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5 items from 2012

26 April 2012 6:58 AM, PDT | The Playlist | See recent The Playlist news »

Picking your favorite Akira Kurosawa film is a tricky choice for any movie fan. From "Rashomon" to "Ran," the great Japanese filmmaker, one of the most beloved and influential directors of all time, knocked out a string of classics in a career that lasted well over 40 years. But more often than not, at the top of the list for Kurosawa fans is "The Seven Samurai," the 1954 samurai epic that redefined the action movie for generations.

Following six samurai (and one pretender, iconically played by Toshiro Mifune) who are recruited by a village of farmers to protect them from bandits, it remains to this day one of the most stirring, thrilling adventures in cinema history, and landed Kurosawa firmly on the map in international cinema. The film was released in Japan 58 years ago today, on April 26th, 1954 (a U.S. release, heavily cut down, would follow 30 months later), and to mark the occasion, »

- Oliver Lyttelton

29 February 2012 2:44 PM, PST | Alt Film Guide | See recent Alt Film Guide news »

Kate Capshaw, Steven Spielberg Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw attend the Governors Ball following the 84th Academy Awards in Hollywood, CA February 26, 2012. Along with Kathleen Kennedy, Spielberg produced Best Picture nominee War Horse, which he also directed, and which features Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, and Tom Hiddleston. (Photo: Darren Decker / ©A.M.P.A.S.) This year, War Horse's Best Picture competitors were the following: Martin Scorsese's Hugo, with Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Ben Kingsley, and Sacha Baron Cohen; Alexander Payne's The Descendants, with George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, and Judy Greer; Bennett Miller's Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, and Robin Wright; Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life, with Pitt, Jessica Chastain, and Sean Penn; Stephen Daldry's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, with Thomas Horn, Sandra Bullock, Tom Hanks, and Max von Sydow; Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, with Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, »

- D. Zhea

14 February 2012 8:50 AM, PST | FilmExperience | See recent FilmExperience news »

Michael C. here. I would never back the idea of awarding an Oscar based on anything other than quality of the work. No award for being a beloved old-timer overdue for a win, or because your film sends an admirable message, and definitely no trophy to make up for a past lost that everyone agrees was a blunder. I think most people agree with me that once you start down the road the whole enterprise of presenting awards for artistic achievement – which is shaky enough to begin with – falls apart.

Having said that, there is one criterion beyond merit which I will guiltily admit often plays a big part in who it is I root for on the big night: the possible entertainment value of the winners.  And hey, voters so often make their choices based on questionable reasoning, why shouldn’t the promise of a lively and memorable show enter into it? »

- Michael C.

10 January 2012 10:35 AM, PST | Alt Film Guide | See recent Alt Film Guide news »

Bob Hoskins, Jessica Rabbit in Robert Zemeckis' DGA- (but not Oscar-) nominated Who Framed Roger Rabbit (top); Willem Dafoe in Martin Scorsese's Oscar- (but not DGA-) nominated The Last Temptation of Christ (bottom) DGA Awards vs. Academy Awards 1970s: Odd Men Out Bob Fosse, Woody Allen, Ingmar Bergman 1980 DGA Michael Apted, Coal Miner's Daughter AMPAS Roman Polanski, Tess DGA/AMPAS Robert Redford, Ordinary People David Lynch, The Elephant Man Richard Rush, The Stunt Man Martin Scorsese, Raging Bull   1981 DGA/AMPAS Warren Beatty, Reds Hugh Hudson, Chariots of Fire Louis Malle, Atlantic City Mark Rydell, On Golden Pond Steven Spielberg, Raiders of the Lost Ark   1982 DGA Taylor Hackford, An Officer and a Gentleman AMPAS Sidney Lumet, The Verdict DGA/AMPAS Richard Attenborough, Gandhi Wolfgang Petersen, Das Boot Sydney Pollack, Tootsie Steven Spielberg, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial   1983 DGA Lawrence Kasdan, The Big Chill Philip Kaufman, The Right Stuff AMPAS Mike Nichols, »

- Andre Soares

7 January 2012 4:07 PM, PST | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »

(Akira Kurosawa, 1975, Artificial Eye, U)

In the early 1970s Akira Kurosawa's fortunes and spirit were at a low ebb. He'd been dropped by Hollywood from the Pearl Harbor epic Tora! Tora! Tora! in which he had invested much time and energy. His first colour film Dodes'ka-den was a critical and box-office failure. A crisis in the Japanese film industry had made financing his movies impossible. As a result he attempted suicide. But eventually his career was restored by a Soviet invitation to direct a film version of a non-fiction work he'd loved in his youth, and back in the 1940s he had planned a Japanese version that was aborted, partly due to unsuitable locations but mainly because its themes were in conflict with Japanese militarism. Published in 1923, the book is a memoir by the Russian army engineer Captain Vladimir Arsenyev about his friendship with a nomadic hunter, Dersu Uzala, »

- Philip French

5 items from 2012