Tom Ripley is back and in a big way. First introduced in Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 psychological thriller novel, Ripley is a sociopath, murderer, and con artist. He’s also the character Highsmith identified with-no wonder she wrote four more novels featuring Ripley. A 2023 New York Times article stated, “her concepts are daring, her portrayals of men in the throes of personality disorder and psychopathic leanings are equally repulsive and propulsive…she was a lesbian who identified more with men; an ardent pursuer of pleasure, especially in her youth…a raging antisemite…she could never hold on to happiness.”
Andrew Scott, the “hot priest” of “Fleabag,” is the latest actor to play the character described as having “an elusive sexuality,” in Netflix’s “Ripley,” a handsome, black-and-white limited series from Oscar-winning screenwriter/director Steve Zaillian (“Schindler’s List”).
Ripley’s a small-time con man living in a seedy room in New York...
Andrew Scott, the “hot priest” of “Fleabag,” is the latest actor to play the character described as having “an elusive sexuality,” in Netflix’s “Ripley,” a handsome, black-and-white limited series from Oscar-winning screenwriter/director Steve Zaillian (“Schindler’s List”).
Ripley’s a small-time con man living in a seedy room in New York...
- 4/12/2024
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Robert Eggers shared his terrifying take on “Nosferatu,” offering up the atmospheric first look at his remake of the famous vampire film to theater owners at CinemaCon this week. In the trailer, Lily-Rose Depp, playing a devout young woman, prays earnestly by candlelight. “Come to me, come to me, hear my call,” she intones before a hand reaches out to grab her neck.
And we’re off, with Eggers’ camera sweeping across wintery villages, dilapidated castles filled with secrets, and rats scurrying across cobblestones, portending some kind of primeval force that’s about to cast a shadow over everything. The movie evokes the best of classic horror — it’s moody, unsettling and also eerily beautiful. But it’s not just artful. There’s also blood gushing from necks and gangs of stake-wielding villagers hoping to use folklore to battle these unseen forces.
“Does evil come from within us or from beyond?...
And we’re off, with Eggers’ camera sweeping across wintery villages, dilapidated castles filled with secrets, and rats scurrying across cobblestones, portending some kind of primeval force that’s about to cast a shadow over everything. The movie evokes the best of classic horror — it’s moody, unsettling and also eerily beautiful. But it’s not just artful. There’s also blood gushing from necks and gangs of stake-wielding villagers hoping to use folklore to battle these unseen forces.
“Does evil come from within us or from beyond?...
- 4/11/2024
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: German broadcasting network Ard has been accused of censorship following its decision to pull a scheduled broadcast of Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir’s 2017 feature Wajib due to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The film’s German co-producer Titus Kreyenberg told Deadline that Wajib had been due to air this Sunday (November 19), with the programming slot set for months and already announced in TV listings.
“It’s been taken off the schedule. Internally, we were told that it was decided that this was not the time to show a Palestinian film,” said Kreyenberg who works under the banner of Berlin and Cologne-based Unafilm with recent credits including Octopus Skin and A Woman.
Deadline has contacted Ard – a joint network involving 10 German regional public broadcasters – as well as Hamburg-based member Ndr, which backed the production. The networks have yet to respond.
Jacir’s drama Wajib is a gentle comedy-drama capturing the reality of Palestinians living within Israeli borders.
The film’s German co-producer Titus Kreyenberg told Deadline that Wajib had been due to air this Sunday (November 19), with the programming slot set for months and already announced in TV listings.
“It’s been taken off the schedule. Internally, we were told that it was decided that this was not the time to show a Palestinian film,” said Kreyenberg who works under the banner of Berlin and Cologne-based Unafilm with recent credits including Octopus Skin and A Woman.
Deadline has contacted Ard – a joint network involving 10 German regional public broadcasters – as well as Hamburg-based member Ndr, which backed the production. The networks have yet to respond.
Jacir’s drama Wajib is a gentle comedy-drama capturing the reality of Palestinians living within Israeli borders.
- 11/16/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
There’s a scene in the Paul Reubens-starrer Pee-wee’s Big Adventure that finds its titular character setting off on a vagabond adventure. He hops aboard a train to sit side-by-side with a grizzled, toothless man known as Hobo Jack, and they sing camp songs until Pee-Wee suddenly sours on the moment. The disgust radiates from his face and he makes a rash decision to jump off the moving train and tumble into the dirt below. The scene lasts all of 53 seconds.
“It’s such a committed, incredibly short joke that takes so much effort and I think that that has embedded somewhere deep inside me,” Greta Gerwig explained from the podium inside Tcl Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on Thursday night while introducing a screening of Tim Burton’s 1985 film as part of AFI Fest. The blockbuster Barbie director turned up as part of her guest-directing duties for the Los Angeles-based festival,...
“It’s such a committed, incredibly short joke that takes so much effort and I think that that has embedded somewhere deep inside me,” Greta Gerwig explained from the podium inside Tcl Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on Thursday night while introducing a screening of Tim Burton’s 1985 film as part of AFI Fest. The blockbuster Barbie director turned up as part of her guest-directing duties for the Los Angeles-based festival,...
- 10/27/2023
- by Chris Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Barbie phenomenon is spreading to AFI Fest.
Greta Gerwig, who directed and co-wrote the billion dollar blockbuster starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, has been tapped to serve as guest artistic director of the Los Angeles-based festival. In the role, Gerwig will curate a number of films to add to the festival lineup and will be on hand to present one or more of those films depending on her schedule. Filmmakers like Pedro Almodóvar, Bernardo Bertolucci, Ava DuVernay, David Lynch and Agnès Varda have held the role in previous festivals.
On Oct. 10, AFI revealed the list of films Gerwig has selected. Those five films include Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz starring Roy Scheider, Jessica Lange and Ann Reinking, Vincente Minnelli’s An American in Paris starring Gene Kelly, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s A Matter of Life and Death, Tim Burton’s Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure starring the...
Greta Gerwig, who directed and co-wrote the billion dollar blockbuster starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, has been tapped to serve as guest artistic director of the Los Angeles-based festival. In the role, Gerwig will curate a number of films to add to the festival lineup and will be on hand to present one or more of those films depending on her schedule. Filmmakers like Pedro Almodóvar, Bernardo Bertolucci, Ava DuVernay, David Lynch and Agnès Varda have held the role in previous festivals.
On Oct. 10, AFI revealed the list of films Gerwig has selected. Those five films include Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz starring Roy Scheider, Jessica Lange and Ann Reinking, Vincente Minnelli’s An American in Paris starring Gene Kelly, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s A Matter of Life and Death, Tim Burton’s Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure starring the...
- 10/2/2023
- by Chris Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Golda is a biographical war drama film directed by Guy Nattiv from a script by Nicholas Martin. Starring Helen Mirren in the lead role of Golda Meir, the fourth Prime Minister of Israel, the film follows Golda’s leadership of Israel during the Yom Kippur War. The film also stars Camille Cottin and Liev Schreiber. So, if you loved Golda here are some similar movies you could watch next.
A Woman Called Golda (Not Streaming in the US) Credit – Syndication
Synopsis: The story of the Russian-born, Wisconsin-raised woman who rose to become Israel’s prime minister in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Darkest Hour (Netflix & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – Universal Pictures
Synopsis: Academy Award® winner Gary Oldman gives a “towering performance” in acclaimed director Joe Wright’s soaring drama Darkest Hour. As Hitler’s forces storm across the European landscape and close in on the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill...
A Woman Called Golda (Not Streaming in the US) Credit – Syndication
Synopsis: The story of the Russian-born, Wisconsin-raised woman who rose to become Israel’s prime minister in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Darkest Hour (Netflix & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – Universal Pictures
Synopsis: Academy Award® winner Gary Oldman gives a “towering performance” in acclaimed director Joe Wright’s soaring drama Darkest Hour. As Hitler’s forces storm across the European landscape and close in on the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill...
