From the world's tallest building to Adele's 'modern jazz'-inspired third album, the big events of 2014 are lining up
Television
True Detective
Crime drama is always looking for new ways of dramatising a murder investigation: one killing investigated over 10 episodes; alternating viewpoints of cops, killer, victims and so on. However, in this ambitious series from HBO, multiple seasons will follow the search for a serial killer in Louisiana over 17 years, with each year introducing a new cast. Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey are in the first group. Either magnificent or mad. Mark Lawson HBO.
Penny Dreadful
This has a remarkable lineage: it is produced by film and stage director Sam Mendes and John Logan, who wrote Skyfall for Mendes as well as Hugo, The Aviator and Gladiator. Its disadvantage may be the daring concept, in which a number of fictional horror story characters – Dracula, Frankenstein's monster and Dorian Gray – are living in Victorian London.
Television
True Detective
Crime drama is always looking for new ways of dramatising a murder investigation: one killing investigated over 10 episodes; alternating viewpoints of cops, killer, victims and so on. However, in this ambitious series from HBO, multiple seasons will follow the search for a serial killer in Louisiana over 17 years, with each year introducing a new cast. Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey are in the first group. Either magnificent or mad. Mark Lawson HBO.
Penny Dreadful
This has a remarkable lineage: it is produced by film and stage director Sam Mendes and John Logan, who wrote Skyfall for Mendes as well as Hugo, The Aviator and Gladiator. Its disadvantage may be the daring concept, in which a number of fictional horror story characters – Dracula, Frankenstein's monster and Dorian Gray – are living in Victorian London.
- 1/1/2014
- by Mark Lawson, Andrew Pulver, Andrew Dickson, Lyn Gardner, Jonathan Jones, Adrian Searle, Oliver Wainwright, Tom Service, Imogen Tilden, Andrew Clements, Tim Jonze
- The Guardian - Film News
She's played a seductive killer, a damaged prostitute, and an anguished schizophrenic. Does Ruth Wilson never fancy doing something lighter? As she makes her directing debut, she talks to Andrew Dickson
"Um," says Ruth Wilson worriedly, her brow furrowing and her long limbs coiling in embarrassment around her chair. "I am a bit of a control freak. Well, not really. Not totally." She halts. "Ok, I am a bit." Blimey. All I've asked is whether she's ever performed drunk. She seems scandalised by the notion. "No, no," she says. "The idea of not being in control of your faculties, I don't think so. Too much responsibility. Too scared!"
Fear isn't a concept you associate with Wilson, who has made her reputation in some unflinching roles: a sensuous Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire, a psychologically harrowing Karin in Ingmar Bergman's Through a Glass Darkly, Anna Christie in Eugene O'Neill's...
"Um," says Ruth Wilson worriedly, her brow furrowing and her long limbs coiling in embarrassment around her chair. "I am a bit of a control freak. Well, not really. Not totally." She halts. "Ok, I am a bit." Blimey. All I've asked is whether she's ever performed drunk. She seems scandalised by the notion. "No, no," she says. "The idea of not being in control of your faculties, I don't think so. Too much responsibility. Too scared!"
Fear isn't a concept you associate with Wilson, who has made her reputation in some unflinching roles: a sensuous Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire, a psychologically harrowing Karin in Ingmar Bergman's Through a Glass Darkly, Anna Christie in Eugene O'Neill's...
- 12/9/2013
- by Andrew Dickson
- The Guardian - Film News
Actor will feature in piece written by Belarus Free Theatre and Laura Wade. Meanwhile, the latest short film in the series, Bed Trick, is released today
Jude Law will team up with the Belarus Free Theatre for the next in the series of short films coproduced by the Guardian and the Young Vic theatre.
Over the course of this year, the two organisations will present a series of four films created by the stars and creatives behind Young Vic productions, supported by Bloomberg.
Law, who played Christopher Marlowe's Dr Faustus at the Young Vic in 2002 and has supported Belarus Free Theatre for a number of years, will appear in a film the company has written in collaboration with Laura Wade, the playwright behind the Royal Court's hit Posh.
It will be followed by new short written and directed by Olivier award-winning actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, who stars in Aimé Césaire...
Jude Law will team up with the Belarus Free Theatre for the next in the series of short films coproduced by the Guardian and the Young Vic theatre.
Over the course of this year, the two organisations will present a series of four films created by the stars and creatives behind Young Vic productions, supported by Bloomberg.
Law, who played Christopher Marlowe's Dr Faustus at the Young Vic in 2002 and has supported Belarus Free Theatre for a number of years, will appear in a film the company has written in collaboration with Laura Wade, the playwright behind the Royal Court's hit Posh.
