High, Dave Jordan, Lindsey Wolfington, JoJo Villanueva, Becky Bentham, Heather Guibert, Pj Bloom and Manish Raval, Tom Wolfe and Jonathan Leahy.
Gary LeMel, the former president of music at Warner Bros. film studio, will receive the second Music Supervisors Legacy Award. During his 23 years at WB, LeMel...
The awards recognize outstanding music supervisors in 14 categories, representing movies, television, games and trailers. Among the supervisors receiving multiple nominations are Steven Gizicki, Julia Michels, Julianne Jordan, Joel C. High, Dave Jordan, Lindsey Wolfington, JoJo Villanueva, Becky Bentham, Heather Guibert, Pj Bloom and Manish Raval, Tom Wolfe and Jonathan Leahy.
Gary LeMel, the former president of music at Warner Bros. film studio, will receive the second Music Supervisors Legacy Award. During his 23 years at WB, LeMel...
- 2/1/2017
- by Melinda Newman, Billboard
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Bonfire Of The Vanities is a novel by Tom Wolfe that seems rife for an adaptation, especially now. It is a story that deals with racism, classism, and even with the expectations of trying to uphold the ideals of journalism in a world that demands sensationalism (being set in the '80s the novel deals more with tabloid magazines, but that still applies to 24-hour news channels today.) Just...a whole... Read More...
- 10/14/2016
- by Damion Damaske
- JoBlo.com
Chuck Lorre is developing a limited series adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s “Bonfire of the Vanities” at Amazon, TheWrap has learned. The series is described as a drama about ambition, racism, social class, politics and greed in 1980s New York City. In the novel, there were three main characters: bond trader Sherman McCoy, assistant district attorney Larry Kramer and journalist Peter Fallow. The Tom Wolfe novel, “Bonfire of the Vanities,” was previously adapted into a feature film (pictured above) in 1990 starring Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith and Bruce Willis. Also Read: Chuck Lorre Pot Comedy 'Disjointed' Gets Series Order at Netflix Margaret Nagle,...
- 10/14/2016
- by Linda Ge
- The Wrap
Chuck Lorre is going for a dramatic change of pace with his next small-screen project.
RelatedNetflix Orders Kathy Bates Pot Comedy Disjointed, From Chuck Lorre
The über producer (The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men) is developing an eight-episode drama series for Amazon, based on the 1987 Tom Wolfe novel The Bonfire of the Vanities, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
A snapshot of New York City in the 1980s, Wolfe’s novel spins a tale of racism, politics and self-interest, as told from the perspective of three very different characters: a Jewish assistant district attorney, a British reporter and a Wasp-y bond trader.
RelatedNetflix Orders Kathy Bates Pot Comedy Disjointed, From Chuck Lorre
The über producer (The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men) is developing an eight-episode drama series for Amazon, based on the 1987 Tom Wolfe novel The Bonfire of the Vanities, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
A snapshot of New York City in the 1980s, Wolfe’s novel spins a tale of racism, politics and self-interest, as told from the perspective of three very different characters: a Jewish assistant district attorney, a British reporter and a Wasp-y bond trader.
- 10/14/2016
- TVLine.com
A Scott Berg, Michael Grandage, Nicole Kidman, Laura Linney, John Logan and Jude Law Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions hosted a Museum of Modern Art premiere for Michael Grandage's Genius with Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Laura Linney, written by John Logan (Martin Scorsese's The Aviator, Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday, Sam Mendes' Spectre and Skyfall), based on Max Perkins: Editor of Genius, by A Scott Berg. Dominic West as Ernest Hemingway, Guy Pearce as F Scott Fitzgerald and Vanessa Kirby as Zelda Fitzgerald round out their literary world.
John Logan on Scott Berg's Katharine Hepburn for Cate Blanchett: 'He absolutely offered some insight' Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze Angela Ashton, Joel Grey, Martha Plimpton, Oren Moverman, Kathleen Turner, Keith Urban, Spotlight screenwriter Josh Singer, Tom Wolfe, Zach Grenier, Elena Kampouris, Lilly Englert, Elena Rusconi, Laura Michelle Kelly, Tommy Tonge, Nan and Gay Talese,...
John Logan on Scott Berg's Katharine Hepburn for Cate Blanchett: 'He absolutely offered some insight' Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze Angela Ashton, Joel Grey, Martha Plimpton, Oren Moverman, Kathleen Turner, Keith Urban, Spotlight screenwriter Josh Singer, Tom Wolfe, Zach Grenier, Elena Kampouris, Lilly Englert, Elena Rusconi, Laura Michelle Kelly, Tommy Tonge, Nan and Gay Talese,...
