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Jean-Marie Lavalou, the Frenchman who received two awards from the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences for co-creating the Louma Crane, the first remote-controlled camera system used in the motion picture industry, has died. He was 76.
Lavalou died July 15 in Paris, his company, Loumasystems, announced.
Born on March 9, 1946, in Bourg Saint Leonard, Normandie, France, Lavalou graduated in 1968 from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure Louis Lumière film school in Paris before entering national service.
He met Alain Masseron in the film department of the French Navy, and they created sweeping, never-before-seen shots while making a film inside a submarine by attaching a camera to the end of a wooden pole and moving through the narrow vessel.
The inventors brought their device to Paris camera rental house SamAlga Cinema, where chief engineer Albert Vigier introduced them to David Samuelson of Samuelson Film Service in London.
Jean-Marie Lavalou, the Frenchman who received two awards from the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences for co-creating the Louma Crane, the first remote-controlled camera system used in the motion picture industry, has died. He was 76.
Lavalou died July 15 in Paris, his company, Loumasystems, announced.
Born on March 9, 1946, in Bourg Saint Leonard, Normandie, France, Lavalou graduated in 1968 from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure Louis Lumière film school in Paris before entering national service.
He met Alain Masseron in the film department of the French Navy, and they created sweeping, never-before-seen shots while making a film inside a submarine by attaching a camera to the end of a wooden pole and moving through the narrow vessel.
The inventors brought their device to Paris camera rental house SamAlga Cinema, where chief engineer Albert Vigier introduced them to David Samuelson of Samuelson Film Service in London.
- 7/26/2022
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The “Honey Boy” script that cinematographer Natasha Braier read prior to signing on with first-time narrative feature director Alma Har’el to shoot star and writer Shia Labeouf’s intimate memoir-focused arthouse film was psychologically rich and emotionally fraught with no visual cues. It was a deep character study of the beginnings of his acting career with his alcoholic and abusive father as sole caretaker. Since both Braier’s parents are psychoanalysts, this was fertile ground and an exciting challenge for the Dp who has done many a low-budget, high-stakes arthouse indies, like “The Neon Demon,” “The Rover” and “Gloria Bell.”
“It was mostly these two people in a room having very dynamic interactions: The stuff in the hotel room with his dad and the stuff at rehab with his therapist,” says Braier of the original script. “It is a script’s essence that excites me, though — the characters’ emotional...
“It was mostly these two people in a room having very dynamic interactions: The stuff in the hotel room with his dad and the stuff at rehab with his therapist,” says Braier of the original script. “It is a script’s essence that excites me, though — the characters’ emotional...
- 11/14/2019
- by Valentina I. Valentini
- Variety Film + TV
“Purity Of Essence”
By Raymond Benson
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is such an iconic motion picture that most readers of Cinema Retro, I would bet, already own a copy of this brilliant keepsake of the 1960s on DVD or Blu-ray. The film has been released several times before, but now it gets the Criterion treatment. Believe me—fans of the movie and of director Stanley Kubrick will still want to get this edition. It is definitely an upgrade in quality and the disk also comes with a plethora of fascinating supplements and some terrific goodies in the packaging.
Unless you’ve haven’t been paying attention to the lists of Great Movies You Should See Before You Die, you know that Dr. Strangelove is the story of how an air force general (Sterling Hayden) goes “a little funny in the head.
By Raymond Benson
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is such an iconic motion picture that most readers of Cinema Retro, I would bet, already own a copy of this brilliant keepsake of the 1960s on DVD or Blu-ray. The film has been released several times before, but now it gets the Criterion treatment. Believe me—fans of the movie and of director Stanley Kubrick will still want to get this edition. It is definitely an upgrade in quality and the disk also comes with a plethora of fascinating supplements and some terrific goodies in the packaging.
Unless you’ve haven’t been paying attention to the lists of Great Movies You Should See Before You Die, you know that Dr. Strangelove is the story of how an air force general (Sterling Hayden) goes “a little funny in the head.
- 6/30/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Criterion's special edition of Stanley Kubrick's doomsday comedy is more powerful than ever in a 4K remaster; and it even comes with a top-secret mission profile package and a partial-contents survival kit. A Kubrick fan can have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff. Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 821 1964 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 95 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date June 28, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens, Peter Bull, James Earl Jones, Tracy Reed Cinematography Gilbert Taylor Production Designer Ken Adam Art Direction Peter Murton Film Editor Anthony Harvey Original Music Laurie Johnson Written by Stanley Kubrick, Terry Southern, Peter George from his book Red Alert Produced by Stanley Kubrick, Leon Minoff Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
When I heard that Criterion was putting out a Blu-ray of Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb I thought that there already was a disc out there from The Collection. Nope, Sony released a Blu-ray in 2009, and back around 2000, a DVD. I was thinking of a deluxe laserdisc from Criterion sometime in the early 1990s. I remember being impressed by its extras, which included documentary materials about the Bomb in the Cold War years. Potential new fans of Kubrick's wickedly funny movie are being born every year, which leaves those of us for whom Strangelove was an important part of growing up having to remind ourselves just how good it still is. I remember recording the soundtrack off TV in high school and memorizing all of the dialogue; this has to be the most quotable movie of its decade. I also can remember my father's reaction when we watched it together on network TV, ABC, I think. An Air Force lifer who wouldn't discuss politics (or much of anything), the Old Sarge had little use for 'defeatist' movies like On the Beach. But he thought the premise of Seven Days in May wasn't really farfetched, having worked with Hap Arnold and Curtis LeMay. He shook his head after seeing Dr. Strangelove but I could tell that he found it very funny. It's too bad the two of us couldn't have gotten our senses of humor more in sync -- as soon as I wore my hair long, I think he stopped trusting me. I believe that Dr. Strangelove is one of few movies that 'made a difference' in that it redirected American public opinion about a major life issue. From that point forward only the ignorant and Shoot First fanatics talked about nuclear war as win-able, at least not until the neo-con Millennium. 