It will be followed by new short written and directed by Olivier award-winning actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, who stars in Aimé Césaire...
- 5/16/2013
- by Matt Trueman
- The Guardian - Film News
The second in our New View film season is a fascinating look at the most everyday of things: the Helvetica typeface. Available in the UK and Ireland only
Reading on mobile? Watch Helvetica here
After the hurly-burly of the El Bulli kitchen, day two of the New View film season sees a quieter world, though one just as arcane and cerebral. Onetime magazine publisher Gary Hustwit had the inpsiration to make a doco about something as ubiquitous and unregarded as a typeface: something we see around us every day.
Helevetica was developed in 1957, and went on to become one of the world's most widely used. If you want a reminder of what it looks like, here's a gallery.
Back when the film was released, we sent our writer Andrew Dickson to meet its director Gary Hustwit; here's what Hustwit had to say about it:
"When I started this project," [Hustwit] says,...
Reading on mobile? Watch Helvetica here
After the hurly-burly of the El Bulli kitchen, day two of the New View film season sees a quieter world, though one just as arcane and cerebral. Onetime magazine publisher Gary Hustwit had the inpsiration to make a doco about something as ubiquitous and unregarded as a typeface: something we see around us every day.
Helevetica was developed in 1957, and went on to become one of the world's most widely used. If you want a reminder of what it looks like, here's a gallery.
Back when the film was released, we sent our writer Andrew Dickson to meet its director Gary Hustwit; here's what Hustwit had to say about it:
"When I started this project," [Hustwit] says,...
- 4/16/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
Despite the cold weather that is regularly associated with November, the month has kicked off to a very intriguing start nevertheless. This is because the annual South Asian Literature Festival is currently taking place in London! The opening night of this unique festival at the Bush Theatre in Shepherd’s Bush, on Thursday 1 November saw a very intellectually stimulating talk taking place. The central focus was on the great English playwright William Shakespeare and thoughtful discussions were held between the members of the panel and the audience regarding the influence which his work has had on the South Asian region. Among the speakers who took part were Nandini Das, a Professor of English at the University of Liverpool, Rachel Dwyer, a Professor of Indian Cultures and Cinema at Soas, University of London, Andrew Dickson, a theatre editor for the UK Guardian newspaper, as well as the notable Indian journalist Salil Tripathi.
- 11/5/2012
- by Bodrul Chaudhury
- Bollyspice
We're suspicious of trailers, but the first real glimpses of the Dark Knight Rises and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey were too big to miss
The big story
We don't normally get that excited about trailers. They have their place, but for the most part they're slippery, unreliable things - a keyhole shot of a bigger idea, designed to sell their wares to the largest audience, with little regard for the nature of their source material.
That said, there were a couple of promos released this week that even brine-soaked snobs like us couldn't ignore. Tuesday saw the release of the Dark Knight Rises trailer, the first real look at Christopher Nolan's third and final Batman film. Our go-to-guy for all things bat is Ben Child, who finally switched off the Bat Signal he'd installed on his roof and welcomed the caped crusader's return. "As with the best trailers,...
The big story
We don't normally get that excited about trailers. They have their place, but for the most part they're slippery, unreliable things - a keyhole shot of a bigger idea, designed to sell their wares to the largest audience, with little regard for the nature of their source material.
That said, there were a couple of promos released this week that even brine-soaked snobs like us couldn't ignore. Tuesday saw the release of the Dark Knight Rises trailer, the first real look at Christopher Nolan's third and final Batman film. Our go-to-guy for all things bat is Ben Child, who finally switched off the Bat Signal he'd installed on his roof and welcomed the caped crusader's return. "As with the best trailers,...
- 12/22/2011
- by Henry Barnes
- The Guardian - Film News
Andrew Dickson continues our writer's favourite film series with an ode to Nanni Moretti's journey of self-discovery
Does this review take you to a happy place? Write your own review here or confess all in the comments below
There's something exposing about revealing a favourite film – a favourite anything, I guess. But what about when your favourite film is itself about self-exposure?
Caro Diario (Dear Diary) is a confessional journey into selfhood by the Italian director Nanni Moretti, the gentle court jester of Italian film-making who's been a repeated gadfly in Berlusconi's side (one reason among many to worship him). Not only does Moretti star throughout – and does so as a version of himself – but documentary footage of his treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma weaves its way into the film's final section. Calling Dear Diary up close and personal doesn't really do it justice. Perhaps that's why it gets under my skin.
Does this review take you to a happy place? Write your own review here or confess all in the comments below
There's something exposing about revealing a favourite film – a favourite anything, I guess. But what about when your favourite film is itself about self-exposure?