- 6/7/2016
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Robert Mapplethorpe transformed the rhetoric of porn into stunning imagery and this flawed documentary does his work justice
Robert Mapplethorpe is the subject of this interesting if flawed documentary study by Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey; he was the brilliant photographer and artist whose genius was to absorb and transform the visual rhetoric of porn into stunning, provocative images. His Warholian career ran in parallel with the heyday of New York’s promiscuous gay scene, and his final Aids-related illness lent a crepuscular grandeur to the success of his last exhibitions. Maybe only Dominick Dunne or Tom Wolfe could do justice to it. Interestingly, controversy surrounding Mapplethorpe’s work took off only once his status as an artist had been fully established – the reactionary campaigns against his photography happened after his death in 1989.
Continue reading...
Robert Mapplethorpe is the subject of this interesting if flawed documentary study by Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey; he was the brilliant photographer and artist whose genius was to absorb and transform the visual rhetoric of porn into stunning, provocative images. His Warholian career ran in parallel with the heyday of New York’s promiscuous gay scene, and his final Aids-related illness lent a crepuscular grandeur to the success of his last exhibitions. Maybe only Dominick Dunne or Tom Wolfe could do justice to it. Interestingly, controversy surrounding Mapplethorpe’s work took off only once his status as an artist had been fully established – the reactionary campaigns against his photography happened after his death in 1989.
Continue reading...
- 4/21/2016
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
As the release of his latest grungy throwback thriller 31 (read our review Here) has been temporarily bogged down by distributor woes, director and musician Rob Zombie isn’t exactly sitting idle. his latest album, with twelve tracks of raunchy rock and a psychedelic mouthful of a title that would make writer Tom Wolfe proud, is primed…
The post Rob Zombie Announces Summer Tour in Support of New Album appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
The post Rob Zombie Announces Summer Tour in Support of New Album appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
- 3/8/2016
- by Chris Alexander
- shocktillyoudrop.com
There is a point late on in "Genius," the directorial debut of London theater director Michael Grandage, when literary cause celebre Thomas Wolfe (Jude Law) talks to a friend about his doubts regarding his legacy. He has written two extraordinarily well-received bestsellers, the success of which has fattened his ego to the roughly the size of one of his doorstop books —but, he confides, he wonders if posterity will remember him. It feels heavily ironic (and most of the irony in "Genius" is fairly heavy) that the friend he's talking to is F. Scott Fitzgerald (Guy Pearce), a writer whose own legacy has endured in far more spectacular fashion than Wolfe's. There's a reason one feels the urge to constantly qualify his name with "not the Tom Wolfe who wrote 'Bonfire of the Vanities.'" But that relative obscurity (and it is highly relative, as Wolfe's work has lived on in literary influence,...
- 2/16/2016
- by Jessica Kiang
- The Playlist
The journalist’s book The Big Short tracked down the players who made millions from the 2008 crash. Now, as it is turned into a film, he talks about the danger of making heroes out of rogues
Late last year, the American journalist Michael Lewis wrote a long story for Vanity Fair about his first and abiding literary hero, Tom Wolfe. In the story Lewis recalled how his admiration began when he pulled down a copy of Wolfe’s book Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers from his father’s bookshelves at home in New Orleans in 1972. Lewis was 12 years old, and of the words in that book’s title, he understood only “the”. When he opened the book and started reading, however, he was entranced by Wolfe’s scathing and hilarious observation of New York’s leftwing elites. Lewis was an avid reader but this was the first time he...
Late last year, the American journalist Michael Lewis wrote a long story for Vanity Fair about his first and abiding literary hero, Tom Wolfe. In the story Lewis recalled how his admiration began when he pulled down a copy of Wolfe’s book Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers from his father’s bookshelves at home in New Orleans in 1972. Lewis was 12 years old, and of the words in that book’s title, he understood only “the”. When he opened the book and started reading, however, he was entranced by Wolfe’s scathing and hilarious observation of New York’s leftwing elites. Lewis was an avid reader but this was the first time he...
- 1/17/2016
- by Tim Adams
- The Guardian - Film News
The United States is “my country, right or wrong,” of course, and I consider myself a patriotic person, but I’ve never felt that patriotism meant blind fealty to the idea of America’s rightful dominance over global politics or culture, and certainly not to its alleged preferred status on God’s short list of favored nations, or that allegiance to said country was a license to justify or rationalize every instance of misguided, foolish, narrow-minded domestic or foreign policy.