- 9/23/2023
- by Kulwant Singh
- Cinema Blind
The Locarno Film Festival will fete Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård with its Honorary Career Leopard award at the upcoming edition, running August 2 to 12.
The award ceremony will take place August 4 at the Piazza Grande, followed by an audience Q&a at the Spazio Cinema on August 5, while the actor’s 1990 pic Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg by Kjell Grede, will screen on August 3.
Alongside his work with European filmmakers such as Lars von Trier, for whom he starred five times, including Breaking The Waves, which won the Jury Prize at Cannes, Skarsgård is known for his roles in big Hollywood films such as Pirates of the Caribbean films, Mamma Mia!, Thor, and Denis Villeneuve’s Dune — the second part of which will be released this fall.
Also active in television, Skarsgård won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a miniseries in the HBO drama Chernobyl. He recently starred in...
The award ceremony will take place August 4 at the Piazza Grande, followed by an audience Q&a at the Spazio Cinema on August 5, while the actor’s 1990 pic Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg by Kjell Grede, will screen on August 3.
Alongside his work with European filmmakers such as Lars von Trier, for whom he starred five times, including Breaking The Waves, which won the Jury Prize at Cannes, Skarsgård is known for his roles in big Hollywood films such as Pirates of the Caribbean films, Mamma Mia!, Thor, and Denis Villeneuve’s Dune — the second part of which will be released this fall.
Also active in television, Skarsgård won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a miniseries in the HBO drama Chernobyl. He recently starred in...
- 7/10/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
The Locarno Film Festival will fete multi-award-winning Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang with an Honorary Career Leopard award at the upcoming edition running from August 2 to 12.
Regarded as a key figure in the Second New Wave of Taiwanese cinema, Malaysian-born Tsai Ming-liang made his debut in the early 1990s, breaking out internationally with Vive L’Amour, which won Venice’s Golden Lion in 1994.
Other award-winning titles include with The River, which won the Jury Award at Berlin in 1996, while in 2009, his work Visage (Face) became the first film to be included in the collection of the Louvre Museum’s “Le Louvre s’offre aux cineastes”.
Tsai’s connections with the art world have grown over the years and he has been invited to participate in various art exhibitions and festivals, while he developed aesthetic ideas such as “Hand-sculpted Cinema” and “The removal of industrial processes from art making”.
The festival’s celebration...
Regarded as a key figure in the Second New Wave of Taiwanese cinema, Malaysian-born Tsai Ming-liang made his debut in the early 1990s, breaking out internationally with Vive L’Amour, which won Venice’s Golden Lion in 1994.
Other award-winning titles include with The River, which won the Jury Award at Berlin in 1996, while in 2009, his work Visage (Face) became the first film to be included in the collection of the Louvre Museum’s “Le Louvre s’offre aux cineastes”.
Tsai’s connections with the art world have grown over the years and he has been invited to participate in various art exhibitions and festivals, while he developed aesthetic ideas such as “Hand-sculpted Cinema” and “The removal of industrial processes from art making”.
The festival’s celebration...
- 6/20/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The Force may have been strong with Luke Skywalker, but Mark Hamill is certain that he will be hanging up his lightsaber once and for all. Not only that, but he’s confident that the Star Wars saga will be just fine without the beloved Jedi.
Mark Hamill has been chatting about Luke Skywalker a lot lately, with one notable take saying he’s open to being replaced by a younger actor. But now he has doubled down, saying maybe the character doesn’t need to be in the series anymore at all. “You never say never. I just don’t see any reason to [play him again]. Let me put it that way: I mean, they have so many stories to tell, they don’t need Luke anymore.” Hamill’s wording certainly catches attention, as he’s not saying “they don’t need me anymore” but specifically Luke, who served as the...
Mark Hamill has been chatting about Luke Skywalker a lot lately, with one notable take saying he’s open to being replaced by a younger actor. But now he has doubled down, saying maybe the character doesn’t need to be in the series anymore at all. “You never say never. I just don’t see any reason to [play him again]. Let me put it that way: I mean, they have so many stories to tell, they don’t need Luke anymore.” Hamill’s wording certainly catches attention, as he’s not saying “they don’t need me anymore” but specifically Luke, who served as the...
- 6/5/2023
- by Mathew Plale
- JoBlo.com
A third Wings of Desire centering on the angels that watch over us, is not in the cards, German director Wim Wenders said today at the Cannes press conference for his latest in competition title at the fest, Perfect Days.
“I don’t think I would go back to the idea of angels, if anything this comes pretty close,” Wenders said about Perfect Days.
Wings of Desire, which won Wim Wenders best director in 1987 at Cannes, and its 1993 sequel, Faraway, So Close!, which won him the Grand Jury Prize, explore the lives of angels who opt to lose their immortal wings and fall to Earth, tending to problems on the ground. The first installment took place in a divided Berlin with the Wall, while the sequel was set in the unified German capital.
“My angels forever disappeared in the sky,” said Wenders referring to the franchise’s late actors Peter Falk and Bruno Ganz.
“I don’t think I would go back to the idea of angels, if anything this comes pretty close,” Wenders said about Perfect Days.
Wings of Desire, which won Wim Wenders best director in 1987 at Cannes, and its 1993 sequel, Faraway, So Close!, which won him the Grand Jury Prize, explore the lives of angels who opt to lose their immortal wings and fall to Earth, tending to problems on the ground. The first installment took place in a divided Berlin with the Wall, while the sequel was set in the unified German capital.
“My angels forever disappeared in the sky,” said Wenders referring to the franchise’s late actors Peter Falk and Bruno Ganz.
- 5/26/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
The grand theme of Wings of Desire, Wim Wenders’s fantasy of angels in Berlin before the end of the Cold War, is storytelling in all its forms as a coping mechanism of the human race. Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and his more objective but similarly empathetic cohort, Cassiel (Otto Sander), whose wings are only fleetingly shown, regularly swap tales of the small behaviors and interactions they’ve witnessed after traversing the skies and streets to hear “only what is spiritual in people’s minds.”
Among those observed are an elderly poet, Homer (Curt Bois), wandering the sites of his vanished haunts from the pre-Nazi era, wondering why “an epic of peace” has never been sung; Peter Falk, playing some eternal version of himself, arriving to shoot a film and provide a good measure of American soul and humor to Berliners and angels alike; and waitress turned trapeze artist Marion preparing...
Among those observed are an elderly poet, Homer (Curt Bois), wandering the sites of his vanished haunts from the pre-Nazi era, wondering why “an epic of peace” has never been sung; Peter Falk, playing some eternal version of himself, arriving to shoot a film and provide a good measure of American soul and humor to Berliners and angels alike; and waitress turned trapeze artist Marion preparing...
- 5/10/2023
- by Bill Weber
- Slant Magazine
Above: Italian poster for The Lovemakers. Illustration by Mauro Innocenti.Over the past ten years I’ve surveyed the illustrated likenesses of stars like Lauren Bacall, Kirk Douglas, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Bruno Ganz and Monica Vitti as in memoriams after their passing, so I am happy to say that the occasion of this look at Claudia Cardinale in movie posters is simply that, starting today, the 84-years-young Ms. Cardinale is being fêted with a three-week, 23-film retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art.Claudia Cardinale is one of my favorite actors, but while exploring her career for this piece I realized that my affection for her really comes down to one film, albeit one of my all-time favorites: Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). The fact that she is the focus of perhaps my favorite single shot in all cinema—Sergio Leone's magnificent crane shot as Cardinale’s Jill...
- 2/2/2023
- MUBI
Dracula is one of the most recognizable figures in popular culture, having been a mainstay of literature, film, stage, comics, TV, and more for 125 years. And it all flows back to Bram Stoker’s original 1897 novel, Dracula, which not only stands as a milestone in both horror and English literature, but provided the template for the vampire that has influenced a vast swath of entertainment for more than a century.
