Kristen Stewart, Josh O'Connor and Elle Fanning will lead the cast of 'Rosebushpruning'.The trio are set to feature in the movie from director Karim Ainouz, whose historical drama 'Firebrand' – starring Jude Law and Alicia Vikander – premiered at the Cannes Film Festival recently.Ainouz will direct from a script by Efthimis Filippou and adapted from Marco Bellocchio's 1965 film 'Fists in the Pocket'.The dark satire of family and social values is considered to be a landmark piece of Italian cinema.In the original 'Fists in the Pocket', a young epilepsy sufferer (Lou Castel in his film debut) plots the murders of his dysfunctional family. It proved controversial when it was first released but has gone on to develop a strong following.Ainouz said: "Marco Bellocchio's astonishing debut, 'Fists in the Pocket', was released over 50 years ago and had a huge impact on Italian...
- 5/25/2023
- by Joe Graber
- Bang Showbiz
The 2023 Cannes Film Festival may be slowly winding down, but a red hot new project has just landed in the market to spice things up.
Kristen Stewart (Spencer), Josh O’Connor (The Crown, God’s Own Country) and Elle Fanning (Teen Spirit, The Great) are set to lead the cast of Rosebushpruning, the next feature from Karim Aïnouz, whose Jude Law- and Alicia Vikander-starring period drama Firebrand last week had its world premiere in Cannes’ main competition to hugely positive reviews. The Match Factory and Mubi are backing the film.
The Hollywood Reporter understands that Aïnouz will direct from a script written by Efthimis Filippou (Dogtooth, Killing of Sacred Deer, The Lobster) and adapted from Marco Bellocchio’s 1965 debut feature Fists in the Pocket, a dark satire of family and social values now considered a landmark piece of Italian cinema. The adaptation rights were acquired from Kavac Film.
The Match...
Kristen Stewart (Spencer), Josh O’Connor (The Crown, God’s Own Country) and Elle Fanning (Teen Spirit, The Great) are set to lead the cast of Rosebushpruning, the next feature from Karim Aïnouz, whose Jude Law- and Alicia Vikander-starring period drama Firebrand last week had its world premiere in Cannes’ main competition to hugely positive reviews. The Match Factory and Mubi are backing the film.
The Hollywood Reporter understands that Aïnouz will direct from a script written by Efthimis Filippou (Dogtooth, Killing of Sacred Deer, The Lobster) and adapted from Marco Bellocchio’s 1965 debut feature Fists in the Pocket, a dark satire of family and social values now considered a landmark piece of Italian cinema. The adaptation rights were acquired from Kavac Film.
The Match...
- 5/24/2023
- by Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Olivier Assayas takes a very different trip into silent movie nostalgia, with a director’s ill-fated attempt to remake the 1915 serial Les Vampires. Hong Kong action star Maggie Cheung is cast as the erotic rooftop nightcrawler Irma Vep! We see the state of Paris filmmaking in the mid-90s, with a clueless, frustrated director (Jean-Pierre Léaud) out of ideas — what business has Irma Vep in the modern world? Meanwhile, Cheung dons her vinyl catsuit for a personal creepy crawly mission — just to see if it gives her a thrill. Criterion’s special edition contains both a full episode of the silent serial plus a must-see documentary on the life and work of the legendary Musidora, a major sex symbol of the silent era.
Irma Vep
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1074
1996 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 99 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date April 27, 2021 / 39.95
Starring: Maggie Cheung, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Nathalie Richard, Bernard Nissile,...
Irma Vep
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1074
1996 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 99 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date April 27, 2021 / 39.95
Starring: Maggie Cheung, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Nathalie Richard, Bernard Nissile,...
- 4/17/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Severin’s extravagant four-film six-disc The Complete Umberto Lenzi / Carroll Baker Giallo Collection is a luxurious trip into sexy, violent Italo thrill territory. CineSavant concentrates on the first Lenzi-Baker collaboration, a truly nasty bit of misanthropy that bridges the gap between standard ‘Lady In Peril’ fare and the full-bore giallos that would soon become the norm. It’s presented under its original title, which sounds more appropriate for a porn movie… in the U.S. the given title was Paranoia.