And now more than ever we seem to be living in a country poised at the edge of some sort of transition, with all the attendant tension and conflict and intense conviction that can be expected on either side of the chasm that prevents us from a true state of national togetherness. Just last week we celebrated a Supreme Court decision that finally offered legality (and legal protection) to the...
And now more than ever we seem to be living in a country poised at the edge of some sort of transition, with all the attendant tension and conflict and intense conviction that can be expected on either side of the chasm that prevents us from a true state of national togetherness. Just last week we celebrated a Supreme Court decision that finally offered legality (and legal protection) to the...
- 7/2/2015
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
In the second trailer for 50 Shades of Grey, we get a much clearer overview of the plot trajectory: successful corporate boy meets shy journalist girl for interview, later runs into her and asks her “Are you free?” Meaning, presumably, both schedule-wise and also with reference to her soul/libido. Then out come the S&M tools. The big change from the first trailer is that the emphasis is equally split between the softcore elements and what Tom Wolfe once deemed the “plutographic,” i.e. the graphic depiction of the acts and vices of the rich. Look for lots of private jet plane rides and […]...
- 11/14/2014
- by Vadim Rizov
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
In the second trailer for 50 Shades of Grey, we get a much clearer overview of the plot trajectory: successful corporate boy meets shy journalist girl for interview, later runs into her and asks her “Are you free?” Meaning, presumably, both schedule-wise and also with reference to her soul/libido. Then out come the S&M tools. The big change from the first trailer is that the emphasis is equally split between the softcore elements and what Tom Wolfe once deemed the “plutographic,” i.e. the graphic depiction of the acts and vices of the rich. Look for lots of private jet plane rides and […]...
- 11/14/2014
- by Vadim Rizov
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Paul Shaffer and Ralph Steadman with Hal Willner: "Worlds meeting" Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
On Tuesday, April 22, Sony Pictures Classics and Jann Wenner hosted a New York special screening of Charlie Paul's For No Good Reason featuring Johnny Depp, Ralph Steadman, Terry Gilliam, Richard E. Grant and Hunter S. Thompson. It was followed by a cocktail reception and preview of Steadman's exhibition at Red Bull Studio.
Among those attending were Ralph Steadman, Sony Pictures Classics' co-presidents Tom Bernard and Michael Barker, Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, director Charlie Paul, Lucy Paul - producer of For No Good Reason, Tom Wolfe, Griffin Dunne, producer Hal Willner, Paul Shaffer, Tony Shafrazi, Jeremy Kost, designer Danielle Snyder and photographer Bob Gruen.
For No Good Reason premiere Charlie Paul, Tom Bernard, Ralph Steadman, Michael Barker and Lucy Paul in New York Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
The last time I ran into music director...
On Tuesday, April 22, Sony Pictures Classics and Jann Wenner hosted a New York special screening of Charlie Paul's For No Good Reason featuring Johnny Depp, Ralph Steadman, Terry Gilliam, Richard E. Grant and Hunter S. Thompson. It was followed by a cocktail reception and preview of Steadman's exhibition at Red Bull Studio.
Among those attending were Ralph Steadman, Sony Pictures Classics' co-presidents Tom Bernard and Michael Barker, Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, director Charlie Paul, Lucy Paul - producer of For No Good Reason, Tom Wolfe, Griffin Dunne, producer Hal Willner, Paul Shaffer, Tony Shafrazi, Jeremy Kost, designer Danielle Snyder and photographer Bob Gruen.
For No Good Reason premiere Charlie Paul, Tom Bernard, Ralph Steadman, Michael Barker and Lucy Paul in New York Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
The last time I ran into music director...
- 4/24/2014
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
It's not subtle, but Martin Scorsese's depiction of the debauched rise and fall of a wayward Wall Street broker is an exhilarating riot of bad taste
If you can imagine the honey-gravel of Ray Liotta's voice in Goodfellas saying: "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a stockbroker" you'll get some idea of Martin Scorsese's new movie The Wolf of Wall Street. It's a raucous, crazily energised, if occasionally slightly shallow epic on a familiar subject, conducted in the classic voiceover-nostalgia style with sugar-rush jukebox slams on the soundtrack. I've watched it twice in quick succession now, and though it skirts the edge of cliche, the sheer sustained blitz of bad taste is spectacular. This movie sprints frantically, in the direction of nowhere in particular, like our appalling hero after his first ecstatic toke of crack cocaine. It is based on the...