The ancient Transylvanian Count has appeared in scores of films and TV shows over the years, but while there have been at least eight major, direct adaptations of Stoker’s novel, there has yet to be a version that can be said to be the definitive screen translation of the book. Part of the reason for that is its format: Dracula is an epistolary novel, told from the viewpoints of different characters largely through diary entries, journals, letters, and newspaper reports.
The ancient Transylvanian Count has appeared in scores of films and TV shows over the years, but while there have been at least eight major, direct adaptations of Stoker’s novel, there has yet to be a version that can be said to be the definitive screen translation of the book. Part of the reason for that is its format: Dracula is an epistolary novel, told from the viewpoints of different characters largely through diary entries, journals, letters, and newspaper reports.
- 10/30/2022
- by Don Kaye
- Den of Geek
Pilou Asbæk has quickly become one of those actors that many might not immediately know by name, but certainly remember for his villainous characters. From Euron Grayjoy in "Game of Thrones" to Wafner in "Overlord," he's gotten quite good at portraying characters you are either terrified of or want to punch in the face.
When I spoke to him to promote his latest film, "Run Sweetheart Run," it turns out that he loves these types of roles, and this latest one is certainly no different. Asbæk plays Ethan, a mysterious man who meets an aspiring lawyer named Cherie (Ella Balinska) after an internal scheduling error. At least, that's what Cherie thinks. While the two initially hit it off, Cherie realizes that there is something far more sinister about Ethan than he lets on, resulting in a wild chase throughout Los Angeles. Before you turn on the film on Prime Video,...
When I spoke to him to promote his latest film, "Run Sweetheart Run," it turns out that he loves these types of roles, and this latest one is certainly no different. Asbæk plays Ethan, a mysterious man who meets an aspiring lawyer named Cherie (Ella Balinska) after an internal scheduling error. At least, that's what Cherie thinks. While the two initially hit it off, Cherie realizes that there is something far more sinister about Ethan than he lets on, resulting in a wild chase throughout Los Angeles. Before you turn on the film on Prime Video,...
- 10/28/2022
- by Erin Brady
- Slash Film
(Welcome to Year of the Vampire, a series examining the greatest, strangest, and sometimes overlooked vampire movies of all time in honor of "Nosferatu," which turns 100 this year.)
Civilization is a tenuous notion in "Nosferatu the Vampyre," Werner Herzog's 1979 remake of the original "Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror." The movie begins with footage of mummies in a cave, their faces frozen in ghastly, Edward Munch-like expressions. The camera pans down and we see that some of them are wearing shoes and fashionable heels, an image at odds with their half-decayed state and the spooky, ethereal choral chanting of Popol Vuh's "Brüder des Schattens" ("Brothers of the Shadow").
A bat flies in through the window of the bedroom where Lucy Harker, played by Isabelle Adjani ("Possession"), wakes screaming from a nightmare. Her husband Jonathan (Bruno Ganz) tries to console her, but he'll be riding off soon, despite her presentiments...
Civilization is a tenuous notion in "Nosferatu the Vampyre," Werner Herzog's 1979 remake of the original "Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror." The movie begins with footage of mummies in a cave, their faces frozen in ghastly, Edward Munch-like expressions. The camera pans down and we see that some of them are wearing shoes and fashionable heels, an image at odds with their half-decayed state and the spooky, ethereal choral chanting of Popol Vuh's "Brüder des Schattens" ("Brothers of the Shadow").
A bat flies in through the window of the bedroom where Lucy Harker, played by Isabelle Adjani ("Possession"), wakes screaming from a nightmare. Her husband Jonathan (Bruno Ganz) tries to console her, but he'll be riding off soon, despite her presentiments...
- 10/22/2022
- by Joshua Meyer
- Slash Film
Cohen Film Collection Restoring More Merchant Ivory Classics, Including Duo’s First Film (Exclusive)
Cohen Film Collection is continuing its restorations of classic Merchant Ivory productions, among them 1963’s “The Householder,” the first film collaboration between Ismail Merchant and James Ivory.
The classics label of Cohen Media Group, Cohen Film Collection is lining up the restorations of four titles that also include the 1977 episodic romantic drama “Roseland,” with Teresa Wright and Christopher Walken, and two films directed by Merchant, “In Custody” (1994), featuring Shashi Kapoor, and “The Proprietor” (1996), starring Jeanne Moreau.
Tim Lanza, Cohen Film Collection vice president and archivist, says he chose “In Custody” – Merchant’s feature directorial debut — and “The Proprietor” in particular “because James Ivory was keen to have a rerelease of some of the films that were directed by Ismael Merchant himself.”
“The Householder” and “In Custody” are also among Merchant Ivory’s India-set films, which Lanza is likewise excited to reintroduce to audiences.
Cohen Film Collection acquired a number of...
The classics label of Cohen Media Group, Cohen Film Collection is lining up the restorations of four titles that also include the 1977 episodic romantic drama “Roseland,” with Teresa Wright and Christopher Walken, and two films directed by Merchant, “In Custody” (1994), featuring Shashi Kapoor, and “The Proprietor” (1996), starring Jeanne Moreau.
Tim Lanza, Cohen Film Collection vice president and archivist, says he chose “In Custody” – Merchant’s feature directorial debut — and “The Proprietor” in particular “because James Ivory was keen to have a rerelease of some of the films that were directed by Ismael Merchant himself.”
“The Householder” and “In Custody” are also among Merchant Ivory’s India-set films, which Lanza is likewise excited to reintroduce to audiences.
Cohen Film Collection acquired a number of...
- 10/20/2022
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
The American Friend director Wim Wenders on Patricia Highsmith: “Amazing strong person.” Photo: courtesy of Swiss Literary Archives
In honour of Patricia Highsmith and the US theatrical première of Eva Vitija’s intimate Loving Highsmith, Film Forum in New York has scheduled movies adapted from the novels of the acclaimed author to show simultaneously with the documentary.
Eva Vitija with Anne-Katrin Titze: “The character of Ripley shows much about Patricia Highsmith herself.”
Highsmith On Screen includes Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers On A Train; René Clément’s Purple Noon; Wim Wenders’s The American Friend (starring Dennis Hopper and Bruno Ganz); Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Todd Haynes’s Carol (screenplay by Phyllis Nagy, adapted from The Price of Salt, starring Rooney Mara, Kyle Chandler, and...
In honour of Patricia Highsmith and the US theatrical première of Eva Vitija’s intimate Loving Highsmith, Film Forum in New York has scheduled movies adapted from the novels of the acclaimed author to show simultaneously with the documentary.
Eva Vitija with Anne-Katrin Titze: “The character of Ripley shows much about Patricia Highsmith herself.”
Highsmith On Screen includes Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers On A Train; René Clément’s Purple Noon; Wim Wenders’s The American Friend (starring Dennis Hopper and Bruno Ganz); Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Todd Haynes’s Carol (screenplay by Phyllis Nagy, adapted from The Price of Salt, starring Rooney Mara, Kyle Chandler, and...
- 8/31/2022
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Shot when the city seemed forever divided by the wall, this intensely romantic story of an angel who longs for human love is unlike any other
Wim Wenders’ extravagantly wistful, intensely literary romantic fantasy, co-conceived with Peter Handke, is re-released and right now it looks more than anything like an elegiac “city symphony” about Berlin. How extraordinary to think that just two years after this film came out, the Wall and the city’s division into east and west – which had seemed as poetically fixed and immutable as a river shoreline – disappeared. With its amazing crane and helicopter shots, Wenders’ movie swoops and hovers and floats over the city, pointedly surmounting the hated wall, enacting the longing of Berliners to somehow overcome history’s gravity and get over this ugly barrier.
Bruno Ganz and Otto Sander play Damiel and Cassiel, two angels in the sky above Berlin who amuse themselves...
Wim Wenders’ extravagantly wistful, intensely literary romantic fantasy, co-conceived with Peter Handke, is re-released and right now it looks more than anything like an elegiac “city symphony” about Berlin. How extraordinary to think that just two years after this film came out, the Wall and the city’s division into east and west – which had seemed as poetically fixed and immutable as a river shoreline – disappeared. With its amazing crane and helicopter shots, Wenders’ movie swoops and hovers and floats over the city, pointedly surmounting the hated wall, enacting the longing of Berliners to somehow overcome history’s gravity and get over this ugly barrier.