Orgasmo
Blu-ray
One feature in The Complete Lenzi / Baker Giallo Collection
Severin Films
1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / Orgasmo 97 min., Paranoia 91 min., all four films 369 min. / available through Severin Films / Street Date July 7, 2020 / 119.98
Orgasmo credits:
Starring: Carroll Baker, Lou Castel, Colette Descombes, Tino Carraro, Lilla Brignone, Franco Pesce, Tina Lattanzi, Jacques Stany.
Cinematography: Guglielmo Mancori
Film Editor: Enzo Alabiso
Art Direction: Giorgio Bertolini
Assistant Director Bertrand Tavernier
Original Music: Piero Umilani
Written by Ugo Moretti,...
Orgasmo
Blu-ray
One feature in The Complete Lenzi / Baker Giallo Collection
Severin Films
1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / Orgasmo 97 min., Paranoia 91 min., all four films 369 min. / available through Severin Films / Street Date July 7, 2020 / 119.98
Orgasmo credits:
Starring: Carroll Baker, Lou Castel, Colette Descombes, Tino Carraro, Lilla Brignone, Franco Pesce, Tina Lattanzi, Jacques Stany.
Cinematography: Guglielmo Mancori
Film Editor: Enzo Alabiso
Art Direction: Giorgio Bertolini
Assistant Director Bertrand Tavernier
Original Music: Piero Umilani
Written by Ugo Moretti,...
- 7/28/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Severin’s extravagant four-film six-disc The Complete Umberto Lenzi / Carroll Baker Giallo Collection is a luxurious trip into sexy, violent Italo thrill territory. CineSavant concentrates on the first Lenzi-Baker collaboration, a truly nasty bit of misanthropy that bridges the gap between standard ‘Lady In Peril’ fare and the full-bore giallos that would soon become the norm. It’s presented under its original title, which sounds more appropriate for a porn movie… in the U.S. the given title was Paranoia.
Orgasmo
Blu-ray
One feature in The Complete Lenzi / Baker Giallo Collection
Severin Films
1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / Orgasmo 97 min., Paranoia 91 min., all four films 369 min. / available through Severin Films / Street Date July 7, 2020 / 119.98
Orgasmo credits:
Starring: Carroll Baker, Lou Castel, Colette Descombes, Tino Carraro, Lilla Brignone, Franco Pesce, Tina Lattanzi, Jacques Stany.
Cinematography: Guglielmo Mancori
Film Editor: Enzo Alabiso
Art Direction: Giorgio Bertolini
Assistant Director Bertrand Tavernier
Original Music: Piero Umilani
Written by Ugo Moretti,...
Orgasmo
Blu-ray
One feature in The Complete Lenzi / Baker Giallo Collection
Severin Films
1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / Orgasmo 97 min., Paranoia 91 min., all four films 369 min. / available through Severin Films / Street Date July 7, 2020 / 119.98
Orgasmo credits:
Starring: Carroll Baker, Lou Castel, Colette Descombes, Tino Carraro, Lilla Brignone, Franco Pesce, Tina Lattanzi, Jacques Stany.
Cinematography: Guglielmo Mancori
Film Editor: Enzo Alabiso
Art Direction: Giorgio Bertolini
Assistant Director Bertrand Tavernier
Original Music: Piero Umilani
Written by Ugo Moretti,...
- 7/28/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
When it comes to releasing unique and collectible Blu-ray box sets (such as their Al Adamson: The Masterpiece Collection), Severin Films has done an amazing job preserving horror history, and this summer they'll continue to do so with The Complete Lenzi Baker Giallo Collection, featuring Umberto Lenzi's collaborations with Carroll Baker:
"On June 30th, Severin Films is bringing together the complete collaborative works of two cult film legends with The Complete Lenzi Baker Giallo Collection, which includes superlative editions of Orgasmo, So Sweet… So Perverse, A Quiet Place To Kill, and Knife Of Ice.
Italian writer/director Umberto Lenzi helmed popular peplums, created extreme poliziotteschi, and invented the Italian cannibal phenomenon. Hollywood actress Carroll Baker was the Golden Globe® winning/Academy Award® nominated star of Baby Doll, Giant and The Carpetbaggers. Together in the late ‘60s/early ‘70s, they made four landmark films that changed the erotic thriller and giallo genres forever.