If you can imagine the honey-gravel of Ray Liotta's voice in Goodfellas saying: "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a stockbroker" you'll get some idea of Martin Scorsese's new movie The Wolf of Wall Street. It's a raucous, crazily energised, if occasionally slightly shallow epic on a familiar subject, conducted in the classic voiceover-nostalgia style with sugar-rush jukebox slams on the soundtrack. I've watched it twice in quick succession now, and though it skirts the edge of cliche, the sheer sustained blitz of bad taste is spectacular. This movie sprints frantically, in the direction of nowhere in particular, like our appalling hero after his first ecstatic toke of crack cocaine. It is based on the...
- 1/16/2014
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
A few years ago, I was talking with an older filmmaker who referred casually to the photographers whose work he most admired. “Adams, Evans, Cosindas,” he said, ticking them off. Adams was Ansel Adams, of course; Evans was Walker Evans. But Cosindas? Hmm. Back in 1978, a now-long-out-of-print collection called Marie Cosindas: Color Photographs was published with an introductory essay by Tom Wolfe, who wrote at great length about the quiet and painstaking and untrendy ways in which Cosindas worked. He ranked her with Klimt and Caravaggio. “A glow and a creamy richness quite unlike anything that had been seen in color photography” was his description. Another hmm. The pictures in the book were portraits and composed still lifes, and they looked like nothing else in the world. Their color was astonishingly saturated, tawny, even a little cooked. The compositions were packed with visual activity, piled-up fruits and flowers and...
- 1/13/2014
- by Christopher Bonanos
- Vulture
In the wake of the Kennedy assassination Hollywood suffered a crisis of identity. But, as the stars retired and television boomed, Stanley Donen's Charade provided one last gleam of a golden age
In early December 1963, only a couple of weeks after the Kennedy assassination, Stanley Donen's Charade opened at Radio City, Manhattan. According to Tom Wolfe, at 6am on a freezing December morning the crowds were already lining up down 50th Street and 6th Avenue to make sure they secured a seat. During "the dark days" after JFK's death, Charade offered Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn (the two most attractive people ever to appear on screen?) a Henry Mancini score, Givenchy dresses, suspense, glamour and Paris. In the midst of the dislocation and strangeness produced by JFK's assassination, it must have seemed one of the few signs that life was proceeding as normal; the world may have become strange,...
In early December 1963, only a couple of weeks after the Kennedy assassination, Stanley Donen's Charade opened at Radio City, Manhattan. According to Tom Wolfe, at 6am on a freezing December morning the crowds were already lining up down 50th Street and 6th Avenue to make sure they secured a seat. During "the dark days" after JFK's death, Charade offered Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn (the two most attractive people ever to appear on screen?) a Henry Mancini score, Givenchy dresses, suspense, glamour and Paris. In the midst of the dislocation and strangeness produced by JFK's assassination, it must have seemed one of the few signs that life was proceeding as normal; the world may have become strange,...
- 12/14/2013
- by Michael Newton
- The Guardian - Film News
We can’t really recommend seeing the new Carrie movie. EW’s Owen Gleiberman gave the film a B-. Your time would be better spent watching the original Carrie, or maybe looking up that kid who bullied you in high school’s Facebook page and playing a round of Poor Life Choices Schadenfreude.
But there was one scene in neo-Carrie that took me completely by surprise. The Evil Popular Girl played by Portia Doubleday has a meeting with the high school principal and Judy Greer’s gym teacher. Evil Popular Girl’s dad is there, too. He looks kind of familiar.
But there was one scene in neo-Carrie that took me completely by surprise. The Evil Popular Girl played by Portia Doubleday has a meeting with the high school principal and Judy Greer’s gym teacher. Evil Popular Girl’s dad is there, too. He looks kind of familiar.
- 10/19/2013
- by Darren Franich
- EW.com - PopWatch
We can’t really recommend seeing the new Carrie movie. EW’s Owen Gleiberman gave the film a B-. Your time would be better spent watching the original Carrie, or maybe looking up that kid who bullied you in high school’s Facebook page and playing a round of Poor Life Choices Schadenfreude.
But there was one scene in neo-Carrie that took me completely by surprise. The Evil Popular Girl played by Portia Doubleday has a meeting with the high school principal and Judy Greer’s gym teacher. Evil Popular Girl’s dad is there, too. He looks kind of familiar.
But there was one scene in neo-Carrie that took me completely by surprise. The Evil Popular Girl played by Portia Doubleday has a meeting with the high school principal and Judy Greer’s gym teacher. Evil Popular Girl’s dad is there, too. He looks kind of familiar.