1963 audiences had little use for suspect 'pacifist' movies that ended in masochistic doom, like On the Beach. The nuclear crisis was such a hot topic that that the low-key English science fiction film The Day the Earth Caught Fire was a surprise hit. Strangelove is more realistic than the straight atom nightmare movies. We're told that when Ronald Reagan was briefed at the start of his first term in office, he asked where the White House elevator to the War Room was. He figured it was there because he saw it in the movie. The decision to opt for broad comedy was Kubrick's inspired stroke. Dr. Strangelove may be the first hit film that was a bona-fide black comedy; I don't recall anybody even using the expression before it came out. It's not a crazy comedy where anything funny is okay. The backbone of the story remains 100% serious, while the jokes relentlessly demolish the death-cult logic of our Nuclear Deterrent. Kubrick and Terry Southern populate Peter George's credible cold-sweat crisis with insane caricatures given ridiculous names. The scary part is that, no matter how stupid they behave, none are really that exaggerated. Peter Sellers serves triple duty in a trio of characterizations, effectively outdoing previous champion film chameleon Alec Guinness. George C. Scott steals the show as an infantile Air Force General who acts like a Looney Tunes cartoon character. And the rest of the inspired cast nails their highly original quasi-comic characters. Every joke is a gallows joke; we're never allowed to forget that we all have an atomic noose around our necks. I almost envy the dead viewers still unfamiliar with Dr. Strangelove, as seeing it for the first time was a mind-opening experience. Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden), the commander of Burpelson Air Force Base, orders a flight of B-52s to attack Russia. He then seals off Burpelson to prevent a recall of the planes. Exchange officer Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (Peter Sellers) tries to talk him into divulging the recall code. Holding court in the War Room, President Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers) is horrified to discover that such a Snafu is even possible. He orders General Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott) to take Burpelson Air Base by force and recall the planes, and gets on the hotline with the Soviet Premier. Up in the lead B-52, Major 'King' Kong (Slim Pickens) receives Ripper's orders, coded 'Wing Attack Plan R.' He urges his crew to avoid Russian defenses and reach their primary target, while Turgidson tries to talk Muffley into launching an all-out attack. Advising in the War Room is ex-Nazi scientist Dr. Strangelove, a grinning theoretician already fantasizing about the sexual recreation for the ruling elite in the VIP bomb shelters, where America's chosen high officials will be living for the next 93 years. Dr. Strangelove divides its time between three main locations, each with its own deadly serious function and each overlaid with a different comedic tone. In his locked executive office in the Alaskan Air Force Base, the sexually obsessed American General Ripper faces off with a veddy proper English officer in a farcical one-act. Beady-eyed and intense in his anti-Communist convictions, Sterling Hayden contrasts beautifully with Seller's genial Group Captain, who can't fathom the depth of his commanding officer's madness. The action in the B-52 is a throwback to those gung-ho WW2 action films in which a racially and ethnically diverse attack team uses brains and guts to barrel through their suicide mission. Even though their pilot is a cowboy clown (Slim Pickens doing his only characterization, Slim Pickens) they're an admirable bunch, seemingly the only humans capable of doing anything without red tape or Coca-Cola machines getting in their way. The horror is that our heroes' mission is totally against every moral precept ever imagined. The docu feeling in the B-52 is further amplified by the gritty newsreel-like footage of the taking of Burpelson Afb, with American troops fighting American troops. In 1964 these were traumatic, subversive scenes. U.S. troops on film are supposed to fight for freedom and righteousness, not kill each other. Kubrick has the audacity to place in the middle of it all a big sign that reads, 'Peace is our Profession.' The grainy authenticity of these scenes would come back to haunt us when similar footage started being seen nightly on television, fresh from Vietnam. The center of activities is the War Room, a Camelot-like round table of Death located in the basement of the White House. The rational President Merkin Muffley trips over an ideological roadblock in the form of Buck Turgidson, a gum-chewing military nutcase itching to go to war and overjoyed that Jack Ripper has 'exceeded his authority.' The President is hardly in charge of foreign policy, and none of fifty advisors come to his aid with any original thinking. An amateur among experts, Muffley must be shepherded through protocol by an assistant. Here's where Southern and Kubrick make their biggest points, basically asserting that a showdown with the Russkies is inevitable because the American stance is a military one -- Sac just wants the peacenik in the Oval Office to get out of their way. The comedy is all over the place, and it's a miracle that it works. The stand-up humor on the hot line to Moscow is very much like a Bob Newhart routine. At Burpelson, it's the Goon Show all over again. Sellers' Mandrake cannot sway General Ripper, and the moronic Major Bat Guano (Keenan Wynn) suspects the Raf officer of being a 'deviated prevert.' Up in the bomber, Mad Magazine craziness is grafted onto combat realism. Previous looks at the Air Force's flying deterrent were enlistment booster films like Strategic Air Command. Kubrick drove his English craftsmen to fake the entire bomber interior right down to the switches and gauges. The aerial combat is more realistic than that in escapist films, even with inadequate models used for exteriors of the jet bomber in flight. Dr. Strangelove maintains a nervous tension between absurd comedy and morbid unease. Kubrick's main career themes -- sexual madness, treacherous technology and the folly of human planning -- come into strong relief. We're motivated to root for the fliers that are going to destroy the world. Then we fret over the President's pitiful lack of control. Dour, glowering Russian Ambassador De Sadesky (Peter Bull) informs the War Room about his country's solution to the costly Arms Race, the dreaded Doomsday Machine. Security advisor Dr. Strangelove enters the film in the last act to serve as sort of an angel of Death. Based loosely on Rand-corporation experts that calculated eventualities in nuclear war scenarios, Sellers' vision of Strangelove is a throwback to German Expressionism. A Mabuse in a wheelchair, he's black-gloved like the brilliant but mad Rotwang of Metropolis. Strangelove enters like the specter of Death itself; his grin looks like a skull. Contemplating 'megadeaths' gives him sexual pleasure. The detonation of the first bomb seems to liberate Strangelove, and he finds he can walk again. The character is straight from the Siegfried Kracauer playbook. The evil of nuclear war has restored the representative of apocalyptic Nazi vengeance to full power. Twenty years after his death, we all get to join Hitler in his suicide bunker. First-time viewers are usually floored by the audacious Dr. Strangelove. Only the truly uninformed will not recognize baritone James Earl Jones as one of Major Kong's flight crew. Those going back for a repeated peek will derive added enjoyment from Kubrick's deft juggling of his several visual styles and his avoidance of anything that might deflate tension: we hear about the recall code being issued but are spared any view of the responsible military personnel that must have sent it. Some of the best fun is finding details in designer Ken Adam's impressive War Room, such as the pies already laid out in preparation for the aborted pie-fight finale. Even better is watching the War room extras as they strain to maintain straight faces no matter how funny Sellers and Scott get; that contrast is what makes the comedy so brilliant. Watch Peter Bull carefully. In one extended take he starts to smile at Sellers, more than once. He catches himself and then is clearly on the verge of cracking up, forcing Kubrick to cut away. The Criterion Collection's