"On June 30th, Severin Films is bringing together the complete collaborative works of two cult film legends with The Complete Lenzi Baker Giallo Collection, which includes superlative editions of Orgasmo, So Sweet… So Perverse, A Quiet Place To Kill, and Knife Of Ice.
Italian writer/director Umberto Lenzi helmed popular peplums, created extreme poliziotteschi, and invented the Italian cannibal phenomenon. Hollywood actress Carroll Baker was the Golden Globe® winning/Academy Award® nominated star of Baby Doll, Giant and The Carpetbaggers. Together in the late ‘60s/early ‘70s, they made four landmark films that changed the erotic thriller and giallo genres forever.
- 5/1/2020
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Fists in the Pocket
Blu ray
Criterion
1965/ 1.85:1 / 108 min.
Starring Lou Castel, Paola Pitagora
Cinematography by Alberto Marrama
Directed by Marco Bellochio
The split-personality of world cinema was never more evident than in 1965 when Fists in the Pockets and Repulsion debuted alongside The Sound of Music and That Darn Cat. All four films dealt with fantasies of family life but only one suggested smashing the institution altogether. And that film was That Darn Cat (“sarcasm font”).
Hailed as one of the most audacious debuts in film history, director Marco Bellochio’s Fists in the Pocket premiered that summer at the Locarno Film Festival. Both Time and Newsweek raved and even Life Magazine, America’s favorite coffee table prop, confessed they were “stunned but exhilarated.” The movie received a more predictable reception from the usual suspects – The Christian Democrat Party called for its expulsion from the public eye.
Bellochio’s film about a deranged brood,...
Blu ray
Criterion
1965/ 1.85:1 / 108 min.
Starring Lou Castel, Paola Pitagora
Cinematography by Alberto Marrama
Directed by Marco Bellochio
The split-personality of world cinema was never more evident than in 1965 when Fists in the Pockets and Repulsion debuted alongside The Sound of Music and That Darn Cat. All four films dealt with fantasies of family life but only one suggested smashing the institution altogether. And that film was That Darn Cat (“sarcasm font”).
Hailed as one of the most audacious debuts in film history, director Marco Bellochio’s Fists in the Pocket premiered that summer at the Locarno Film Festival. Both Time and Newsweek raved and even Life Magazine, America’s favorite coffee table prop, confessed they were “stunned but exhilarated.” The movie received a more predictable reception from the usual suspects – The Christian Democrat Party called for its expulsion from the public eye.
Bellochio’s film about a deranged brood,...
- 9/7/2019
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
"Right now, everything's possible even if this life may be a dream." Netflix has unveiled an official trailer for a fascinating French drama titled Paris Is Us, the feature debut of filmmaker Elisabeth Vogler. This short trailer is packed with visually stunning footage, making this look like a striking, damning, compelling look at modern day France and all that's happening in the country. The description is vague: "Dreams and reality collide as a young woman navigates a tumultuous relationship amid rising social tensions, protests and tragedies in Paris." The story involves a young woman who was supposed to meet a boy, but she misses the flight and the plane crashes. "Taken in the vertigo of a death that has been narrowly avoided, she moves away from reality and the present." Starring Noémie Schmidt, Grégoire Isvarine, Marie Mottet, Lou Castel, and Schreiber Alexandre. No idea what's going on here, but it looks crazy cool.
- 1/21/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Netflix is continuing to expand its international footprint with the launch of a Paris bureau, which follows Euro offices in Amsterdam and London and a recently announced production hub in Madrid, Spain.
A spokesperson for Netflix confirmed that the office will initially house around 20 employees, some of whom will be relocating from Amsterdam. The executives will work across production, acquisitions and marketing.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is in Paris today where the streaming giant made the announcement. He also confirmed that following discussions with France’s national film body, the Cnc, the company will start to pay 2% tax on its annual revenues in France.
The company previously had a small office in Paris but that closed down in 2016 prompting speculation that the firm wanted to seek more advantageous tax arrangements elsewhere in Europe. Relations with France have been more challenged than most markets due to the Cannes Film Festival snafu...