Caro Diario (Dear Diary) is a confessional journey into selfhood by the Italian director Nanni Moretti, the gentle court jester of Italian film-making who's been a repeated gadfly in Berlusconi's side (one reason among many to worship him). Not only does Moretti star throughout – and does so as a version of himself – but documentary footage of his treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma weaves its way into the film's final section. Calling Dear Diary up close and personal doesn't really do it justice. Perhaps that's why it gets under my skin.
- 12/21/2011
- by Andrew Dickson
- The Guardian - Film News
His Jerusalem is a Broadway hit – now director Ian Rickson is back with a star-studded Betrayal. He talks to Andrew Dickson about his debt to Pinter, coaching Pj Harvey – and why he's finally ready for Shakespeare
Never let it be said that Ian Rickson lacks range. This week, the director opens a new production of Harold Pinter's Betrayal, starring Kristin Scott Thomas; it turns out that he has also found time to direct Pj Harvey's current tour. "We talked about staging and lighting, should she talk between songs, things like that," he explains, before adding, not wanting to take too much credit: "Director in inverted commas."
I'm not sure he needs the rider. In the four years since Rickson stepped down as artistic director of the Royal Court, there seems to be little he hasn't turned his hand to. His farewell production there, The Seagull, was the first...
Never let it be said that Ian Rickson lacks range. This week, the director opens a new production of Harold Pinter's Betrayal, starring Kristin Scott Thomas; it turns out that he has also found time to direct Pj Harvey's current tour. "We talked about staging and lighting, should she talk between songs, things like that," he explains, before adding, not wanting to take too much credit: "Director in inverted commas."
I'm not sure he needs the rider. In the four years since Rickson stepped down as artistic director of the Royal Court, there seems to be little he hasn't turned his hand to. His farewell production there, The Seagull, was the first...
- 6/15/2011
- by Andrew Dickson
- The Guardian - Film News
As Sienna Miller returns to the West End, she talks to Andrew Dickson about bad reviews, Jude Law, taking on Murdoch – and snapping the paparazzi with a disguised camera
One thing I can exclusively reveal about Sienna Miller: she isn't much cop with chopsticks. We're in a Japanese restaurant in London, and she has just sent a piece of scalding tofu arcing towards me. "Sorry!" she squeals, diving to retrieve it. "I'm such a klutz! I warned you!" Soy sauce pools across my notes. She mops it up. "Sorry!"
I'm grateful it's just sauce: Miller once chucked urine at journalists who were hounding her. And although today she's on her politest behaviour, there is a goofy, fidgety energy about her, a curious combination of steely and shy. One second, she's describing with grim satisfaction her battles with journalists; the next, she's worrying about whether I wear a bicycle helmet ("Oh my God,...
One thing I can exclusively reveal about Sienna Miller: she isn't much cop with chopsticks. We're in a Japanese restaurant in London, and she has just sent a piece of scalding tofu arcing towards me. "Sorry!" she squeals, diving to retrieve it. "I'm such a klutz! I warned you!" Soy sauce pools across my notes. She mops it up. "Sorry!"
I'm grateful it's just sauce: Miller once chucked urine at journalists who were hounding her. And although today she's on her politest behaviour, there is a goofy, fidgety energy about her, a curious combination of steely and shy. One second, she's describing with grim satisfaction her battles with journalists; the next, she's worrying about whether I wear a bicycle helmet ("Oh my God,...
- 3/9/2011
- by Andrew Dickson
- The Guardian - Film News
Welcome to the second Guardian film newsletter. This week, Mike Leigh was in the house, and he wasn't taking any prisoners
Taking dictation from Mike Leigh, against the clock and on an unfamiliar keyboard, is not for the faint hearted. The director came in on Wednesday to answer questions you'd posted on the blog the day before. After cheese sandwiches and black tea, he read out his responses calmly, requesting precisely how many question or exclamation marks he wanted (though spelling and grammar was left to us … not always the best idea).
So, how did he go down? Well, some of you found his approach refreshingly rebarbative. Others thought it belied an over-sensitivity to criticism. I thought he was terrific, and especially liked his thoughts on the crop circles of Wiltshire.
In the news
• Who you gonna call back? Ghostbusters 3 has been greenlit
• The Asa has banned a rather...
Taking dictation from Mike Leigh, against the clock and on an unfamiliar keyboard, is not for the faint hearted. The director came in on Wednesday to answer questions you'd posted on the blog the day before. After cheese sandwiches and black tea, he read out his responses calmly, requesting precisely how many question or exclamation marks he wanted (though spelling and grammar was left to us … not always the best idea).
So, how did he go down? Well, some of you found his approach refreshingly rebarbative. Others thought it belied an over-sensitivity to criticism. I thought he was terrific, and especially liked his thoughts on the crop circles of Wiltshire.