Blu-ray of Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is the expected sterling transfer of this Kubrick classic, a 4K digital transfer. I put it up against Sony's old Blu-ray and the difference is not so great as to recommend that a trade-up is necessary. However, it looks extremely good. The Kubrick faithful out there will be thinking, 'I must not allow a disc shelf gap.' The HD picture makes quite a bit of difference in understanding Kubrick's photographic strategy. Not only do the hand-held Burpelson combat sequences approximate the look of documentary footage, a more contrasty and grainy film stock has been used. Switching "film looks" later became a fad for directors looking to be viewed as artists. The idea perhaps reached its zenith in Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers. Back in 1964 the effect of imitating a news film look was quite stunning -- audiences reacted to the combat scenes as if they were real. I'm glad that we're finally beyond the frustrating early DVD years, when someone (at Warner Home Video?) claimed that Stanley Kubrick insisted that his films be shown at the old 1:33 aspect ratio for TV and disc. Even if they wangled a note from Kubrick to that effect, I still believe that the aspect ratio games were played because Kubrick was too busy to oversee new masters of his films, and Whv wanted to market them in a hurry at a minimum of cost. That's all old news now, but there was also the interesting aspect ratio question concerning Strangelove. At least one disc iteration -- Criterion's laserdisc, I'm fairly sure -- was released in a completely un-original dual-ratio scan. Kubrick apparently said that he preferred to see the War Room scenes at a full-frame 1:37, and so this one transfer of the film popped back and forth between ratios. I've never heard of anything like this before or after. Criterion's British 1:66 framing for this disc is correct, even though the film was probably screened at 1:85 for many of its American play dates. Criterion's new extras begin with interview featurettes with well-chosen spokespeople, like scholars Mick Broderick and Rodney Hill. Kubrick archivist Richard Daniels' piece is quite good, as is an examination of the film's visuals by two of the original camera crew. The son of author Peter George gives an excellent account of his father's life and the adaptation of his novel Red Alert. George reportedly liked the notion of turning his story into a black comedy, especially when his original narrative was changed very little. The stroke of genius was deciding that the entire subject could best be approached as a sick joke. Other extras are repeated from Sony's DVD disc of 2004. A making-of docu interviews several surviving technicians and actors, and a primer on the Cold War atom standoff goes deep into detail. The featurettes have input from Robert McNamara, Spike Lee and Bob Woodward. Critics Roger Ebert and Alexander Walker are also represented. Docu pieces on Peter Sellers and Kubrick appear to suffer from legal restraints disallowing the use of clips from non-Columbia sources. The Peter Sellers show features several choice film clips from the 'fifties, including Sellers' almost perfect take on a William Conrad-like hired killer. We're shown some stills from the legendary The Goon Show, which is not mentioned by name. A Stanley Kubrick career piece that uses UA, MGM and Universal trailers covers a lot of territory a bit too quickly. It does have some nice interview input from Kubrick's partner James B. Harris. Harris has since given terrific interviews on Criterion discs for Kubrick's The Killing and Paths of Glory. Criterion's Curtis Tsui produced those discs as well as this one. An entertaining extra is a pair of vintage 'split screen' fake interviews with Sellers and Scott intended for publicity use. Each actor projects his chosen PR image. They're charming, especially when Sellers takes us on a lightning tour of regional English accents. I wonder if those distinctions have faded, 52 years later? As a pleasant surprise, Curtis Tsui has overseen the creation of a collectable, highly amusing substitute for a standard disc insert booklet. Inside an authentic-looking 'Wing Attack Plan R' envelope, David Bromwich's insert essay is printed in the form of classified orders on two sheets of loose-leaf paper. Terry Southern's hilariously profane 1994 essay on the movie comes in the form of a Playboy parody, illustrated with photos of Tracy Reed as 'Miss Foreign Affairs.' Finally, the disc credits and details are printed in a genuine miniature Russian Phrase Book and Holy Bible, a little bigger than one-inch square. It indeed offers some phrases that I'll have to try on my multi-lingual daughter, like "Where is the toilet?" But the cover Lies, as there's no Bible in there that I could find. Also, no nine packs of chewing gum and no issue of prophylactics. On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, Dr. Strangelove Blu-ray rates: Movie: Excellent Video: Excellent Sound: Excellent uncompressed monaural + alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack, presented in DTS-hd Master Audio Supplements: (from Criterion stats): New interviews with Stanley Kubrick scholars Mick Broderick and Rodney Hill; archivist Richard Daniels; cinematographer and camera innovator Joe Dunton; camera operator Kelvin Pike; and David George, son of Peter George, on whose novel Red Alert the film is based. Excerpts from a 1966 audio interview with Kubrick, conducted by physicist and author Jeremy Bernstein; Four short documentaries about the making of the film, the sociopolitical climate of the period, the work of actor Peter Sellers, and the artistry of Kubrick. Promotional interviews from 1963 with Sellers and actor George C. Scott; excerpt from a 1980 interview with Sellers from NBC's Today show; Trailers; insert essay by scholar David Bromwich and a 1994 article by screenwriter Terry Southern on the making of the film. Deaf and Hearing-impaired Friendly? Yes; Subtitles: English Packaging: Keep case Reviewed: June 7, 2016 (5136love)
Visit DVD Savant's Main Column Page Glenn Erickson answers most reader mail: dvdsavant@mindspring.com
Text © Copyright 2016 Glenn Erickson...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
When I heard that Criterion was putting out a Blu-ray of Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb I thought that there already was a disc out there from The Collection. Nope, Sony released a Blu-ray in 2009, and back around 2000, a DVD. I was thinking of a deluxe laserdisc from Criterion sometime in the early 1990s. I remember being impressed by its extras, which included documentary materials about the Bomb in the Cold War years. Potential new fans of Kubrick's wickedly funny movie are being born every year, which leaves those of us for whom Strangelove was an important part of growing up having to remind ourselves just how good it still is. I remember recording the soundtrack off TV in high school and memorizing all of the dialogue; this has to be the most quotable movie of its decade. I also can remember my father's reaction when we watched it together on network TV, ABC, I think. An Air Force lifer who wouldn't discuss politics (or much of anything), the Old Sarge had little use for 'defeatist' movies like On the Beach. But he thought the premise of Seven Days in May wasn't really farfetched, having worked with Hap Arnold and Curtis LeMay. He shook his head after seeing Dr. Strangelove but I could tell that he found it very funny. It's too bad the two of us couldn't have gotten our senses of humor more in sync -- as soon as I wore my hair long, I think he stopped trusting me. I believe that Dr. Strangelove is one of few movies that 'made a difference' in that it redirected American public opinion about a major life issue. From that point forward only the ignorant and Shoot First fanatics talked about nuclear war as win-able, at least not until the neo-con Millennium. 