A spokesperson for Netflix confirmed that the office will initially house around 20 employees, some of whom will be relocating from Amsterdam. The executives will work across production, acquisitions and marketing.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is in Paris today where the streaming giant made the announcement. He also confirmed that following discussions with France’s national film body, the Cnc, the company will start to pay 2% tax on its annual revenues in France.
The company previously had a small office in Paris but that closed down in 2016 prompting speculation that the firm wanted to seek more advantageous tax arrangements elsewhere in Europe. Relations with France have been more challenged than most markets due to the Cannes Film Festival snafu...
- 9/27/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
The 2018 edition of the L'Etrange Festival in Paris has come to and end and if you missed it, well ... you missed a lot. As a bit of a wrap up the organizers have shared the video below featuring an array of guests including (deep breath) Gaspar Noé (Climax), John McPhail (Anna and the Apocalypse), Tilman Singer (Luz), Zhou Shengwei (S He), Bruno Dumont (Quinquin and the Extra-Humans), Justin McConnell (Lifechanger), Kevin Chicken (Perfect Skin), Lou Castel (I Feel Good), Anthony Hickling (Frig), Dennison Ramalho (The Nightshifter), Paulo Beto (Anvil FX). And many, many more. Take a look below!...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 9/24/2018
- Screen Anarchy
Exclusive: Production is under way in Turin, Italy on comedy feature Dolcissime, produced and written by Marco D’Amore, star of hit Italian crime series Gomorrah.
D’Amore produces under his La Piccola Societa banner with Italian stalwart Indiana Production, producers of Helen Mirren-Donald Sutherland comedy The Leisure Seeker. Sky Italia-backed Vision Distribution will release the feature next year.
Script comes from D’Amore and Francesco Ghiaccio with the latter directing. D’Amore, Ghiaccio and Indiana previously collaborated on the director’s 2015 feature debut Un Posto Sicuro.
Pic, whose title translates literally as ‘the sweetest’, follows three overweight girls who decide to tackle their insecurities by teaming up with a former enemy, the leader of the synchronized swimming team, who will train them to take part in a competition.
Starring are established Italian actors Valeria Solarino (Angel Of Evil) — who also has a starring role in Indiana’s...
D’Amore produces under his La Piccola Societa banner with Italian stalwart Indiana Production, producers of Helen Mirren-Donald Sutherland comedy The Leisure Seeker. Sky Italia-backed Vision Distribution will release the feature next year.
Script comes from D’Amore and Francesco Ghiaccio with the latter directing. D’Amore, Ghiaccio and Indiana previously collaborated on the director’s 2015 feature debut Un Posto Sicuro.
Pic, whose title translates literally as ‘the sweetest’, follows three overweight girls who decide to tackle their insecurities by teaming up with a former enemy, the leader of the synchronized swimming team, who will train them to take part in a competition.
Starring are established Italian actors Valeria Solarino (Angel Of Evil) — who also has a starring role in Indiana’s...
- 7/9/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Guest reviewer Lee Broughton is back with an in-depth look at Sergio Corbucci’s grand ‘Zapata’ Spaghetti Western. Set in post-1900 Mexico, Tony Musante’s rebellious peon wants to be a hero of the revolution but he primarily robs the rich in order to pay the extortionate wages that are demanded by Franco Nero’s interloping Polish mercenary-cum-military advisor. The resultant political allegory is played out on an almost epic scale and is suitably enlivened by the presence of a villainous Jack Palance, a plethora of large scale action scenes, an imaginatively used period car and biplane and a rousing soundtrack score by Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai.
The Mercenary (Il mercenario)
Region B Blu-ray
88 Films The Italian Collection
1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 106 min. / A Professional Gun, Il mercenario / Street Date, 8 Jan 2018 / £15.99
Starring: Franco Nero, Tony Musante, Jack Palance, Giovanna Ralli, Franco Giacobini, Eduardo Fajardo, Franco Ressel, Raf Baldassarre, Tito Garcia.
The Mercenary (Il mercenario)
Region B Blu-ray
88 Films The Italian Collection
1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 106 min. / A Professional Gun, Il mercenario / Street Date, 8 Jan 2018 / £15.99
Starring: Franco Nero, Tony Musante, Jack Palance, Giovanna Ralli, Franco Giacobini, Eduardo Fajardo, Franco Ressel, Raf Baldassarre, Tito Garcia.