Bruno Ganz and Otto Sander play Damiel and Cassiel, two angels in the sky above Berlin who amuse themselves...
- 6/22/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
I feel like I’ve just seen the first movie that — future developments pending — might work better in the breach, so to speak, than in the observance. So to speak.
What do I mean by this? Well, Nude Tuesday is a New Zealand comedy that distinguishes itself in a very Down Under culture-jamming sort of way: It is performed by the cast in a “language” that is mostly gibberish. There are a few words that were agreed upon in advance, for consistency — yaah and ne, for example; chula for “thanks” — but beyond that, the actors are working more with feeling rather than concrete meaning as they deliver their improvised nonsense dialogue.
It’s all the brainchild of director Armağan Ballantyne and actor, filmmaker, and costar here Jackie van Beek. Van Beek wrote the script — more a general outline, it would seem — and then, after production was completed, another writer, comedian Julia Davis,...
What do I mean by this? Well, Nude Tuesday is a New Zealand comedy that distinguishes itself in a very Down Under culture-jamming sort of way: It is performed by the cast in a “language” that is mostly gibberish. There are a few words that were agreed upon in advance, for consistency — yaah and ne, for example; chula for “thanks” — but beyond that, the actors are working more with feeling rather than concrete meaning as they deliver their improvised nonsense dialogue.
It’s all the brainchild of director Armağan Ballantyne and actor, filmmaker, and costar here Jackie van Beek. Van Beek wrote the script — more a general outline, it would seem — and then, after production was completed, another writer, comedian Julia Davis,...
- 6/17/2022
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
Spanish streaming service Filmin has acquired Lars von Trier’s “The Kingdom” trilogy, along with the full library of films by the director, from TrustNordisk.
Von Trier is currently completing the third and final instalment of “The Kingdom,” his cult 1990s TV show about the good, evil and paranormal inside the neurosurgical ward of Denmark’s main hospital.
Filmin is also acquiring the restored Seasons 1 and 2 of the show and will launch the complete series in Spain. The trilogy has already been acquired in several territories, including Germany and Austria (Koch Films), Japan (Synca Creations) and South Korea (AtNine).
“We are pleased to experience this high level of interest in the series among buyers, who are evidently intrigued and excited about the series’ epic story, director and cast, which of course comes as no surprise,” said Susan Wendt, TrustNordisk’s managing director.
Von Trier penned the script in collaboration with Niels Vørsel,...
Von Trier is currently completing the third and final instalment of “The Kingdom,” his cult 1990s TV show about the good, evil and paranormal inside the neurosurgical ward of Denmark’s main hospital.
Filmin is also acquiring the restored Seasons 1 and 2 of the show and will launch the complete series in Spain. The trilogy has already been acquired in several territories, including Germany and Austria (Koch Films), Japan (Synca Creations) and South Korea (AtNine).
“We are pleased to experience this high level of interest in the series among buyers, who are evidently intrigued and excited about the series’ epic story, director and cast, which of course comes as no surprise,” said Susan Wendt, TrustNordisk’s managing director.
Von Trier penned the script in collaboration with Niels Vørsel,...
- 6/1/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Harry Styles nearly followed in the footsteps of Robert Pattinson and Anya Taylor-Joy.
In a lengthy, incredibly illuminating profile of director Robert Eggers for The New Yorker, it was revealed that Harry Styles was scheduled to be a part of Eggers’ remake of “Nosferatu,” starring Anya Taylor-Joy. But, alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
The article says that Styles had to drop out due to scheduling concerns. He appeared briefly in Marvel Studios’ “Eternals” last year and has a role in Olivia Wilde’s upcoming “Booksmart” follow-up “Don’t Worry Darling” alongside Florence Pugh and Chris Pine. Styles is releasing a new album in May and then going on an international tour, which may have conflicted with the intended “Nosferatu” shooting dates.
According to the New Yorker profile, Eggers’ cinematographer Jarin Blaschke had already enrolled his daughter in school in Prague when Styles dropped out.
It’s unclear if the project,...
In a lengthy, incredibly illuminating profile of director Robert Eggers for The New Yorker, it was revealed that Harry Styles was scheduled to be a part of Eggers’ remake of “Nosferatu,” starring Anya Taylor-Joy. But, alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
The article says that Styles had to drop out due to scheduling concerns. He appeared briefly in Marvel Studios’ “Eternals” last year and has a role in Olivia Wilde’s upcoming “Booksmart” follow-up “Don’t Worry Darling” alongside Florence Pugh and Chris Pine. Styles is releasing a new album in May and then going on an international tour, which may have conflicted with the intended “Nosferatu” shooting dates.
According to the New Yorker profile, Eggers’ cinematographer Jarin Blaschke had already enrolled his daughter in school in Prague when Styles dropped out.
It’s unclear if the project,...
- 3/28/2022
- by Drew Taylor
- The Wrap
(Welcome to Now Stream This, a column dedicated to the best movies streaming on Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and every other streaming service out there.) The American Friend Now Streaming on The Criterion Channel Release Date: 1997 Genre: Neo-Noir Director: Wim Wenders Cast: Dennis Hopper, Bruno Ganz, Lisa Kreuzer, Gérard Blain Wim Wenders‘ deliberately paced blend of neo-noir and tone […]
The post The Best Streaming Movies to Watch Right Now: ‘The American Friend,’ ‘The Empty Man,’ A Quiet Place Part II,’ ‘Barb and Star,’ and More appeared first on /Film.
The post The Best Streaming Movies to Watch Right Now: ‘The American Friend,’ ‘The Empty Man,’ A Quiet Place Part II,’ ‘Barb and Star,’ and More appeared first on /Film.
- 7/23/2021
- by Chris Evangelista
- Slash Film
TNT is developing a sequel series to the 2011 film “Unknown” with the movie’s star Liam Neeson on board as a producer, TheWrap has confirmed.
“Unknown” starred Neeson as Martin Harris, a doctor who loses his memory after a car accident only to wake up to find out his identity has been stolen and he is now the target of assassins. The series would pick up after the events of the film and follow a new lead character who is thrust into a mind-bending adventure full of twists and turns.
Jaume Collet-Serra, who directed the film, is attached to direct the series and executive produce. Sean Finegan will write the pilot and will executive produce. Karl Gajdusek and Speed Weed will serve as executive producers and showrunners. Ethan Erwin, Alex Mace and Hal Sadoff of Dark Castle are also executive producers, alongside Erik Olsen.
“Unknown” (the film) was written by...
“Unknown” starred Neeson as Martin Harris, a doctor who loses his memory after a car accident only to wake up to find out his identity has been stolen and he is now the target of assassins. The series would pick up after the events of the film and follow a new lead character who is thrust into a mind-bending adventure full of twists and turns.
Jaume Collet-Serra, who directed the film, is attached to direct the series and executive produce. Sean Finegan will write the pilot and will executive produce. Karl Gajdusek and Speed Weed will serve as executive producers and showrunners. Ethan Erwin, Alex Mace and Hal Sadoff of Dark Castle are also executive producers, alongside Erik Olsen.
“Unknown” (the film) was written by...
- 6/29/2021
- by Tim Baysinger
- The Wrap
Photo: ‘Winter Journey’/Danmarks Radio Bruno Ganz was a tremendous actor. Born in Switzerland in 1941, he spent the first several decades of his career amassing perhaps the most prestigious filmography in German cinema history, working with auteurs like Werner Herzog and Wim Wenders. He co-starred with Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier in the Nazi hunter sci-fi thriller ‘The Boys From Brazil’, and he unforgettably played Adolf Hitler in the 2004 film ‘Downfall’. In the last fifteen years of his life, he suddenly became a go-to character actor in English-language films, appearing alongside Denzel Washington in ‘The Manchurian Candidate’, Liam Neeson in ‘Unknown’, and Ralph Fiennes in ‘The Reader’. Ganz passed away following a battle with cancer in 2019; ‘Winter Journey’, the new film from Danish director Anders Østergaard, is his final onscreen performance. Related article: ‘The Crossing’ is a WWII Fairytale Adventure Set in the Enchanted Forests of Norway Related article: ‘Supernova...