1963 audiences had little use for suspect 'pacifist' movies that ended in masochistic doom, like On the Beach. The nuclear crisis was such a hot topic that that the low-key English science fiction film The Day the Earth Caught Fire was a surprise hit. Strangelove is more realistic than the straight atom nightmare movies. We're told that when Ronald Reagan was briefed at the start of his first term in office, he asked where the White House elevator to the War Room was. He figured it was there because he saw it in the movie. The decision to opt for broad comedy was Kubrick's inspired stroke. Dr. Strangelove may be the first hit film that was a bona-fide black comedy; I don't recall anybody even using the expression before it came out. It's not a crazy comedy where anything funny is okay. The backbone of the story remains 100% serious, while the jokes relentlessly demolish the death-cult logic of our Nuclear Deterrent. Kubrick and Terry Southern populate Peter George's credible cold-sweat crisis with insane caricatures given ridiculous names. The scary part is that, no matter how stupid they behave, none are really that exaggerated. Peter Sellers serves triple duty in a trio of characterizations, effectively outdoing previous champion film chameleon Alec Guinness. George C. Scott steals the show as an infantile Air Force General who acts like a Looney Tunes cartoon character. And the rest of the inspired cast nails their highly original quasi-comic characters. Every joke is a gallows joke; we're never allowed to forget that we all have an atomic noose around our necks. I almost envy the dead viewers still unfamiliar with Dr. Strangelove, as seeing it for the first time was a mind-opening experience. Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden), the commander of Burpelson Air Force Base, orders a flight of B-52s to attack Russia. He then seals off Burpelson to prevent a recall of the planes. Exchange officer Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (Peter Sellers) tries to talk him into divulging the recall code. Holding court in the War Room, President Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers) is horrified to discover that such a Snafu is even possible. He orders General Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott) to take Burpelson Air Base by force and recall the planes, and gets on the hotline with the Soviet Premier. Up in the lead B-52, Major 'King' Kong (Slim Pickens) receives Ripper's orders, coded 'Wing Attack Plan R.' He urges his crew to avoid Russian defenses and reach their primary target, while Turgidson tries to talk Muffley into launching an all-out attack. Advising in the War Room is ex-Nazi scientist Dr. Strangelove, a grinning theoretician already fantasizing about the sexual recreation for the ruling elite in the VIP bomb shelters, where America's chosen high officials will be living for the next 93 years. Dr. Strangelove divides its time between three main locations, each with its own deadly serious function and each overlaid with a different comedic tone. In his locked executive office in the Alaskan Air Force Base, the sexually obsessed American General Ripper faces off with a veddy proper English officer in a farcical one-act. Beady-eyed and intense in his anti-Communist convictions, Sterling Hayden contrasts beautifully with Seller's genial Group Captain, who can't fathom the depth of his commanding officer's madness. The action in the B-52 is a throwback to those gung-ho WW2 action films in which a racially and ethnically diverse attack team uses brains and guts to barrel through their suicide mission. Even though their pilot is a cowboy clown (Slim Pickens doing his only characterization, Slim Pickens) they're an admirable bunch, seemingly the only humans capable of doing anything without red tape or Coca-Cola machines getting in their way. The horror is that our heroes' mission is totally against every moral precept ever imagined. The docu feeling in the B-52 is further amplified by the gritty newsreel-like footage of the taking of Burpelson Afb, with American troops fighting American troops. In 1964 these were traumatic, subversive scenes. U.S. troops on film are supposed to fight for freedom and righteousness, not kill each other. Kubrick has the audacity to place in the middle of it all a big sign that reads, 'Peace is our Profession.' The grainy authenticity of these scenes would come back to haunt us when similar footage started being seen nightly on television, fresh from Vietnam. The center of activities is the War Room, a Camelot-like round table of Death located in the basement of the White House. The rational President Merkin Muffley trips over an ideological roadblock in the form of Buck Turgidson, a gum-chewing military nutcase itching to go to war and overjoyed that Jack Ripper has 'exceeded his authority.' The President is hardly in charge of foreign policy, and none of fifty advisors come to his aid with any original thinking. An amateur among experts, Muffley must be shepherded through protocol by an assistant. Here's where Southern and Kubrick make their biggest points, basically asserting that a showdown with the Russkies is inevitable because the American stance is a military one -- Sac just wants the peacenik in the Oval Office to get out of their way. The comedy is all over the place, and it's a miracle that it works. The stand-up humor on the hot line to Moscow is very much like a Bob Newhart routine. At Burpelson, it's the Goon Show all over again. Sellers' Mandrake cannot sway General Ripper, and the moronic Major Bat Guano (Keenan Wynn) suspects the Raf officer of being a 'deviated prevert.' Up in the bomber, Mad Magazine craziness is grafted onto combat realism. Previous looks at the Air Force's flying deterrent were enlistment booster films like Strategic Air Command. Kubrick drove his English craftsmen to fake the entire bomber interior right down to the switches and gauges. The aerial combat is more realistic than that in escapist films, even with inadequate models used for exteriors of the jet bomber in flight. Dr. Strangelove maintains a nervous tension between absurd comedy and morbid unease. Kubrick's main career themes -- sexual madness, treacherous technology and the folly of human planning -- come into strong relief. We're motivated to root for the fliers that are going to destroy the world. Then we fret over the President's pitiful lack of control. Dour, glowering Russian Ambassador De Sadesky (Peter Bull) informs the War Room about his country's solution to the costly Arms Race, the dreaded Doomsday Machine. Security advisor Dr. Strangelove enters the film in the last act to serve as sort of an angel of Death. Based loosely on Rand-corporation experts that calculated eventualities in nuclear war scenarios, Sellers' vision of Strangelove is a throwback to German Expressionism. A Mabuse in a wheelchair, he's black-gloved like the brilliant but mad Rotwang of Metropolis. Strangelove enters like the specter of Death itself; his grin looks like a skull. Contemplating 'megadeaths' gives him sexual pleasure. The detonation of the first bomb seems to liberate Strangelove, and he finds he can walk again. The character is straight from the Siegfried Kracauer playbook. The evil of nuclear war has restored the representative of apocalyptic Nazi vengeance to full power. Twenty years after his death, we all get to join Hitler in his suicide bunker. First-time viewers are usually floored by the audacious Dr. Strangelove. Only the truly uninformed will not recognize baritone James Earl Jones as one of Major Kong's flight crew. Those going back for a repeated peek will derive added enjoyment from Kubrick's deft juggling of his several visual styles and his avoidance of anything that might deflate tension: we hear about the recall code being issued but are spared any view of the responsible military personnel that must have sent it. Some of the best fun is finding details in designer Ken Adam's impressive War Room, such as the pies already laid out in preparation for