- 2/20/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Stars: Lou Castel, Mark Damon, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Barbara Frey, Rossana Martini, Mirella Maravidi, Franco Citti, Luisa Baratto, Ninetto Davoli, Nino Musco, Carlo Palmucci, Vittorio Duse | Written by Lucio Battistrada, Andrew Baxter | Directed by Carlo Lizzani
Lou Castel takes the lead role in Requiescant, a young man raised to be a pacifist by a travelling preacher who discovered him as a baby after a massacre of his family. Searching for his adopted sister he soon finders her in the employment of George Ferguson (Mark Damon) an evil landowner who manipulates the young man for his own amusement. When his history is heritage is discovered it is revealed Ferguson was the man who ordered the death of the man’s family all for the control over the land that belonged to them.
Requiescant may not be the strongest story for a Western and it does tend to fluff over a few...
Lou Castel takes the lead role in Requiescant, a young man raised to be a pacifist by a travelling preacher who discovered him as a baby after a massacre of his family. Searching for his adopted sister he soon finders her in the employment of George Ferguson (Mark Damon) an evil landowner who manipulates the young man for his own amusement. When his history is heritage is discovered it is revealed Ferguson was the man who ordered the death of the man’s family all for the control over the land that belonged to them.
Requiescant may not be the strongest story for a Western and it does tend to fluff over a few...
- 11/17/2015
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
To mark the release of Requiescant on 16th November, we’ve been given 3 copies to give away on Blu-ray. Lou Castel (Fists in the Pocket, A Bullet for General) plays a young man who was raised to be a pacifist by a travelling preacher after Confederates massacred his family. But when his step-sister runs away,
The post Win Requiescant on Blu-ray appeared first on HeyUGuys.
The post Win Requiescant on Blu-ray appeared first on HeyUGuys.
- 11/12/2015
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Stars: Barbara Crampton, Andrew Simpson, Joséphine de La Baume, Frédéric Pierrot, Lou Castel | Written and Directed by Abner Pastoll
Set in rural France (but shot for the most part here in the UK) Road Games sees hitchhiker Jack rescues Véronique from a road rage altercation. Alone on the road the twosome decide to travel together for safety’s sake after learning a serial killer is cutting a murderous swathe through the region. Tired and hungry they decide against their better judgment to take up an offer to stay the night at a mysterious elderly couple’s mansion…
It’s safe to say the story in Road Games is actually a well-worn trope of the horror genre – so much so that my suspicions about where the film was headed was all but confirmed way before the big reveal (that may also be because I’ve seen way too many horror films...
Set in rural France (but shot for the most part here in the UK) Road Games sees hitchhiker Jack rescues Véronique from a road rage altercation. Alone on the road the twosome decide to travel together for safety’s sake after learning a serial killer is cutting a murderous swathe through the region. Tired and hungry they decide against their better judgment to take up an offer to stay the night at a mysterious elderly couple’s mansion…
It’s safe to say the story in Road Games is actually a well-worn trope of the horror genre – so much so that my suspicions about where the film was headed was all but confirmed way before the big reveal (that may also be because I’ve seen way too many horror films...
- 8/30/2015
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
While Klaus Kinski is not the star of Zapata-themed spaghetti western A Bullet for the General, screening as part of Anthology Film Archives' Kinski retrospective, his performance as religious zealot El Santo stands out in his prolific filmography.
Unlike the sadistic killers Kinski played in Westerns like For a Few Dollars More and The Great Silence, Kinski's character personifies the Zapata subgenre's typical mistrust of revolutionary idealism. But unfortunately, as this is a cynical conversion narrative, Santo, a devout believer in class warfare (he rants about serving God by killing the rich), doesn't receive the most screen time. Instead, the focus is on baby-faced American assassin Bill Tate (Lou Castel), who joins up with the outlaws and gets bandit...
Unlike the sadistic killers Kinski played in Westerns like For a Few Dollars More and The Great Silence, Kinski's character personifies the Zapata subgenre's typical mistrust of revolutionary idealism. But unfortunately, as this is a cynical conversion narrative, Santo, a devout believer in class warfare (he rants about serving God by killing the rich), doesn't receive the most screen time. Instead, the focus is on baby-faced American assassin Bill Tate (Lou Castel), who joins up with the outlaws and gets bandit...