In the news
• Who you gonna call back? Ghostbusters 3 has been greenlit
• The Asa has banned a rather...
- 11/4/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
Want to see cutting-edge drama from Edinburgh? Then just pop into your local cinema. Andrew Dickson on why the Traverse theatre is being besieged by cameras
The Traverse theatre in Edinburgh has a cute name for this year's series of morning play readings: Impossible Things Before Breakfast. Technically, it's a misnomer – your ticket includes breakfast, or at least a bacon buttie and a splash of coffee – but in other respects the title, borrowed from Alice in Wonderland, seems fair enough.
Last year, festival audiences had to endure hostage crises (a new work by Enda Walsh) and were forced to act out chunks of the script (David Greig). This year, Simon Stephens dwells on the fallout from a stabbing in T5, while Linda McLean's new play This Is Water is a verbatim account of interrogation. Quite a lot to deal with at 9am, especially if you've a hangover the size of Arthur's Seat.
The Traverse theatre in Edinburgh has a cute name for this year's series of morning play readings: Impossible Things Before Breakfast. Technically, it's a misnomer – your ticket includes breakfast, or at least a bacon buttie and a splash of coffee – but in other respects the title, borrowed from Alice in Wonderland, seems fair enough.
Last year, festival audiences had to endure hostage crises (a new work by Enda Walsh) and were forced to act out chunks of the script (David Greig). This year, Simon Stephens dwells on the fallout from a stabbing in T5, while Linda McLean's new play This Is Water is a verbatim account of interrogation. Quite a lot to deal with at 9am, especially if you've a hangover the size of Arthur's Seat.
- 8/23/2010
- by Andrew Dickson
- The Guardian - Film News
What makes a great critic? As we launch our third Young Critics' Competition, Guardian reviewers offer some expert advice – and reveal the writers who first inspired them
'A critic is more than a spectator' Michael Billington, theatre critic
I started reading reviews avidly in my teens. I'm still haunted by a phrase Harold Hobson used about Waiting for Godot in the Sunday Times: "If you have only 15 shillings left in the world, go and see Waiting for Godot. If you have 30 shillings, see it twice."
But the critic who really obsessed me, and most of my generation, was Hobson's great rival, Kenneth Tynan at the Observer. What Tynan showed is that criticism is principally about writing well. Open his collected reviews on any page and you find the phrases lock perfectly into place. Here's one example, from a 1956 review of Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory: "Puffing on a cheroot,...
'A critic is more than a spectator' Michael Billington, theatre critic
I started reading reviews avidly in my teens. I'm still haunted by a phrase Harold Hobson used about Waiting for Godot in the Sunday Times: "If you have only 15 shillings left in the world, go and see Waiting for Godot. If you have 30 shillings, see it twice."
But the critic who really obsessed me, and most of my generation, was Hobson's great rival, Kenneth Tynan at the Observer. What Tynan showed is that criticism is principally about writing well. Open his collected reviews on any page and you find the phrases lock perfectly into place. Here's one example, from a 1956 review of Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory: "Puffing on a cheroot,...
- 5/25/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
Left it to the last minute again? Don't panic, our experts suggest loads of ways of saving the day, with ideas for Valentine's dates around the UK
1 Breakfast for two
London
Relationships, the gurus tell us, are all about power balance, so where better than a glorious restaurant in a former hydraulic power station? The breakfasts at The Wapping Project (Wapping Wall E1, 020-7680 2080) are among the best in London, including all the usual classics, plus some tempting pancake-based numbers. The peaceful Wapping peninsula is the perfect start to a charming riverside stroll.
For a more central, more French start to the day, head into Soho for the spectacular pastries of Maison Bertaux (28 Greek St, 020-7437 6007). It's an intimate, bohemian deli packed full of rickety seating, pink nets and accordions. I suspect that their croissants were the solution to those European butter mountains we used to hear about. After you're done,...
1 Breakfast for two
London
Relationships, the gurus tell us, are all about power balance, so where better than a glorious restaurant in a former hydraulic power station? The breakfasts at The Wapping Project (Wapping Wall E1, 020-7680 2080) are among the best in London, including all the usual classics, plus some tempting pancake-based numbers. The peaceful Wapping peninsula is the perfect start to a charming riverside stroll.
For a more central, more French start to the day, head into Soho for the spectacular pastries of Maison Bertaux (28 Greek St, 020-7437 6007). It's an intimate, bohemian deli packed full of rickety seating, pink nets and accordions. I suspect that their croissants were the solution to those European butter mountains we used to hear about. After you're done,...
- 2/13/2010
- by Andrew Dickson, Luke Bainbridge
- The Guardian - Film News
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