the aborted pie-fight finale. Even better is watching the War room extras as they strain to maintain straight faces no matter how funny Sellers and Scott get; that contrast is what makes the comedy so brilliant. Watch Peter Bull carefully. In one extended take he starts to smile at Sellers, more than once. He catches himself and then is clearly on the verge of cracking up, forcing Kubrick to cut away. The Criterion Collection's Blu-ray of Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is the expected sterling transfer of this Kubrick classic, a 4K digital transfer. I put it up against Sony's old Blu-ray and the difference is not so great as to recommend that a trade-up is necessary. However, it looks extremely good. The Kubrick faithful out there will be thinking, 'I must not allow a disc shelf gap.' The HD picture makes quite a bit of difference in understanding Kubrick's photographic strategy. Not only do the hand-held Burpelson combat sequences approximate the look of documentary footage, a more contrasty and grainy film stock has been used. Switching "film looks" later became a fad for directors looking to be viewed as artists. The idea perhaps reached its zenith in Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers. Back in 1964 the effect of imitating a news film look was quite stunning -- audiences reacted to the combat scenes as if they were real. I'm glad that we're finally beyond the frustrating early DVD years, when someone (at Warner Home Video?) claimed that Stanley Kubrick insisted that his films be shown at the old 1:33 aspect ratio for TV and disc. Even if they wangled a note from Kubrick to that effect, I still believe that the aspect ratio games were played because Kubrick was too busy to oversee new masters of his films, and Whv wanted to market them in a hurry at a minimum of cost. That's all old news now, but there was also the interesting aspect ratio question concerning Strangelove. At least one disc iteration -- Criterion's laserdisc, I'm fairly sure -- was released in a completely un-original dual-ratio scan. Kubrick apparently said that he preferred to see the War Room scenes at a full-frame 1:37, and so this one transfer of the film popped back and forth between ratios. I've never heard of anything like this before or after. Criterion's British 1:66 framing for this disc is correct, even though the film was probably screened at 1:85 for many of its American play dates. Criterion's new extras begin with interview featurettes with well-chosen spokespeople, like scholars Mick Broderick and Rodney Hill. Kubrick archivist Richard Daniels' piece is quite good, as is an examination of the film's visuals by two of the original camera crew. The son of author Peter George gives an excellent account of his father's life and the adaptation of his novel Red Alert. George reportedly liked the notion of turning his story into a black comedy, especially when his original narrative was changed very little. The stroke of genius was deciding that the entire subject could best be approached as a sick joke. Other extras are repeated from Sony's DVD disc of 2004. A making-of docu interviews several surviving technicians and actors, and a primer on the Cold War atom standoff goes deep into detail. The featurettes have input from Robert McNamara, Spike Lee and Bob Woodward. Critics Roger Ebert and Alexander Walker are also represented. Docu pieces on Peter Sellers and Kubrick appear to suffer from legal restraints disallowing the use of clips from non-Columbia sources. The Peter Sellers show features several choice film clips from the 'fifties, including Sellers' almost perfect take on a William Conrad-like hired killer. We're shown some stills from the legendary The Goon Show, which is not mentioned by name. A Stanley Kubrick career piece that uses UA, MGM and Universal trailers covers a lot of territory a bit too quickly. It does have some nice interview input from Kubrick's partner James B. Harris. Harris has since given terrific interviews on Criterion discs for Kubrick's The Killing and Paths of Glory. Criterion's Curtis Tsui produced those discs as well as this one. An entertaining extra is a pair of vintage 'split screen' fake interviews with Sellers and Scott intended for publicity use. Each actor projects his chosen PR image. They're charming, especially when Sellers takes us on a lightning tour of regional English accents. I wonder if those distinctions have faded, 52 years later? As a pleasant surprise, Curtis Tsui has overseen the creation of a collectable, highly amusing substitute for a standard disc insert booklet. Inside an authentic-looking 'Wing Attack Plan R' envelope, David Bromwich's insert essay is printed in the form of classified orders on two sheets of loose-leaf paper. Terry Southern's hilariously profane 1994 essay on the movie comes in the form of a Playboy parody, illustrated with photos of Tracy Reed as 'Miss Foreign Affairs.' Finally, the disc credits and details are printed in a genuine miniature Russian Phrase Book and Holy Bible, a little bigger than one-inch square. It indeed offers some phrases that I'll have to try on my multi-lingual daughter, like "Where is the toilet?" But the cover Lies, as there's no Bible in there that I could find. Also, no nine packs of chewing gum and no issue of prophylactics. On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, Dr. Strangelove Blu-ray rates: Movie: Excellent Video: Excellent Sound: Excellent uncompressed monaural + alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack, presented in DTS-hd Master Audio Supplements: (from Criterion stats): New interviews with Stanley Kubrick scholars Mick Broderick and Rodney Hill; archivist Richard Daniels; cinematographer and camera innovator Joe Dunton; camera operator Kelvin Pike; and David George, son of Peter George, on whose novel Red Alert the film is based. Excerpts from a 1966 audio interview with Kubrick, conducted by physicist and author Jeremy Bernstein; Four short documentaries about the making of the film, the sociopolitical climate of the period, the work of actor Peter Sellers, and the artistry of Kubrick. Promotional interviews from 1963 with Sellers and actor George C. Scott; excerpt from a 1980 interview with Sellers from NBC's Today show; Trailers; insert essay by scholar David Bromwich and a 1994 article by screenwriter Terry Southern on the making of the film. Deaf and Hearing-impaired Friendly? Yes; Subtitles: English Packaging: Keep case Reviewed: June 7, 2016 (5136love)
Visit DVD Savant's Main Column Page Glenn Erickson answers most reader mail: dvdsavant@mindspring.com
Text © Copyright 2016 Glenn Erickson...
- 6/11/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Earlier this week we posted this video with Joe Dunton discussing the lenses used by Stanley Kubrick in his films. (Note: unfortunately, that previous video has been removed by the uploader.) Here’s the next in a Kubrick cinematography playlist: various cinematographers on his use of the Bnc camera and Zeiss f/0.7 lenses to shoot Barry Lyndon in natural light. (As a reader below notes, this is an excerpt from Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures, which is recommended viewing.) Previously at Filmmaker, Jim Hemphill sat down with three of the film’s actors for a discussion of the making of that […]...
- 4/3/2015
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Earlier this week we posted this video with Joe Dunton discussing the lenses used by Stanley Kubrick in his films. (Note: unfortunately, that previous video has been removed by the uploader.) Here’s the next in a Kubrick cinematography playlist: various cinematographers on his use of the Bnc camera and Zeiss f/0.7 lenses to shoot Barry Lyndon in natural light. (As a reader below notes, this is an excerpt from Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures, which is recommended viewing.) Previously at Filmmaker, Jim Hemphill sat down with three of the film’s actors for a discussion of the making of that […]...