- 2/26/2021
- by Trent Kinnucan
- Hollywood Insider - Substance & Meaningful Entertainment
Atom Egoyan on Christopher Plummer: “I had the honour of working with him twice, with Ararat in 2002 and Remember in 2015.”
In 2016, Atom Egoyan and I met at the Regency Hotel on Park Avenue for a conversation on his terrifically paced thriller Remember, written by Benjamin August. Structured in the spirit of a cumulative tale the film stars Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, and Bruno Ganz. Since that time Martin Landau and Bruno Ganz have passed away. Sadly, on Friday morning, February 5, Christopher Plummer died at the age of 91.
Christopher Plummer in Atom Egoyan’s Ararat
At the Museum of Tolerance in New York during the post-screening discussion I moderated on Remember with his producer Robert Lantos, I commented to Atom: I would like to start with your choice of actors. It seems to me that their past roles inform the film. Christopher Plummer seems to whisper inaudibly throughout "Remember The Sound Of Music?...
In 2016, Atom Egoyan and I met at the Regency Hotel on Park Avenue for a conversation on his terrifically paced thriller Remember, written by Benjamin August. Structured in the spirit of a cumulative tale the film stars Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, and Bruno Ganz. Since that time Martin Landau and Bruno Ganz have passed away. Sadly, on Friday morning, February 5, Christopher Plummer died at the age of 91.
Christopher Plummer in Atom Egoyan’s Ararat
At the Museum of Tolerance in New York during the post-screening discussion I moderated on Remember with his producer Robert Lantos, I commented to Atom: I would like to start with your choice of actors. It seems to me that their past roles inform the film. Christopher Plummer seems to whisper inaudibly throughout "Remember The Sound Of Music?...
- 2/6/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Lars von Trier is set to direct “Kingdom Exodus,” the third and final season of “The Kingdom,” his cult 1990s TV show about the good, evil and paranormal inside the neurosurgical ward of Denmark’s main hospital.
Louise Vesth at Zentropa Entertainments is producing the five-episode season, which will start shooting next year. TrustNordisk handles international sales on the show, which is expected to be delivered in 2022. “The Kingdom Exodus” is a collaboration between Viaplay, Dr and Zentropa, with financial support from Film i Väst and Nordisk Film & TV Fond, among others.
Von Trier penned the script in collaboration with Niels Vørsel, as for the first two runs. A third season was being planned in the late 1990s before being abandoned followed the death of two cast members, Ernst-Hugo Järegård and Kirsten Rolffes.
“The Kingdom” was adapted by Stephen King in the U.S. as a 13-episode drama titled...
Louise Vesth at Zentropa Entertainments is producing the five-episode season, which will start shooting next year. TrustNordisk handles international sales on the show, which is expected to be delivered in 2022. “The Kingdom Exodus” is a collaboration between Viaplay, Dr and Zentropa, with financial support from Film i Väst and Nordisk Film & TV Fond, among others.
Von Trier penned the script in collaboration with Niels Vørsel, as for the first two runs. A third season was being planned in the late 1990s before being abandoned followed the death of two cast members, Ernst-Hugo Järegård and Kirsten Rolffes.
“The Kingdom” was adapted by Stephen King in the U.S. as a 13-episode drama titled...
- 12/17/2020
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Francine Prose will join Roger Berkowitz, head of the Hannah Arendt Center, Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker for a conversation on Doc NYC Facebook Live this Monday at 2:00pm (Est) Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker’s kaleidoscopic investigation into the past and our future takes us on the road of history and the state of the world at this moment in time, featuring interviews with Saul Friedländer and Francine Prose on Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph Of The Will, Martin Amis on political tactics and characterology, Deborah Lipstadt, Beate Klarsfeld, Serge Klarsfeld, and 94-year-old Yehuda Bauer getting the last word. We enter with books by Timothy Snyder, Hannah Arendt, George Orwell, Klaus Theweleit, and the one by Sebastian Haffner that gives the film its name.
Clips from Mel Brooks’s The Producers to Bruno Ganz in Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Downfall to Anthony Hopkins in George Schaefer’s...
Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker’s kaleidoscopic investigation into the past and our future takes us on the road of history and the state of the world at this moment in time, featuring interviews with Saul Friedländer and Francine Prose on Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph Of The Will, Martin Amis on political tactics and characterology, Deborah Lipstadt, Beate Klarsfeld, Serge Klarsfeld, and 94-year-old Yehuda Bauer getting the last word. We enter with books by Timothy Snyder, Hannah Arendt, George Orwell, Klaus Theweleit, and the one by Sebastian Haffner that gives the film its name.
Clips from Mel Brooks’s The Producers to Bruno Ganz in Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Downfall to Anthony Hopkins in George Schaefer’s...
- 11/15/2020
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Several major distributors return to UK cinemas this weekend.
France, opening Wednesday, October 21
A dozen new films opened in France this week into a complex reality for the country’s distributors and exhibitors following the introduction of a night-time curfew for Paris and eight other major cities on October 17. It was announced yesterday (Oct 22) that the measure will be extended to more than half the country this Saturday (Oct 24) following a further surge in cases over the past week.
Prior to the announcement, a dozen distributors had taken the plunge to release films on Wednesday against already difficult odds. In the backdrop,...
France, opening Wednesday, October 21
A dozen new films opened in France this week into a complex reality for the country’s distributors and exhibitors following the introduction of a night-time curfew for Paris and eight other major cities on October 17. It was announced yesterday (Oct 22) that the measure will be extended to more than half the country this Saturday (Oct 24) following a further surge in cases over the past week.
Prior to the announcement, a dozen distributors had taken the plunge to release films on Wednesday against already difficult odds. In the backdrop,...
- 10/23/2020
- by Ben Dalton¬Martin Blaney¬Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Three-time Oscar nominee Wim Wenders, the director of “Paris, Texas,” “Wings of Desire” and “Buena Vista Social Club,” joined the “Life Through a Different Lens: Contactless Connections” talk earlier this week. Held by the Venice Film Festival and Mastercard, the virtual event allowed him to reminiscence about his beginnings. “I had no intention of becoming a filmmaker. I wanted to be all sorts of things, from a priest to god knows what, and trying to become a painter I ended up in Paris. Where else? That’s where I discovered the Cinémathèque Française, because I lived in a tiny, unheated room and the Cinémathèque was warm!”
Soon, he started to pay attention to the screen as well. “The first retrospective I followed was dedicated to Anthony Mann. He might not be recognised as one of the greats, but I learned so much from this man.” Always inspired by American cinema,...
Soon, he started to pay attention to the screen as well. “The first retrospective I followed was dedicated to Anthony Mann. He might not be recognised as one of the greats, but I learned so much from this man.” Always inspired by American cinema,...
- 9/10/2020
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Both the film itself and its theatrical and day and date streaming releases are of interest to cinephiles and cineastes.
The Tobacconist, a film by Nikolau Leytner based on the international bestseller by Robert Seethaler, is an idealistic story of a seventeen-year-old man who leaves his home in the countryside of Austria where his single mother works as a housekeeper. He journeys to Vienna to apprentice at a tobacco shop where he meets Sigmund Freud, a regular customer. Over time, as the Nazis move in to occupy Vienna, the two very different men form a singular friendship.
The young friend, played by Simon Morzé, succeeds in convincing Freud to leave Vienna and while in real life, this may not have actually happened, the story is a good one in that it illustrates the innate goodness and real friendship that is possible to cultivate during times as dire as the Nazi era,...