- 7/30/2014
- Village Voice
The first entry in a new and on-going series of audiovisual essays by Cristina Álvarez López and Adrian Martin.
***
When asked about the central dance scene in Regular Lovers (Les amants réguliers, 2005), director Philippe Garrel testified that, as he and his closest co-workers get older, they more naturally collaborate – in order to get things done more efficiently, creatively and pleasantly. So did Garrel plot every camera move, choreograph every gesture, set the entire mise en scène of this dance, or any of the similar scenes in his films of the 21st century? It’s unlikely. This is not the awesome, choreographic, one-man mastery of a Max Ophüls, but a collectively shaped vibration or wave: actors, cinematographer, off-screen advisers, director, all mucking in together to capture a particular swirl of sensations and associations clustered around the motif of dance.
The songs, we imagine, are chosen (or at least vetted) by Garrel:...
***
When asked about the central dance scene in Regular Lovers (Les amants réguliers, 2005), director Philippe Garrel testified that, as he and his closest co-workers get older, they more naturally collaborate – in order to get things done more efficiently, creatively and pleasantly. So did Garrel plot every camera move, choreograph every gesture, set the entire mise en scène of this dance, or any of the similar scenes in his films of the 21st century? It’s unlikely. This is not the awesome, choreographic, one-man mastery of a Max Ophüls, but a collectively shaped vibration or wave: actors, cinematographer, off-screen advisers, director, all mucking in together to capture a particular swirl of sensations and associations clustered around the motif of dance.
The songs, we imagine, are chosen (or at least vetted) by Garrel:...
- 1/21/2014
- by Cristina Álvarez López & Adrian Martin
- MUBI
DVD Release Date: Aug. 27, 2013
Price: DVD $69.95
Studio: Criterion
R. W. Fassbinder's Beware of a Holy Whore (1971)
From the very beginning of his incandescent career, the New German Cinema enfant terrible Rainer Werner Fassbinder (World on a Wire) refused to play by the rules. His politically charged, experimental first films, made at an astonishingly rapid rate between 1969 and 1971, were influenced by the work of the antiteater, an avant-garde stage troupe that he had helped found in Munich.
Collected in Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder are five of those fascinating and confrontational works; whether a self-conscious meditation on American crime movies, a scathing indictment of xenophobia in contemporary Germany, or an off-the-wall look at the dysfunctional relationships on film sets, each is a startling glimpse into the mind of a twenty-something man who would become one of the cinema’s most prolific artists.
Love Is Colder Than Death (1969)
For his debut, Fassbinder fashioned an acerbic,...
Price: DVD $69.95
Studio: Criterion
R. W. Fassbinder's Beware of a Holy Whore (1971)
From the very beginning of his incandescent career, the New German Cinema enfant terrible Rainer Werner Fassbinder (World on a Wire) refused to play by the rules. His politically charged, experimental first films, made at an astonishingly rapid rate between 1969 and 1971, were influenced by the work of the antiteater, an avant-garde stage troupe that he had helped found in Munich.
Collected in Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder are five of those fascinating and confrontational works; whether a self-conscious meditation on American crime movies, a scathing indictment of xenophobia in contemporary Germany, or an off-the-wall look at the dysfunctional relationships on film sets, each is a startling glimpse into the mind of a twenty-something man who would become one of the cinema’s most prolific artists.
Love Is Colder Than Death (1969)
For his debut, Fassbinder fashioned an acerbic,...
- 6/6/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
DVD Playhouse – May 2012
By Allen Gardner
Shame (20th Century Fox) Director Steve McQueen’s harrowing portrait of a Manhattan sex addict (Michael Fassbender, in the year’s most riveting performance) whose psyche goes into overload when his equally-troubled sister (Carey Mulligan) visits unexpectedly. Exquisitely-made on every level, save for the screenplay, which makes its point after about thirty minutes. While it tries hard to be a modern-day Last Tango in Paris, this fatal flaw makes it fall somewhat short. The much- ballyhooed sex scenes and frontal nudity are the least-interesting things about the film, incidentally, which is still a must-see for discriminating adults who seek out challenging material. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 5.1 surround.