- 4/3/2015
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Camera nerds and cinematographers gather 'round. A video has been uploaded to YouTube that features cinematographer Joe Dunton (Dance Craze, Checkout Girl) explaining in great detail the various lenses (and cameras) that Stanley Kubrick used as a filmmaker. It's very nerdy and seems to be an older video that is only now making the rounds; we were tipped by Filmmaker Magazine. Joe shows off and discusses a number of the various lenses, wides and zooms, that Kubrick used plus his favorite camera the Arriflex IIc. Get ready for a trip back in time, as he says most of these were popular in the 50s and 60s, but that's fine they're still great lenses. Whether you're a filmmaker or photographer or not, this is worth a quick watch. From YouTube: "An amazing 12-minute video on Stanley Kubrick's photographic lenses with Joe Dunton (Bsc, Gbct)." He starts with the Snyder lens,...
- 3/31/2015
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
April 3: 2015: Editor’S Note. We apologize, but this video is no longer viewable on YouTube. In this 12-minute video, legendary British camera innovator Joe Dunton (you can read up on him here) identifies every lens used by Stanley Kubrick and how they work. Learn about the Angénieux zoom lens that was the most popular in the world from 1966 to the early ’70s, more about the difficulties of shooting natural light on Barry Lyndon and many other aspects of the director’s technically meticulous productions.
- 3/30/2015
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
April 3: 2015: Editor’S Note. We apologize, but this video is no longer viewable on YouTube. In this 12-minute video, legendary British camera innovator Joe Dunton (you can read up on him here) identifies every lens used by Stanley Kubrick and how they work. Learn about the Angénieux zoom lens that was the most popular in the world from 1966 to the early ’70s, more about the difficulties of shooting natural light on Barry Lyndon and many other aspects of the director’s technically meticulous productions.
- 3/30/2015
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
John Hurt is to receive the Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema award at the BAFTAs. The 'A Man For All Seasons' star - whose career has spanned six decades - will join the likes of the 'Harry Potter' franchise and Joe Dunton in picking up the accolade, and he will be awarded the prize at the event on February 12. Commenting on award, John said: ''I know that film means a great deal to me but I had no idea that I meant so much to film. I feel very honoured.'' Tim Corrie, chairman...
- 1/27/2012
- Virgin Media - Movies
It was today announced that Woody Allen’s new film You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2011) will open the Bradford International Film Festival on 16th March 2011. This year’s festival will run 16th – 27th March.
Allen has attracted stellar British talent for his new feature including Anthony Hopkins, Gemma Jones, Pauline Collins, Ewen Bremner and Anna Friel. Antonio Banderas, Naomi Watts, Lucy Punch, Josh Brolin and Freida Pinto round out the ensemble cast.
The film tells the story of a pair of married couples. Alfie and Helena (Hopkins and Jones), and their daughter Sally and husband Roy (Watts and Brolin) – discover that their passions, ambitions, and anxieties drive them out of their minds. After Alfie leaves Helena to pursue a free-spirited call girl, she surrenders herself to the advice of a charlatan fortune teller. Unhappy in her marriage, Sally develops a crush on her handsome boss, Greg (Banderas), while Roy,...
Allen has attracted stellar British talent for his new feature including Anthony Hopkins, Gemma Jones, Pauline Collins, Ewen Bremner and Anna Friel. Antonio Banderas, Naomi Watts, Lucy Punch, Josh Brolin and Freida Pinto round out the ensemble cast.
The film tells the story of a pair of married couples. Alfie and Helena (Hopkins and Jones), and their daughter Sally and husband Roy (Watts and Brolin) – discover that their passions, ambitions, and anxieties drive them out of their minds. After Alfie leaves Helena to pursue a free-spirited call girl, she surrenders herself to the advice of a charlatan fortune teller. Unhappy in her marriage, Sally develops a crush on her handsome boss, Greg (Banderas), while Roy,...
- 2/9/2011
- by Daniel Green
- CineVue
The credits have rolled on the 2010 BAFTAs. In case you don’t know what the ‘British Film and Television Awards’ are, it’s like the British version of the Oscars, only, instead of Jon Stewart or Chris Rock, we get Jonathan Ross bombing with every joke. Mind you, we did get to see Mickey Rourke looking at his p*nis and asking, ‘do you wanna go bareback or wear a raincoat?’
To be honest, there aren’t any real surprises here in the winners. Avatar wins where it’s expected, as does The Hurt Locker. British historical dramas do well in their catagories, as bloody always. So, place your bets now for a very similar list at the Oscars…
The full winners list:
Short Film
I Do Air
Short Animation
Mother of Many
Rising Star Award
Kristen Stewart
Music
Michael Giacchino – Up
Sound
Ray Bennett & Paul NJ Otterson – The Hurt Locker
Editing
Bob Murawski,...
To be honest, there aren’t any real surprises here in the winners. Avatar wins where it’s expected, as does The Hurt Locker. British historical dramas do well in their catagories, as bloody always. So, place your bets now for a very similar list at the Oscars…
The full winners list:
Short Film
I Do Air
Short Animation
Mother of Many
Rising Star Award
Kristen Stewart
Music
Michael Giacchino – Up
Sound
Ray Bennett & Paul NJ Otterson – The Hurt Locker
Editing
Bob Murawski,...
- 2/22/2010
- by Adam Mason
- Movie-moron.com
. Colin Firth and Carey Mulligan take top acting awards
. The Hurt Locker sweeps the board, winning six Baftas including best film and best director for Kathryn Bigelow
. Avatar picks up only two awards
Read Xan Brooks's liveblog from London's Royal Opera House and find out how the 2010 British Academy Film Awards unfolded at the scene
Gallery: Bafta arrivals
Gallery: Bafta winners
Full list of awards
6.32pm: If it's a rainy Sunday night in London, sometime between the Golden Globes and the Oscars, then it must be the British Academy of Film and Television Arts' annual film awards. And, as luck would have it, so it is. By God, it comes around quicker every year.
6.34pm: Up the red carpet come the nominated and the not-nominated; the 100-watt stars and the stars whose radiance is pitched at such a dull shimmer that even their companions seem to be looking at them askew.
. The Hurt Locker sweeps the board, winning six Baftas including best film and best director for Kathryn Bigelow
. Avatar picks up only two awards
Read Xan Brooks's liveblog from London's Royal Opera House and find out how the 2010 British Academy Film Awards unfolded at the scene
Gallery: Bafta arrivals
Gallery: Bafta winners
Full list of awards
6.32pm: If it's a rainy Sunday night in London, sometime between the Golden Globes and the Oscars, then it must be the British Academy of Film and Television Arts' annual film awards. And, as luck would have it, so it is. By God, it comes around quicker every year.
6.34pm: Up the red carpet come the nominated and the not-nominated; the 100-watt stars and the stars whose radiance is pitched at such a dull shimmer that even their companions seem to be looking at them askew.