The Tobacconist, a film by Nikolau Leytner based on the international bestseller by Robert Seethaler, is an idealistic story of a seventeen-year-old man who leaves his home in the countryside of Austria where his single mother works as a housekeeper. He journeys to Vienna to apprentice at a tobacco shop where he meets Sigmund Freud, a regular customer. Over time, as the Nazis move in to occupy Vienna, the two very different men form a singular friendship.
The young friend, played by Simon Morzé, succeeds in convincing Freud to leave Vienna and while in real life, this may not have actually happened, the story is a good one in that it illustrates the innate goodness and real friendship that is possible to cultivate during times as dire as the Nazi era,...
- 7/13/2020
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Finally, a movie that has the courage to ask: “Was it okay to be horny during the Holocaust?” While Nikolaus Leytner’s “The Tobacconist” poses several other provocative questions along the way, this stiff and milquetoast coming-of-age drama — — fails to ask any of them with the same clarity, and probably would have fared much better had it stuck to the subject at hand rather than try and leverage it toward some kind of deeper meaning. Of course, certain traps are hard to avoid when you’re adapting a Robert Seethaler novel about an über-hormonal Austrian teenager who finds himself getting romantic advice from Sigmund Freud (played by the late Bruno Ganz in the last of the actor’s films to be released in America).
A country boy with Aryan features who grew up on the green shores of Austria’s bucolic lake Attersee, Franz (a strapping but somewhat blank Simon Morzé...
A country boy with Aryan features who grew up on the green shores of Austria’s bucolic lake Attersee, Franz (a strapping but somewhat blank Simon Morzé...
- 7/10/2020
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
A cigar is never just a cigar where Sigmund Freud is concerned. The father of psychoanalysis serves as a supporting character in “The Tobacconist” — and none other than the great Bruno Ganz embodies the iconic smoker, making this one of the German actor’s last (and least bombastic) performances.
Ganz, whom many will recognize from his role as Adolf Hitler in “Downfall,” now plays one of the Führer’s many victims, a Jewish-born atheist forced to flee his comfortable Viennese home during the Anschluss of 1938, when Germany annexed Austria and occupied its capital, meeting with enthusiastic support from National Socialists and anti-Semites who agreed with his policies. This was an undeniably shameful time in Austria’s history, seen through the eyes of a naive young gentile who’s more concerned with falling in love and losing his virginity than with the rise of fascism, at least in TV director Nikolaus Leytner’s somewhat treacly telling.
Ganz, whom many will recognize from his role as Adolf Hitler in “Downfall,” now plays one of the Führer’s many victims, a Jewish-born atheist forced to flee his comfortable Viennese home during the Anschluss of 1938, when Germany annexed Austria and occupied its capital, meeting with enthusiastic support from National Socialists and anti-Semites who agreed with his policies. This was an undeniably shameful time in Austria’s history, seen through the eyes of a naive young gentile who’s more concerned with falling in love and losing his virginity than with the rise of fascism, at least in TV director Nikolaus Leytner’s somewhat treacly telling.
- 7/10/2020
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
The Tobacconist (Der trafikant) Menemsha Films Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net linked from Rotten Tomatoes by: Harvey Karten Director: Nickolaus Leytner Screenwriters: Klaus Richter, Nikolaus Leytner, based on Robert Seethaler’s novel Cast: Simon Morzé, Bruno Ganz, Johannes Krisch, Emma Drogunova Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 6/29/20 Opens: July10, 2020 “Sometimes a cigar is just a […]
The post The Tobacconist Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post The Tobacconist Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 7/2/2020
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Bavaria Filmproduktion, whose latest film, Oskar Roehler’s “Enfant Terrible,” is part of Cannes’ Official Selection this year, is next producing projects from acclaimed filmmaker Hans Steinbichler (“The Diary of Anne Frank”) and writer-director duo Felix Fuchssteiner and Katharina Schöde, makers of the hugely popular “Ruby Red” fantasy-adventure trilogy.
Steinbichler is directing an adaptation of writer-actor Robert Seethaler’s bestseller “A Whole Life,” which spans a solitary man’s life in a remote Alpine valley. Bavaria Filmproduktion, the feature film unit of German entertainment giant Bavaria Film, is partnering on the project with Vienna-based Epo-Film, co-producer of Sky Deutschland’s murder-mystery series “Pagan Peak.”
“A Whole Life” reunites Steinbichler and Seethaler, who wrote the screenplay for the filmmaker’s 2008 drama “My Mother, My Bride and I.”
Seethaler’s works also include “The Tobacconist,” which served as the basis of Nikolaus Leytner’s 2018 release starring the late Bruno Ganz.
Bavaria Filmproduktion...
Steinbichler is directing an adaptation of writer-actor Robert Seethaler’s bestseller “A Whole Life,” which spans a solitary man’s life in a remote Alpine valley. Bavaria Filmproduktion, the feature film unit of German entertainment giant Bavaria Film, is partnering on the project with Vienna-based Epo-Film, co-producer of Sky Deutschland’s murder-mystery series “Pagan Peak.”
“A Whole Life” reunites Steinbichler and Seethaler, who wrote the screenplay for the filmmaker’s 2008 drama “My Mother, My Bride and I.”
Seethaler’s works also include “The Tobacconist,” which served as the basis of Nikolaus Leytner’s 2018 release starring the late Bruno Ganz.
Bavaria Filmproduktion...
- 6/19/2020
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Drama played Edinburgh last summer, stars Bruno Ganz (Downfall) in penultimate role.
Kino Lorber has partnered with Menemsha Films on the virtual theatrical release of Nikolaus Leytner’s Austrian coming-of-age drama The Tobacconist starring the late Bruno Ganz.
The film will launch on Kino Marquee on July 10 and will also open in theatrical engagements as cinemas open in key markets across the Us over the coming months.
The release marks Kino Lorber’s latest virtual cinema collaboration with other distributors after it worked with Well Go USA on House Of Hummingbird, which debuts on June 26, and Good Deed Entertainment on Extra Ordinary and Lucky Grandma.
Kino Lorber has partnered with Menemsha Films on the virtual theatrical release of Nikolaus Leytner’s Austrian coming-of-age drama The Tobacconist starring the late Bruno Ganz.
The film will launch on Kino Marquee on July 10 and will also open in theatrical engagements as cinemas open in key markets across the Us over the coming months.
The release marks Kino Lorber’s latest virtual cinema collaboration with other distributors after it worked with Well Go USA on House Of Hummingbird, which debuts on June 26, and Good Deed Entertainment on Extra Ordinary and Lucky Grandma.
- 6/17/2020
- by 36¦Jeremy Kay¦54¦
- ScreenDaily
Michel Piccoli, who has died at the age of 94, was one of the last great European actors of his generation. A character-actor and an everyman rather than a movie-star, Piccoli nevertheless displayed remarkable presence as a lead man and worked with many of the greatest directors of his time, from Godard to Carax. Piccoli was born in 1925, in Paris, between the world wars, and his career began as an extra in 1945. These were the years of small roles, and of work principally undertaken in the theatre. These were also years, looking a little outside of Piccoli’s life, when the idea of a united Europe was beginning to crystallize; as the young actor took more small or secondary roles, the treaties of Paris in 1951 and of Rome in 1957 contributed to create the European Economic Community. This is important, because from the moment that Piccoli’s career began, it opened itself...
- 5/19/2020
- MUBI
Dieter Laser, a veteran German actor best known to international audiences for playing the evil Dr. Heiter in cult horror film The Human Centipede, has died. He was 78.
Laser's wife Inge told media on Friday that her husband had died in Berlin on Feb. 29.
Laser appeared in more than 60 films and TV series, starring alongside Bruno Ganz in a TV production of Peer Gynt, with Glenn Close in István Szabó's Meeting Venus (1991) and with John Malkovich in Volker Schlöndorff's The Orge (1995). But international audiences knew him best for roles in schlocky cult hits,...
Laser's wife Inge told media on Friday that her husband had died in Berlin on Feb. 29.