Being John Malkovich (Criterion) Spike Jonze’s madcap film of Charlie Kaufman’s script, regarding a socially-disenfranchised puppeteer (John Cusack) who finds a portal into the mind of actor...
By Allen Gardner
Shame (20th Century Fox) Director Steve McQueen’s harrowing portrait of a Manhattan sex addict (Michael Fassbender, in the year’s most riveting performance) whose psyche goes into overload when his equally-troubled sister (Carey Mulligan) visits unexpectedly. Exquisitely-made on every level, save for the screenplay, which makes its point after about thirty minutes. While it tries hard to be a modern-day Last Tango in Paris, this fatal flaw makes it fall somewhat short. The much- ballyhooed sex scenes and frontal nudity are the least-interesting things about the film, incidentally, which is still a must-see for discriminating adults who seek out challenging material. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 5.1 surround.
Being John Malkovich (Criterion) Spike Jonze’s madcap film of Charlie Kaufman’s script, regarding a socially-disenfranchised puppeteer (John Cusack) who finds a portal into the mind of actor...
- 5/7/2012
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
DVD Playhouse—April 2012
By Allen Gardner
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Warner Bros.) An eleven year-old boy (newcomer Thomas Horn, in an incredible debut) discovers a mysterious key amongst the possessions of his late father (Tom Hanks) who perished in 9/11. Determined to find the lock it matches, the boy embarks on a Picaresque odyssey across New York City. Director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter Eric Roth have fashioned a film both grand and intimate, beautifully-adapted from Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, thought by most who read it to be unfilmable. Fine support from Jeffrey Wright, Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, Viola Davis and the great Max von Sydow. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 5.1 surround.
Battle Royale: The Complete Collection (Anchor Bay) Adapted from Koushun Takami’s polarizing novel (compared by champions and detractors alike as a 21st century version of A Clockwork Orange) and set in a futuristic Japan,...
By Allen Gardner
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Warner Bros.) An eleven year-old boy (newcomer Thomas Horn, in an incredible debut) discovers a mysterious key amongst the possessions of his late father (Tom Hanks) who perished in 9/11. Determined to find the lock it matches, the boy embarks on a Picaresque odyssey across New York City. Director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter Eric Roth have fashioned a film both grand and intimate, beautifully-adapted from Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, thought by most who read it to be unfilmable. Fine support from Jeffrey Wright, Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, Viola Davis and the great Max von Sydow. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 5.1 surround.
Battle Royale: The Complete Collection (Anchor Bay) Adapted from Koushun Takami’s polarizing novel (compared by champions and detractors alike as a 21st century version of A Clockwork Orange) and set in a futuristic Japan,...
- 4/13/2012
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Just today I received Blue Underground's Blu-ray edition of Night Train Murders for review, and I have news to pass along as well. In what may very well be the first nunsploitation film to hit HD, Blue Underground have announced Killer Nun, starring Anita Ekberg, will hit stores shelves on April 24th!Uncut! Uncensored! Unholy!Legendary Swedish sex bomb Anita Ekberg (La Dolce Vita) stars as Sister Gertrude, a cruel nun who discovers depraved pleasure in a frenzy of drug addiction, sexual degradation and sadistic murder. Joe Dallesandro (Flesh For Frankenstein), Lou Castel (A Bullet For The General), Alida Valli (Suspiria) and the luscious Paola Morra (Behind Convent Walls) co-star in this notorious 'Nunsploitation' based on actual events that took place in a Central European country not...
- 1/12/2012
- Screen Anarchy
April 13-18
Fifty years after Jean-Luc Godard, Serge Bozon and the .young turks. of Cahiers du cinéma resolved that the best way to criticize movies was to make their own films. The result was the creation of another exciting .new wave. of critic-filmmakers, hailing from the iconoclastic film magazine La lettre du cinéma(1997-2005), boldly storming the gates of the French film establishment.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center brings writer, director, actor and DJ, Serge Bozon to New York to present this first major North American survey of films by the Lettre du cinéma circle as well as to curate and present a series of screenings of rarities (along with Anthology Film Archives) that have influenced his work. Also introducing and discussing their films will be his fellow filmmakers, Jean-Charles Fitoussi and Aurélia Georges. And if that weren.t enough, Bozon will also put his DJ skills on display,...