- 10/19/2013
- by Darren Franich
- EW.com - PopWatch
Back in December of 2011 it was announced that Noble Jones, a music video and commercial director, would be writing and directing a modern remake of "American Psycho," based on the Bret Easton Ellis novel that was adapted once before by director Mary Harron (with a wonderful Christian Bale in the iconic lead role of '80s psychopath Patrick Bateman). Well, those plans have seemingly faltered (despite an endorsement by Ellis himself) but Bateman will be back, only this time on television. FX is developing an "American Psycho" sequel series for prime time. Oh don't worry, it gets even weirder. The new series isn't set in the '80s like the original (the novel, published in 1991, was one of the seminal accounts of the decade, second only to probably Tom Wolfe's "Bonfire of the Vanities"), but instead takes place in present day. Instead of just shifting the actions of the...
- 9/10/2013
- by Drew Taylor
- The Playlist
The Scorecard Review news
News: I never saw The Right Stuff. I know, it’s one of those films I kept meaning to see, but never had the energy, mainly because of that running time (3 hrs 13 mins). Well, now that’s all going to change. It’s like I was waiting for the 30th anniversary, I just didn’t know it yet. Here are all of the details on the special edition Blu-ray.
_____
Portion of the news release:
Burbank, Calif., July 18, 2013 — The Right Stuff — director Philip Kaufman’s (Unbearable Lightness of Being) inspiring, epic motion picture about the birth of the U.S. space program that won four Academy Awards for Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Sound and Best Sound Effects Editing (1983) marks its 30th anniversary with a Blu-ray debut November 5. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (Wbhe) will release the iconic film in a premium 40 page Blu-ray book ($27.98 Srp), which includes rare photos,...
News: I never saw The Right Stuff. I know, it’s one of those films I kept meaning to see, but never had the energy, mainly because of that running time (3 hrs 13 mins). Well, now that’s all going to change. It’s like I was waiting for the 30th anniversary, I just didn’t know it yet. Here are all of the details on the special edition Blu-ray.
_____
Portion of the news release:
Burbank, Calif., July 18, 2013 — The Right Stuff — director Philip Kaufman’s (Unbearable Lightness of Being) inspiring, epic motion picture about the birth of the U.S. space program that won four Academy Awards for Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Sound and Best Sound Effects Editing (1983) marks its 30th anniversary with a Blu-ray debut November 5. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (Wbhe) will release the iconic film in a premium 40 page Blu-ray book ($27.98 Srp), which includes rare photos,...
- 7/18/2013
- by Jeff Bayer
- The Scorecard Review
The first Chicago bar I drank in was the Old Town Ale House. That bar was destroyed by fire in the 1960s, the customers hosed off, and the Ale House moved directly across the street to its present location, where it has been named Chicago's Best Dive Bar by the Chicago Tribune.
I was taken to the Ale House by Tom Devries, my fellow college editor from the Roosevelt Torch. It was early on a snowy Sunday afternoon. I remember us walking down to Barbara's Bookstore to get our copies of the legendary New York Herald-Tribune Sunday edition. Pogo. Judith Crist. Tom Wolfe. Jimmy Breslin. I remember peanut shells on the floor and a projector grinding through 16mm prints of Charlie Chaplin shorts. I remember my first taste of dark Löwenbräu beer. The Ale House was cool even then.
I returned to the North Avenue drinking scene on New Year's Eve...
I was taken to the Ale House by Tom Devries, my fellow college editor from the Roosevelt Torch. It was early on a snowy Sunday afternoon. I remember us walking down to Barbara's Bookstore to get our copies of the legendary New York Herald-Tribune Sunday edition. Pogo. Judith Crist. Tom Wolfe. Jimmy Breslin. I remember peanut shells on the floor and a projector grinding through 16mm prints of Charlie Chaplin shorts. I remember my first taste of dark Löwenbräu beer. The Ale House was cool even then.
I returned to the North Avenue drinking scene on New Year's Eve...
- 5/14/2013
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
Following Hannah’s polarizing, dreamlike and ultimately fleeting affair on last week’s Girls, the action returned to normal — or something like it — with the unlikely duo of Ray and Adam on a journey to Staten Island, and the steadily drifting twosome of Marnie and Hannah contemplating a life without the ‘B’ or the final ‘F’ in their Bff relationship.
“Boys” was a peculiar and not entirely satisfying half hour — lacking the meditative depth of “One Man’s Trash,” but offering up little of the biting/absurdist humor that Lena Dunham typically serves up with the consistency of a McDonald’s French fry.
“Boys” was a peculiar and not entirely satisfying half hour — lacking the meditative depth of “One Man’s Trash,” but offering up little of the biting/absurdist humor that Lena Dunham typically serves up with the consistency of a McDonald’s French fry.