Laser appeared in more than 60 films and TV series, starring alongside Bruno Ganz in a TV production of Peer Gynt, with Glenn Close in István Szabó's Meeting Venus (1991) and with John Malkovich in Volker Schlöndorff's The Orge (1995). But international audiences knew him best for roles in schlocky cult hits,...
- 4/10/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Dieter Laser, a veteran German actor best known to international audiences for playing the evil Dr. Heiter in cult horror film The Human Centipede, has died. He was 78.
Laser's wife Inge told media on Friday that her husband had died in Berlin on Feb. 29.
Laser appeared in more than 60 films and TV series, starring alongside Bruno Ganz in a TV production of Peer Gynt, with Glenn Close in István Szabó's Meeting Venus (1991) and with John Malkovich in Volker Schlöndorff's The Orge (1995). But international audiences knew him best for roles in schlocky cult hits,...
Laser's wife Inge told media on Friday that her husband had died in Berlin on Feb. 29.
Laser appeared in more than 60 films and TV series, starring alongside Bruno Ganz in a TV production of Peer Gynt, with Glenn Close in István Szabó's Meeting Venus (1991) and with John Malkovich in Volker Schlöndorff's The Orge (1995). But international audiences knew him best for roles in schlocky cult hits,...
- 4/10/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Director Taika Waititi's "Jojo Rabbit", a spoof of World War II, is a bittersweet comedy that is based on the book "Caging Skies" by Christine Leunens.
Set in the last days World War II Germany, the film follows a 10-year-old boy named Johannes Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis), an enthusiastic and dedicated Nazi fan who lives with his mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) while his father is away at war. He has a very active imagination including an imaginary friend: Adolf Hitler (played by Waititi), and he follows the party ideology like any 10-year-old could unfortunately hope to. When he discovers his mother has been hiding a Jewish teenage girl named Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie) in their attic, he is initially taken aback. Thanks to this unwanted guest who becomes a stand-in for his late sister, Jojo has to grapple with his naive but bigoted worldview, thereby questioning the ideology, as well as his loyalty to Nazism.
Set in the last days World War II Germany, the film follows a 10-year-old boy named Johannes Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis), an enthusiastic and dedicated Nazi fan who lives with his mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) while his father is away at war. He has a very active imagination including an imaginary friend: Adolf Hitler (played by Waititi), and he follows the party ideology like any 10-year-old could unfortunately hope to. When he discovers his mother has been hiding a Jewish teenage girl named Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie) in their attic, he is initially taken aback. Thanks to this unwanted guest who becomes a stand-in for his late sister, Jojo has to grapple with his naive but bigoted worldview, thereby questioning the ideology, as well as his loyalty to Nazism.
- 1/30/2020
- GlamSham
Swiss producer Tiziana Soudani, who through her Amka Films shepherded prizewinning films by prominent directors from nearby Italy, such as Alice Rohrwacher and Silvio Soldini, as well as by emerging talents in Switzerland and Africa, has died after a struggle with brain cancer.
She was in her mid 60s, though her exact age was not immediately verifiable. Soudani’s death was announced on Sunday by several Swiss media outlets and by the Locarno Film Festival, Switzerland’s preeminent film event, with which Soudani had a long rapport.
Born in Locarno, the lakeside town in the Italian-speaking portion of Switzerland, Ticino, Soudani founded Amka Films in 1988 with her Algerian husband Mohammed Soudani, a former professional soccer player turned documentary director.
The previous year, in 1987, while attending the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou, in Burkina Faso, Soudani had been profoundly struck by the film “Ablakan,” the first work by Roger Gnoan M’Bala...
She was in her mid 60s, though her exact age was not immediately verifiable. Soudani’s death was announced on Sunday by several Swiss media outlets and by the Locarno Film Festival, Switzerland’s preeminent film event, with which Soudani had a long rapport.
Born in Locarno, the lakeside town in the Italian-speaking portion of Switzerland, Ticino, Soudani founded Amka Films in 1988 with her Algerian husband Mohammed Soudani, a former professional soccer player turned documentary director.
The previous year, in 1987, while attending the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou, in Burkina Faso, Soudani had been profoundly struck by the film “Ablakan,” the first work by Roger Gnoan M’Bala...
- 1/27/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
SAG Awards 2020: In Memoriam segment will honor Diahann Carroll, Doris Day, Luke Perry and who else?
Sunday’s telecast of the 2020 Screen Actors Guild Awards will feature a special In Memoriam segment devoted to many of the actors and actresses who have died since last year’s ceremony in late January. Sure to be among those saluted include Oscar-nominated actresses Diahann Carroll and Doris Day, plus nominated “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” actor Luke Perry. Visit our own Gold Derby memoriam gallery for the year of 2019.
The 26th annual ceremony will be live on TNT and TBS on Sunday, January 19, at 8:00 p.m. Et; 5:00 p.m. Pt. The SAG life achievement award will be presented to Robert De Niro.
SEE2020 SAG Awards nominations: Full list of Screen Actors Guild Awards nominees
Over 100 people in SAG/AFTRA have passed away in the past 12 months. Which of the following 50+ names will also be featured in the televised tribute?
Julie Adams
Danny Aiello
Jed Allan
Bibi Andersson...
The 26th annual ceremony will be live on TNT and TBS on Sunday, January 19, at 8:00 p.m. Et; 5:00 p.m. Pt. The SAG life achievement award will be presented to Robert De Niro.
SEE2020 SAG Awards nominations: Full list of Screen Actors Guild Awards nominees
Over 100 people in SAG/AFTRA have passed away in the past 12 months. Which of the following 50+ names will also be featured in the televised tribute?
Julie Adams
Danny Aiello
Jed Allan
Bibi Andersson...
- 1/17/2020
- by Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
“Uncut Gems” has set a new limited opening record at the indie box office for A24. The critically acclaimed crime drama starring Adam Sandler was released in five theaters this weekend and grossed $525,498 for a per screen average of $105,100.
That average tops the previous A24 record of $100,500 set by Best Picture winner “Moonlight” in October 2016. It’s also the second highest average of the year behind only “Parasite” with $131,072. “Uncut Gems” entered theaters after a wave of awards nominations from the Film Independent Spirit Awards, Gotham Awards, and National Board of Review, among others.
Directed by the Safdie Brothers, “Uncut Gems” stars Sandler as Howard Ratner, an eccentric and extroverted New York City jeweler whose gambling addiction leads him into a high-wire act balancing business, family and a growing set of enemies. Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett, Lakeith Stanfield and Idina Menzel also star in the film, which has an A-...
That average tops the previous A24 record of $100,500 set by Best Picture winner “Moonlight” in October 2016. It’s also the second highest average of the year behind only “Parasite” with $131,072. “Uncut Gems” entered theaters after a wave of awards nominations from the Film Independent Spirit Awards, Gotham Awards, and National Board of Review, among others.
Directed by the Safdie Brothers, “Uncut Gems” stars Sandler as Howard Ratner, an eccentric and extroverted New York City jeweler whose gambling addiction leads him into a high-wire act balancing business, family and a growing set of enemies. Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett, Lakeith Stanfield and Idina Menzel also star in the film, which has an A-...
- 12/15/2019
- by Jeremy Fuster
- The Wrap
Fox Searchlight is ready to put another stake in the ground for this year’s awards season race with the theatrical release of the Terrence Malick drama A Hidden Life starring August Diehl and Valerie Pachner. The release marks a reunion between the Fox Searchlight and Malick since 2011’s Tree Of Life starring Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain.
“We are thrilled to reunite with Terrence and his team, plus new craftspeople we didn’t yet work with on Tree of Life,” said Frank Rodriguez, Svp General Sales Manager, Fox Searchlight Pictures. “It has been a long and fruitful relationship. It has been wonderful to work with August Diehl and Valerie Pachner as well.”
Based on true events, A Hidden Life tells the story of the modest hero Franz Jägerstätter (Diehl), an Austrian farmer-turned-World War II conscientious objector who refused to fight for the Nazis. Pachner stars as his wife and...