- 2/22/2010
- by Xan Brooks
- The Guardian - Film News
The Hurt Locker was named Best Film at the British Academy Film Awards, held at London’s Royal Opera House. The film also won five other awards: Director for Kathryn Bigelow, the first woman to win the award, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing and Sound.
Avatar won the BAFTAs for Production Design and Special Visual Effects. Up took home the awards for Animated Film and Music. The Young Victoria won the Costume Design and Make Up & Hair awards.
Carey Mulligan was awarded the BAFTA for Leading Actress for An Education. The Supporting Actress BAFTA went to Mo’Nique for her role in Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. Colin Firth won the Leading Actor award for A Single Man and the Supporting Actor award was presented to Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds. All four were first-time winners.
Up in the Air won the BAFTA for Adapted Screenplay. A Prophet...
Avatar won the BAFTAs for Production Design and Special Visual Effects. Up took home the awards for Animated Film and Music. The Young Victoria won the Costume Design and Make Up & Hair awards.
Carey Mulligan was awarded the BAFTA for Leading Actress for An Education. The Supporting Actress BAFTA went to Mo’Nique for her role in Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. Colin Firth won the Leading Actor award for A Single Man and the Supporting Actor award was presented to Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds. All four were first-time winners.
Up in the Air won the BAFTA for Adapted Screenplay. A Prophet...
- 2/22/2010
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Kathryn Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker" was the big winner at the 2010 Orange British Academy Awards. The Iraq War drama won best film, best director, best original screenplay, best cinematography, best sound and best editing.
"Avatar," nominated in eight categories, won the special visual effects and production design awards.
Colin Firth for "A Single Man" was named best actor, while Carey Mulligan received the best actress award for "An Education." Mo'Nique and Christoph Walt continued to dominated the awards season as each picked up the best supporting actress and actor awards respectively.
2009 BAFTA Awards Winners (highlighted)
Academy Fellowship
Vanessa Redgrave
Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema
Joe Dunton
Best Film
Avatar James Cameron, Jon Landau
An Education Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey
The Hurt Locker Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier, Greg Shapiro
Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness, Gary Magness
Up In The Air Ivan Reitman,...
"Avatar," nominated in eight categories, won the special visual effects and production design awards.
Colin Firth for "A Single Man" was named best actor, while Carey Mulligan received the best actress award for "An Education." Mo'Nique and Christoph Walt continued to dominated the awards season as each picked up the best supporting actress and actor awards respectively.
2009 BAFTA Awards Winners (highlighted)
Academy Fellowship
Vanessa Redgrave
Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema
Joe Dunton
Best Film
Avatar James Cameron, Jon Landau
An Education Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey
The Hurt Locker Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier, Greg Shapiro
Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness, Gary Magness
Up In The Air Ivan Reitman,...
- 2/22/2010
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
Here’s the list of the official winners from Sunday evening’s Orange British Academy Film Awards. The Hurt Locker took home six of the eight categories they were nominated for – Best Film, Best Director, Original Screenplay, Sound, Editing, and Cinematography. Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win the BAFTA Director.
The Hurt Locker - Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier, Greg Shapiro
Director – The Hurt Locker Kathryn Bigelow
Original Screenplay – The Hurt Locker Mark Boal
Leading Actor – Colin Firth A Single Man
Leading Actress – Carey Mulligan An Education
Supporting Actor – Christoph Waltz Inglourious Basterds
Supporting Actress – Mo.Nique Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire Outstanding British Film – Fish Tank Kees Kasander, Nick Laws, Andrea Arnold Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director Or Producer – Duncan Jones: Director – Moon Music – Up Michael Giacchino Adapted Screenplay – Up In The Air Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner Film Not In...
The Hurt Locker - Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier, Greg Shapiro
Director – The Hurt Locker Kathryn Bigelow
Original Screenplay – The Hurt Locker Mark Boal
Leading Actor – Colin Firth A Single Man
Leading Actress – Carey Mulligan An Education
Supporting Actor – Christoph Waltz Inglourious Basterds
Supporting Actress – Mo.Nique Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire Outstanding British Film – Fish Tank Kees Kasander, Nick Laws, Andrea Arnold Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director Or Producer – Duncan Jones: Director – Moon Music – Up Michael Giacchino Adapted Screenplay – Up In The Air Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner Film Not In...
- 2/22/2010
- by Michelle
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Full list of winners for the Orange British Academy Film awards, or Baftas
Best film
The Hurt Locker
Leading actor
Colin Firth (A Single Man)
Leading actress
Carey Mulligan (An Education)
Supporting actor
Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)
Supporting actress
Mo'Nique (Precious)
Outstanding British film
Fish Tank
Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer
Duncan Jones (director – Moon)
Director
Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
Original screenplay
The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal)
Adapted screenplay
Up in the Air (Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner)
Film not in the English language
A Prophet
Animated film
Up
Music
Up (Michael Giacchino)
Cinematography
The Hurt Locker
Editing
The Hurt Locker
Production design
Avatar
Costume design
The Young Victoria
Sound
The Hurt Locker
Special visual effects
Avatar
Makeup & hair
The Young Victoria
Short animation
Mother of Many
Short film
I Do Air
The Orange Rising Star Award (voted for by the public, nominations announced earlier this...
Best film
The Hurt Locker
Leading actor
Colin Firth (A Single Man)
Leading actress
Carey Mulligan (An Education)
Supporting actor
Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)
Supporting actress
Mo'Nique (Precious)
Outstanding British film
Fish Tank
Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer
Duncan Jones (director – Moon)
Director
Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
Original screenplay
The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal)
Adapted screenplay
Up in the Air (Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner)
Film not in the English language
A Prophet
Animated film
Up
Music
Up (Michael Giacchino)
Cinematography
The Hurt Locker
Editing
The Hurt Locker
Production design
Avatar
Costume design
The Young Victoria
Sound
The Hurt Locker
Special visual effects
Avatar
Makeup & hair
The Young Victoria
Short animation
Mother of Many
Short film
I Do Air
The Orange Rising Star Award (voted for by the public, nominations announced earlier this...
- 2/21/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
The annual BAFTA awards have been handed out this evening with a few surprises and a few obvious ones. It was notable this year because James Cameron faced competition – an ex-wife – in the shape of Kathryn Bigelow. Who shall gain the upper hand? Well, it turns out Kathryn Bigelow’s amazing war flick! It picked up six awards from eight nominations. Will the trick be repeated for the Oscars next month? Time shall tell. Anyway, enough of the chatter, here’s the full list of winners:
Best British Newcomer – Duncan Jones (Moon)
Best Short Animation – Emma Lazenby & Sally Arthur (Mother of Many)
Achievement in Music - Up (Michael Giacchino)
Best Sound – The Hurt Locker
Best Editing – The Hurt Locker
Outstanding Contribution To British Cinema – Joe Dunton
Best Cinematography - Barry Ackroyd (The Hurt Locker)
Best Special Effects – Avatar
Best Supporting Actor – Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)
Best Costume Design and Make-...