- 2/18/2013
- by Michael Slezak
- TVLine.com
The first Chicago bar I drank in was the Old Town Ale House. That bar was destroyed by fire in the 1960s, the customers hosed off, and the Ale House moved directly across the street to its present location, where it has been named Chicago's Best Dive Bar by the Chicago Tribune.
I was taken to the Ale House by Tom Devries, my fellow college editor from the Roosevelt Torch. It was early on a snowy Sunday afternoon. I remember us walking down to Barbara's Bookstore to get our copies of the legendary New York Herald-Tribune Sunday edition. Pogo. Judith Crist. Tom Wolfe. Jimmy Breslin. I remember peanut shells on the floor and a projector grinding through 16mm prints of Charlie Chaplin shorts. I remember my first taste of dark Löwenbräu beer. The Ale House was cool even then.
I returned to the North Avenue drinking scene on New Year's Eve...
I was taken to the Ale House by Tom Devries, my fellow college editor from the Roosevelt Torch. It was early on a snowy Sunday afternoon. I remember us walking down to Barbara's Bookstore to get our copies of the legendary New York Herald-Tribune Sunday edition. Pogo. Judith Crist. Tom Wolfe. Jimmy Breslin. I remember peanut shells on the floor and a projector grinding through 16mm prints of Charlie Chaplin shorts. I remember my first taste of dark Löwenbräu beer. The Ale House was cool even then.
I returned to the North Avenue drinking scene on New Year's Eve...
- 2/18/2013
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
Ah, back to the safety of a narrative! As much as everyone except me seemed to enjoy the self-contained sadness of last week's One Man's Trash, I'm happy to announce that tonight's Girls picks up almost all stray plot lines from earlier this season. It's all so connected, so gratifying. That how I prefer my Girls.
The excellent cameo by John Cameron Mitchell didn't hurt either. I haven't heard that guy’s dry, laser-like delivery since Hedwig. As the editor of the late, great Pumped Mag, Mitchell tells Hannah about the nature of writing,...
The excellent cameo by John Cameron Mitchell didn't hurt either. I haven't heard that guy’s dry, laser-like delivery since Hedwig. As the editor of the late, great Pumped Mag, Mitchell tells Hannah about the nature of writing,...
- 2/18/2013
- Rollingstone.com
mtvU, MTV.s 24-hour college network, today announced that comedian, writer, producer and this year.s host of the Oscars®, Seth MacFarlane, is the newest guest professor on the network.s ongoing, Emmy®-nominated “Stand In” series. mtvU followed MacFarlane as he travelled to the University of California Los Angeles campus to stun a class full of students during Professor Denise Mann.s “Overview of Contemporary Film Industry” course.
During the class, MacFarlane announced “The Oscar Experience College Search” presented by The Academy and mtvU, a national search for the next generation of Oscar hopefuls. College students who are interested in pursuing careers in film . writing, directing, producing, acting and more . are encouraged to vie for an opportunity to appear live onstage to deliver Oscar statuettes to telecast presenters. In addition to appearing on the Oscar show, winners will be flown to Los Angeles and provided hotel accommodations.
“In re-imagining...
During the class, MacFarlane announced “The Oscar Experience College Search” presented by The Academy and mtvU, a national search for the next generation of Oscar hopefuls. College students who are interested in pursuing careers in film . writing, directing, producing, acting and more . are encouraged to vie for an opportunity to appear live onstage to deliver Oscar statuettes to telecast presenters. In addition to appearing on the Oscar show, winners will be flown to Los Angeles and provided hotel accommodations.
“In re-imagining...
- 11/30/2012
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
It's Sunday afternoon — your last chance to read all that stuff you meant to read last week before Monday brings a new deluge of things you will want to read. Below, some of our recommendations: "Tom Wolfe's California" by Michael Anton (City Journal): Tom Wolfe is a New York writer, but his second literary home is California. "Damien Hirst: Jumping the Shark" by Andrew Rice (Bloomberg Businessweek): Why is the market for Damien Hirst's work in a tailspin? "Deadhead" by Nick Paumgarten (New Yorker): If you like the Grateful Dead, then you will probably like this."The Making of The Chronic" Ben Westhoff (L.A. Weekly): An oral history of the recording of Dr. Dre's solo debut. Some of it is cobbled together from old interviews, but we're sure you can still learn something new about life at Death Row records circa 1991. "A...
- 11/25/2012
- by Caroline Bankoff
- Vulture
'Catch 22 of the Iraq war' is being adapted for Film4 by Oscar-winning screenwriter Simon Beaufoy
The Oscar-winning screenwriter of Slumdog Millionaire, Simon Beaufoy, is adapting a critically acclaimed Iraq war novel by Us writer Ben Fountain for a new Film4 project.