“We are thrilled to reunite with Terrence and his team, plus new craftspeople we didn’t yet work with on Tree of Life,” said Frank Rodriguez, Svp General Sales Manager, Fox Searchlight Pictures. “It has been a long and fruitful relationship. It has been wonderful to work with August Diehl and Valerie Pachner as well.”
Based on true events, A Hidden Life tells the story of the modest hero Franz Jägerstätter (Diehl), an Austrian farmer-turned-World War II conscientious objector who refused to fight for the Nazis. Pachner stars as his wife and...
- 12/13/2019
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
At this point, Terrence Malick is a known entity. You’re either in or you’re out when it comes to his style of filmmaking. Sadly, despite my best efforts, I’m decidedly out. A Hidden Life takes all of Malick’s worst instincts, some of his best, and mixes them together in an epic run time that became utterly punishing to endure. Amazing visuals and a sense of wonder only take you so far, especially when this has become par for the course for this particular storyteller. At about 80 minutes, this film would have been sparse and only mildly off-putting in its inscrutable nature. However, at about 180, it’s positively tortuous. Opening this week, Malick fans only need apply here. The movie is a biographical drama set during the early days of World War II. Taking place in Austria, this is the story of the country’s most well known conscientious objector.
- 12/12/2019
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
Acclaimed filmmaker Terrence Malick does something he hasn’t done in years with his new film A Hidden Life — he attempts to tell an actual, old-fashioned story. This may come as good news to those who once celebrated his mastery in such early films as Badlands and Days of Heaven, but may have grown disillusioned by the arty, free-form posturings of his recent years. (See: To the Wonder, Knight of Cups, Song to Song.) In some ways, his latest is a return to form with Malick recounting the true tale of Franz Jäggerstätter (a fine,...
- 12/10/2019
- by Peter Travers
- Rollingstone.com
In today’s film news roundup, “A Hidden Life” is shown at the Vatican, “Limerence” finds a home, Dave Baustista’s “My Spy” moves, and the DGA honors two veteran members.
Vatican Screening
Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life” received a rare private screening at the Vatican Film Library this week.
The movie centers on Austrian farmer and conscientious objector Franz Jägerstätter, who refused to fight for the Nazis in World War II due to his religious beliefs. He was executed for treason in 1943 and beatified in 2007 in Linz, Austria by Pope Benedict XVI.
“A Hidden Life” stars August Diehl and Valerie Pachner with Maria Simon, Bruno Ganz, Karin Neuhäuser, Tobias Moretti, Matthias Schoenaerts and Ulrich Matthes rounding out the cast.
Fox Searchlight opens “A Hidden Life” in select theaters in North America on Friday. It was recently nominated as best feature contender at the Independent Spirit Awards.
Acquisition
Gravitas Ventures...
Vatican Screening
Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life” received a rare private screening at the Vatican Film Library this week.
The movie centers on Austrian farmer and conscientious objector Franz Jägerstätter, who refused to fight for the Nazis in World War II due to his religious beliefs. He was executed for treason in 1943 and beatified in 2007 in Linz, Austria by Pope Benedict XVI.
“A Hidden Life” stars August Diehl and Valerie Pachner with Maria Simon, Bruno Ganz, Karin Neuhäuser, Tobias Moretti, Matthias Schoenaerts and Ulrich Matthes rounding out the cast.
Fox Searchlight opens “A Hidden Life” in select theaters in North America on Friday. It was recently nominated as best feature contender at the Independent Spirit Awards.
Acquisition
Gravitas Ventures...
- 12/6/2019
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Torun, Poland – “The Naked King,” a documentary chronicling parallel revolutions in Poland and Iran, has proven a timely work at a time when mass demonstrations are sweeping the globe. Directed by Andreas Hoessli and produced by Peter Zwierko, who also served as cinematographer on the film, “The Naked King” examines the 1979 revolution in Iran that toppled the Shah and the Solidarity movement in Poland, which, in 1980, resulted in the creation of the first independent trade union in a Warsaw Pact country. The film, which won best film in the international category at this year’s Dok.fest Munich in May and screened as part of the Documentary Features Competition at the EnergaCamerimage Intl. Film Festival, also tells the personal journey of its Swiss director, who lived in Poland as a young research fellow and met the late Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski, whose work connects the film’s narrative arcs. Shooting...
- 11/16/2019
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Patricia Mazuy is back! And who is Patricia Mazuy, many English language cinephiles may ask? For the past thirty years, Mazuy has steadily built an impressive, if strikingly minimal, cinematic oeuvre while also dabbling in documentary and television. And yet, despite premiering her films at Cannes and working with a variety of cinematic notables, including Sandrine Bonnaire, Isabelle Huppert, Bruno Ganz and Laurent Lafitte, she remains surprisingly unknown outside of France, a matter which isn’t assisted by her features remaining undistributed in America. For the first time ever in the Us, Mazuy is being treated to a retrospective at Lincoln Center in New York, where all five of her features will screen, including her latest, the Said Ben Said produced Paul Sanchez is Back!…...
- 11/15/2019
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
If you've listened to our Corpse Club member-exclusive audio commentary or you've read Heather Wixson's 30th anniversary retrospectives on the film, then you know we're big fans of Fred Walton's April Fool's Day here at Daily Dead, and we couldn't be more pleased that as a special Halloween treat, Scream Factory announced a Collector's Edition Blu-ray release for the 1986 horror comedy.
Special features for the April Fool's Day Collector's Edition Blu-ray have yet to be announced, but we'll keep Daily Dead readers updated as more details are revealed, and we also have the official announcement below, along with details on three other recent Blu-ray announcements: Rasputin the Mad Monk, X: The Unknown, and The House That Jack Built Director's Cut:
April Fool's Day Collector's Edition Blu-ray: "Happy Halloween everyone! It may be Oct 31st but we have April 1st on our minds today as we reveal that we...
Special features for the April Fool's Day Collector's Edition Blu-ray have yet to be announced, but we'll keep Daily Dead readers updated as more details are revealed, and we also have the official announcement below, along with details on three other recent Blu-ray announcements: Rasputin the Mad Monk, X: The Unknown, and The House That Jack Built Director's Cut:
April Fool's Day Collector's Edition Blu-ray: "Happy Halloween everyone! It may be Oct 31st but we have April 1st on our minds today as we reveal that we...
- 11/5/2019
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Fox Searchlight has launched a new trailer for Terrence Malick’s ‘A Hidden Life’ after premiering at the Cannes Film Festival to rave reviews.
Inspired by real events the feature is written and directed by Malick. The cast includes August Diehl, Valerie Pachner, Maria Simon, Tobias Moretti, Bruno Ganz, Matthias Schoenaerts, Karin Neuhäuser and Ulrich Matthes.
Also in trailers – Driver and Johansson work together to end their marriage in new trailer for ‘Marriage Story’
The film has a UK release of January 17th 2020
A Hidden Life Synopsis
Based on real events, from visionary writer-director Terrence Malick, A Hidden Life is the story of an unsung hero, Franz Jägerstätter, who refused to fight for the Nazis in World War II. When the Austrian peasant farmer is faced with the threat of execution for treason, it is his unwavering faith and his love for his wife Fani and children that keep his spirit alive.
Inspired by real events the feature is written and directed by Malick. The cast includes August Diehl, Valerie Pachner, Maria Simon, Tobias Moretti, Bruno Ganz, Matthias Schoenaerts, Karin Neuhäuser and Ulrich Matthes.
Also in trailers – Driver and Johansson work together to end their marriage in new trailer for ‘Marriage Story’
The film has a UK release of January 17th 2020
A Hidden Life Synopsis
Based on real events, from visionary writer-director Terrence Malick, A Hidden Life is the story of an unsung hero, Franz Jägerstätter, who refused to fight for the Nazis in World War II. When the Austrian peasant farmer is faced with the threat of execution for treason, it is his unwavering faith and his love for his wife Fani and children that keep his spirit alive.
- 10/23/2019
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
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