Fifty years after Jean-Luc Godard, Serge Bozon and the .young turks. of Cahiers du cinéma resolved that the best way to criticize movies was to make their own films. The result was the creation of another exciting .new wave. of critic-filmmakers, hailing from the iconoclastic film magazine La lettre du cinéma(1997-2005), boldly storming the gates of the French film establishment.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center brings writer, director, actor and DJ, Serge Bozon to New York to present this first major North American survey of films by the Lettre du cinéma circle as well as to curate and present a series of screenings of rarities (along with Anthology Film Archives) that have influenced his work. Also introducing and discussing their films will be his fellow filmmakers, Jean-Charles Fitoussi and Aurélia Georges. And if that weren.t enough, Bozon will also put his DJ skills on display,...
- 3/15/2011
- by Melissa Howland
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Jeffman from Head Full Of Snow recommends five Spaghetti Westerns not directed by Sergio Leone.
A bruised and battered stalwart of the late night cinema circuit, the Spaghetti Western held a bastardised, custom-job revolver to the head of its inferior American cousin and relieved it of both its basic premise and last shred of decency; joyously blurring the line between right and wrong and leaving morality swinging from a ragged noose in the hot, desert sun.
The Spaghetti Western was an Italian phenomenon, mostly financed by Rome's famous Cinecitta Studios, although there were plenty of co-productions with other Euro countries like Spain and Germany, even stretching as far afield as Israel if you count the soul-sapping awfulness that is God's Gun. One man is responsible for popularising the Spaghetti Western, Sergio Leone. If you're a follower of LateMag's frequent forays into the weird and wonderful worlds of cult cinema you'll probably know his films already.
A bruised and battered stalwart of the late night cinema circuit, the Spaghetti Western held a bastardised, custom-job revolver to the head of its inferior American cousin and relieved it of both its basic premise and last shred of decency; joyously blurring the line between right and wrong and leaving morality swinging from a ragged noose in the hot, desert sun.
The Spaghetti Western was an Italian phenomenon, mostly financed by Rome's famous Cinecitta Studios, although there were plenty of co-productions with other Euro countries like Spain and Germany, even stretching as far afield as Israel if you count the soul-sapping awfulness that is God's Gun. One man is responsible for popularising the Spaghetti Western, Sergio Leone. If you're a follower of LateMag's frequent forays into the weird and wonderful worlds of cult cinema you'll probably know his films already.
- 6/10/2009
- by Nick
- Latemag.com/film
By Michael Atkinson
In the years since "Irma Vep" (1996), French iconoclast Olivier Assayas has become more of a high-profile and international filmmaker, and at the same time a less interesting one; "Alice and Martin," "Les Destinées Sentimentales," "demonlover," "Clean" and "Boarding Gate" have all been films bristling with dramatic ideas that have been, at the same time, often half-baked or unoriginal. His yen for high-nicotine, antisocial coolness seems by now a reflex he should outgrow, but in "Irma Vep" it made perfect, hilarious, seamless sense, because the film is actually about the chaotic life of "art film" production (a swollen balloon waiting for a satiric pin), and because his star, Maggie Cheung, is the paradigmatic fish out of water, a sweet-natured Hong Kong movie star lost in the absurd nonsensicalities of post-post-nouvelle vague French cinema culture.
In many ways, the film -- still Assayas' best -- is a crazy matrix...
In the years since "Irma Vep" (1996), French iconoclast Olivier Assayas has become more of a high-profile and international filmmaker, and at the same time a less interesting one; "Alice and Martin," "Les Destinées Sentimentales," "demonlover," "Clean" and "Boarding Gate" have all been films bristling with dramatic ideas that have been, at the same time, often half-baked or unoriginal. His yen for high-nicotine, antisocial coolness seems by now a reflex he should outgrow, but in "Irma Vep" it made perfect, hilarious, seamless sense, because the film is actually about the chaotic life of "art film" production (a swollen balloon waiting for a satiric pin), and because his star, Maggie Cheung, is the paradigmatic fish out of water, a sweet-natured Hong Kong movie star lost in the absurd nonsensicalities of post-post-nouvelle vague French cinema culture.
In many ways, the film -- still Assayas' best -- is a crazy matrix...
- 12/9/2008
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
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