The book, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, centres on a group of Us servicemen who emerge unscathed from a firefight in Iraq in 2005 and are brought home by the Bush administration for a victory lap, culminating with a turn at the Dallas Cowboys stadium as part of the team's Thanksgiving halftime show. It has been described by the Observer's Robert McCrum as "a clever and imaginative take on the classic American combat novel" with shades of "New Journalism" guru Tom Wolfe.
Fountain's book, which has also been dubbed the Catch 22 of the Iraq war, was nominated for the Us National Book award this year. The story is told from the viewpoint of Billy Lynn,...
The Oscar-winning screenwriter of Slumdog Millionaire, Simon Beaufoy, is adapting a critically acclaimed Iraq war novel by Us writer Ben Fountain for a new Film4 project.
The book, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, centres on a group of Us servicemen who emerge unscathed from a firefight in Iraq in 2005 and are brought home by the Bush administration for a victory lap, culminating with a turn at the Dallas Cowboys stadium as part of the team's Thanksgiving halftime show. It has been described by the Observer's Robert McCrum as "a clever and imaginative take on the classic American combat novel" with shades of "New Journalism" guru Tom Wolfe.
Fountain's book, which has also been dubbed the Catch 22 of the Iraq war, was nominated for the Us National Book award this year. The story is told from the viewpoint of Billy Lynn,...
- 11/14/2012
- by Ben Child
- The Guardian - Film News
Well, with the holidays just around the corner, the producers of fine home video product are really stepping up their game and releasing a slew of interesting titles this month. For some reason the theme in November seems to be failed masterpieces – from Brian De Palma’s attempt at translating a national bestseller, to Otto Preminger trying to wrangle the whole of the sixties into one crazy movie, to Michael Cimino’s historical epic “Heaven’s Gate” (probably the most polarizing of the bunch) – it’s a month in which the artistic process yields ungainly results. Plus, some really great smaller movies that are easy to overlook but very much worth your time. “Bonfire of the Vanities” (Brian De Palma, 1990) Why You Should Care: One of the most notorious flops of all time (hey, we’ve got two of those on our list this month!), Brian De Palma’s sprawling,...
- 11/12/2012
- by Drew Taylor
- The Playlist
While waiting to be cut from Terrence Malick’s untitled movie about the Live Music (And Fucking And Back-Stabbing, Apparently) Capital of the World, Michael Fassbender has been brushing up on his American literature. Thanks to the forthcoming Max Perkins: Editor Of Genius, Fassbender will be among the many men of letters who can explain the difference between Thomas Wolfe and Tom Wolfe, the latter being the dandy of the New Journalism movement who’s never been played by the android from Prometheus. Based on the biography of the same name by A. Scott Berg, the film casts Fassbender opposite ...
- 11/2/2012
- avclub.com
Afm, which kicked off Thursday, just had a major player walk through its doors in Santa Monica. Glen Basner’s FilmNation Entertainment is handling international sales on “Genius,” which will star Colin Firth and Michael Fassbender in a project with a screenplay by “Skyfall,” “Rango” and “Hugo” writer John Logan. Theater director Michael Grandage will direct the film, which is based on the real-life relationship between author Tom Wolfe and literary editor Max Perkins, who also worked with F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. The script is based on A. Scott Berg’s National Book Award-winning biography “Max Perkins: Editor of Genius.” James Bierman will produce the film for the Michael Grandage Company, with filming to begin in early 2014. Bierman and Grandage worked together at the Donmar Warehouse in London, where in the spring they will produce Logan’s new play “Peter and Alice,”...
- 11/1/2012
- by Jay A. Fernandez
- Indiewire
Amid the artful clutter of his apartment fourteen stories above East 79th Street, Tom Wolfe is just another bright, eccentric antique. Behind him are mauve hydrangeas and a mauve poster for Princeps cigars, which bring out the violet in his papery eyelids and veined hands and set off the white (of course!) of his fitted linen suit. Dark blue is today’s underplumage—navy shirt with white stripes, navy dots on white tie, white dots on navy socks, and the usual two-tone shoes. “Kipling is today such an underrated poet—in my humble opinion,” Wolfe says, with that slightly southern softness so unlike his writing. He’s trying to explain what Rudyard Kipling’s “Recessional,” written for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee and later turned into a hymn, is doing in the brain of a muscle-bound Cuban-American cop in Wolfe’s panoramic Miami joyride of a fourth novel, Back to Blood.