Best British Newcomer – Duncan Jones (Moon)
Best Short Animation – Emma Lazenby & Sally Arthur (Mother of Many)
Achievement in Music - Up (Michael Giacchino)
Best Sound – The Hurt Locker
Best Editing – The Hurt Locker
Outstanding Contribution To British Cinema – Joe Dunton
Best Cinematography - Barry Ackroyd (The Hurt Locker)
Best Special Effects – Avatar
Best Supporting Actor – Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)
Best Costume Design and Make-...
- 2/21/2010
- by Martyn Conterio
- FilmShaft.com
London -- It was Kathryn Bigelow's night at the Orange British Academy Film Awards on Sunday, with the favorite "The Hurt Locker" sweeping the board with a haul of awards, including best film, best director, best original screenplay, best cinematography, best sound and best editing.
"My heart's beating so fast I can barely talk," she said as she took the podium to accept the best director award. "I think the secret to directing is collaboration, and I was so lucky to have an incredible cast and crew. This is deeply moving -- we all felt an incredible responsibility to honor the courage of the men and women in the field."
"Avatar," which had been nominated in eight categories, won in the special visual effects and production design categories.
"A Single Man" star Colin Firth was named best actor, while British newcomer Carey Mulligan was awarded the best actress award...
"My heart's beating so fast I can barely talk," she said as she took the podium to accept the best director award. "I think the secret to directing is collaboration, and I was so lucky to have an incredible cast and crew. This is deeply moving -- we all felt an incredible responsibility to honor the courage of the men and women in the field."
"Avatar," which had been nominated in eight categories, won in the special visual effects and production design categories.
"A Single Man" star Colin Firth was named best actor, while British newcomer Carey Mulligan was awarded the best actress award...
- 2/21/2010
- by By Mimi Turner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Well, here we are Live at the 2010 Orange BAFTA Awards and I can’t describe what the atmosphere is like. We’re currently waiting for the awards themselves to start and while you’re getting your beverage of choice, check out the photos that I took from the red carpet which I’ll get posted here as fast as I can.
I’ve placed all the nominees below and we’ll be updating them as each winner is announced live from the awards. Each time a winner is announced, I’ll change the winner to bold and red so that you can spot them easily.
Remember, this is a completely interactive evening so please comment on what you think of the results, check out our live tweets here and discuss away as much as you can. Remember to hash-tag your tweets with #BAFTA and then they’ll be easy to...
I’ve placed all the nominees below and we’ll be updating them as each winner is announced live from the awards. Each time a winner is announced, I’ll change the winner to bold and red so that you can spot them easily.
Remember, this is a completely interactive evening so please comment on what you think of the results, check out our live tweets here and discuss away as much as you can. Remember to hash-tag your tweets with #BAFTA and then they’ll be easy to...
- 2/21/2010
- by David Sztypuljak
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Over the weekend Slumdog Millionaire won big at the British Independent Film Awards as Danny Boyle took home director kudos, Dev Patel won for most promising newcomer and the film itself won best independent film. Of course, many are reporting the news as if this is just the start of something big as buzz around the little film has gotten louder and louder over the course of the previous week. I reviewed it and gave it a well-earned "A-", but when it comes down to awards I can't see this flick moving all the way to the big show. Take, for example, the last five Bifa "Best British Independent Film" award winners were Control, This Is England, The Constant Gardener, Vera Drake and Dirty Pretty Things. Of that bunch there are eight Oscar nominations including a win for Rachel Weisz for The Constant Gardener, but there isn't a best picture...
- 12/1/2008
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
The winners of the 11th British Independent Film Awards have been announced on Sunday, November 30, and one that is shinning brighter than the others is "Slumdog Millionaire". In the announcement made at Old Billingsgate Market in London, the Danny Boyle-directed movie about a poor Indian boy who gets a shot at winning millions in a television game show brought home three kudos.
Nominated for six categories, "Slumdog" has nailed three of the coveted awards given away, including the Best British Independent Film title. The romantic comedy drama has also brought recognition to its director Danny Boyle, who received the Best Director prize, and its star Dev Patel, who is hailed to be the Most Promising Newcomer.
In the meantime, "Hunger" and "In Bruges" which dominated the nomination with seven nods each failed to win big. "Hunger" got three awards, The Douglas Hickox Award or the Best Debut Director kudo for director Steve McQueen,...
Nominated for six categories, "Slumdog" has nailed three of the coveted awards given away, including the Best British Independent Film title. The romantic comedy drama has also brought recognition to its director Danny Boyle, who received the Best Director prize, and its star Dev Patel, who is hailed to be the Most Promising Newcomer.
In the meantime, "Hunger" and "In Bruges" which dominated the nomination with seven nods each failed to win big. "Hunger" got three awards, The Douglas Hickox Award or the Best Debut Director kudo for director Steve McQueen,...
- 12/1/2008
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
London -- Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire" snared a trio of top awards Sunday evening at the British Independent Film Awards.
Danny Boyle walked off with the best director nod for his film, which also took the plaudits for best independent film.
The movie's star, Dev Patel, picked up the ceremony's most promising newcomer award for his role in Boyle's India-set romantic drama.
Elsewhere, Michael Fassbender's turn in "Hunger," Steve McQueen's portrait of Ira hunger striker Bobby Sands, earned best actor. Best actress went to Vera Farmiga for her role in Mark Herman's harrowing concentration camp drama "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas."
Mike Leigh's "Happy-Go-Lucky" smiled its way to a pair of acting nods, with Eddie Marsan and Alexis Zegerman taking home the best supporting actor and actress plaudits, respectively.
Martin McDonagh's "In Bruges," which shared the most nominations along with "Hunger," took home...
Danny Boyle walked off with the best director nod for his film, which also took the plaudits for best independent film.
The movie's star, Dev Patel, picked up the ceremony's most promising newcomer award for his role in Boyle's India-set romantic drama.
Elsewhere, Michael Fassbender's turn in "Hunger," Steve McQueen's portrait of Ira hunger striker Bobby Sands, earned best actor. Best actress went to Vera Farmiga for her role in Mark Herman's harrowing concentration camp drama "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas."
Mike Leigh's "Happy-Go-Lucky" smiled its way to a pair of acting nods, with Eddie Marsan and Alexis Zegerman taking home the best supporting actor and actress plaudits, respectively.
Martin McDonagh's "In Bruges," which shared the most nominations along with "Hunger," took home...
- 11/30/2008
- by By Stuart Kemp
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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