- 10/22/2012
- by Boris Kachka
- Vulture
This black comedy about unhappy assassins who have hit hard times is a compelling comment on economic bloodletting in the real world
Movies about assassins generally show them as ascetic samurai loners, broodingly dismantling and reconstructing their weapons as they wait for the hit in monkish seclusion, chain-smoking, keeping small talk to a minimum with their employers, who are in a similar laconic state, and who, in any case, may be secretly awed by their hitman's icy professionalism. Killing Them Softly is different. This killer, Cogan – played by Brad Pitt – is relaxed and talkative; he is craggy, leonine, casual and imperious; absolutely on top of his game, but with a flaw. He cannot kill anyone he's met, and hates to kill up close, squeamish about them begging for mercy. So he has to murder at a distance; it's what he calls "killing them softly", though without acknowledging Roberta Flack.
Cogan is part antihero,...
Movies about assassins generally show them as ascetic samurai loners, broodingly dismantling and reconstructing their weapons as they wait for the hit in monkish seclusion, chain-smoking, keeping small talk to a minimum with their employers, who are in a similar laconic state, and who, in any case, may be secretly awed by their hitman's icy professionalism. Killing Them Softly is different. This killer, Cogan – played by Brad Pitt – is relaxed and talkative; he is craggy, leonine, casual and imperious; absolutely on top of his game, but with a flaw. He cannot kill anyone he's met, and hates to kill up close, squeamish about them begging for mercy. So he has to murder at a distance; it's what he calls "killing them softly", though without acknowledging Roberta Flack.
Cogan is part antihero,...
- 9/21/2012
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
New York (AP) — A new and uncertain era of e-book prices has begun.
HarperCollins Publishers announced Tuesday that it has reached new price agreements with sellers that conform to a settlement with the Justice Department over allegations that five publishers and Apple colluded to set prices for e-books. Such new works as Michael Chabon's "Telegraph Avenue" now can be purchased on Amazon.com for $9.99, a price publishers and rival booksellers fear will give Amazon dominant control of the e-market.
Simon & Schuster and Hachette Book Group also settled, but as of Tuesday afternoon e-prices for such fall books from those publishers as Bob Woodward's "The Price of Politics" and Tom Wolfe's "Back to Blood" were selling for $14.99. A spokesman for Simon & Schuster declined comment, while Hachette issued a statement saying it was "engaged in productive discussions with e-book distribution agents."
Apple and two other publishers, Penguin Group (USA) and Macmillan,...
HarperCollins Publishers announced Tuesday that it has reached new price agreements with sellers that conform to a settlement with the Justice Department over allegations that five publishers and Apple colluded to set prices for e-books. Such new works as Michael Chabon's "Telegraph Avenue" now can be purchased on Amazon.com for $9.99, a price publishers and rival booksellers fear will give Amazon dominant control of the e-market.
Simon & Schuster and Hachette Book Group also settled, but as of Tuesday afternoon e-prices for such fall books from those publishers as Bob Woodward's "The Price of Politics" and Tom Wolfe's "Back to Blood" were selling for $14.99. A spokesman for Simon & Schuster declined comment, while Hachette issued a statement saying it was "engaged in productive discussions with e-book distribution agents."
Apple and two other publishers, Penguin Group (USA) and Macmillan,...
- 9/12/2012
- by AP
- Huffington Post
I only met Judith Crist once, but her career had an enormous role in shaping the world of the movie critics who followed her. She was the first full-time female movie critic for a big American daily newspaper, but set aside her gender: By her success and fame, she created jobs for movie critics where there were none before.
When she went to work for the New York Herald-Tribune in the 1940s, few newspapers had movie critics writing under their own names (the New York Times was an exception). The movie reviews were considered a "house column," farmed out on a film-by-film basis to assorted reporters, who wrote under such punning bylines as "Kate Cameron" (New York Daily News) and "May Tinee" (Chicago Tribune). Crist was fearless, acerbic and merciless--"Hollywood's most hated person," it was said.
She wrote a sensational pan of "Cleopatra," saying Elizabeth Taylor's acting "often rises to fishwife levels.
When she went to work for the New York Herald-Tribune in the 1940s, few newspapers had movie critics writing under their own names (the New York Times was an exception). The movie reviews were considered a "house column," farmed out on a film-by-film basis to assorted reporters, who wrote under such punning bylines as "Kate Cameron" (New York Daily News) and "May Tinee" (Chicago Tribune). Crist was fearless, acerbic and merciless--"Hollywood's most hated person," it was said.
She wrote a sensational pan of "Cleopatra," saying Elizabeth Taylor's acting "often rises to fishwife levels.
- 8/9/2012
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
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