The practice of creating origin stories for well-known characters that are not the leading role in a narrative is reaching a fever pitch these days, but “Ratched” — Netflix’s 2020 series starring Sarah Paulson (above) as the younger, more stylish version of “One Flew the Cuckoo’s Nest” harridan nurse – might have kickstarted the craze given how much you could wring from such a scrupulous character.
“My biggest challenge was we had so much rich material”, said series editor Shelly Westerman, who was responsible for five episodes of the first season (a second one is in the works), “jaw- dropping dailies that you would call out your co-workers screaming ‘you’ve gotta see this’ — the acting, hair, makeup, costumes, cinematography, everything was just amazing. The hardest part was cutting it, especially since we had a nearly 90-minute pilot, I just loved it.”
Netflix
And if that wasn’t enough of a challenge,...
“My biggest challenge was we had so much rich material”, said series editor Shelly Westerman, who was responsible for five episodes of the first season (a second one is in the works), “jaw- dropping dailies that you would call out your co-workers screaming ‘you’ve gotta see this’ — the acting, hair, makeup, costumes, cinematography, everything was just amazing. The hardest part was cutting it, especially since we had a nearly 90-minute pilot, I just loved it.”
Netflix
And if that wasn’t enough of a challenge,...
- 6/19/2021
- by Jason Clark
- The Wrap
Writer-director Tim Robbins goes all out to recreate a politically potent chapter of Broadway legend, the true story of the rebel Wpa production The Cradle Will Rock — with a dynamic sidebar about Diego Rivera’s provocative mural for the Rockefeller Center. An enormous cast works up the excitement of Depression-era revolutionary theater.
Cradle Will Rock
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1999 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 134 min. / Street Date August 7, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 19.95
Starring: Hank Azaria, Rubén Blades, Joan Cusack, John Cusack, Cary Elwes, Philip Baker Hall, Cherry Jones, Angus Macfadyen, Bill Murray, Vanessa Redgrave, Susan Sarandon, Jamey Sheridan, John Turturro, Emily Watson, Bob Balaban, Jack Black, Kyle Gass, Paul Giamatti, Barnard Hughes, Barbara Sukowa, Gretchen Mol, Harris Yulin, Daniel Jenkins, Steven Skybell, Susan Heimbeinder, Audra McDonald, Leonardo Cimino.
Cinematography: Jean-Yves Escoffier
Film Editor: Geraldine Peroni
Costumes: Ruth Myers
Original Music: David Robbins
Produced by Lydia Dean Pilcher, Jon Kilik, Tim Robbins
Written...
Cradle Will Rock
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1999 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 134 min. / Street Date August 7, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 19.95
Starring: Hank Azaria, Rubén Blades, Joan Cusack, John Cusack, Cary Elwes, Philip Baker Hall, Cherry Jones, Angus Macfadyen, Bill Murray, Vanessa Redgrave, Susan Sarandon, Jamey Sheridan, John Turturro, Emily Watson, Bob Balaban, Jack Black, Kyle Gass, Paul Giamatti, Barnard Hughes, Barbara Sukowa, Gretchen Mol, Harris Yulin, Daniel Jenkins, Steven Skybell, Susan Heimbeinder, Audra McDonald, Leonardo Cimino.
Cinematography: Jean-Yves Escoffier
Film Editor: Geraldine Peroni
Costumes: Ruth Myers
Original Music: David Robbins
Produced by Lydia Dean Pilcher, Jon Kilik, Tim Robbins
Written...
- 8/4/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Success in the ’90s gave Robert Altman the opportunity to experiment once again. Several short stories by Raymond Carver interlock in a mosaic of Los Angeles populated by scores of actors in ensemble mode. Clocking in at three hours, Altman’s epic has all the time and space it needs.
Short Cuts
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 265
1993 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 187 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 18, 2016 / 39.95
Starring Andie MacDowell, Bruce Davison, Jack Lemmon, Julianne Moore,
Matthew Modine, Anne Archer, Fred Ward, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Chris Penn, Lili Taylor, Robert Downey Jr., Madeleine Stowe, Tim Robbins, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, Frances McDormand, Peter Gallagher, Annie Ross, Lori Singer, Lyle Lovett, Buck Henry, Huey Lewis, Margery Bond, Robert DoQui.
Cinematography Walt Lloyd
Production Designer Stephen Altman
Art Direction Jerry Fleming
Film Editors Suzy Elmiger, Geraldine Peroni
Original Music Gavin Friday, Mark Isham
Written by Robert Altman, Frank Barhydt from writings...
Short Cuts
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 265
1993 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 187 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 18, 2016 / 39.95
Starring Andie MacDowell, Bruce Davison, Jack Lemmon, Julianne Moore,
Matthew Modine, Anne Archer, Fred Ward, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Chris Penn, Lili Taylor, Robert Downey Jr., Madeleine Stowe, Tim Robbins, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, Frances McDormand, Peter Gallagher, Annie Ross, Lori Singer, Lyle Lovett, Buck Henry, Huey Lewis, Margery Bond, Robert DoQui.
Cinematography Walt Lloyd
Production Designer Stephen Altman
Art Direction Jerry Fleming
Film Editors Suzy Elmiger, Geraldine Peroni
Original Music Gavin Friday, Mark Isham
Written by Robert Altman, Frank Barhydt from writings...
- 12/10/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Editor’s note: After a two-week vacation break, we’re now back with an expanded selection to catch up.
Every week we dive into the cream of the crop when it comes to home releases, including Blu-ray and DVDs, as well as recommended deals of the week. Check out our rundown below and return every Tuesday for the best (or most interesting) films one can take home. Note that if you’re looking to support the site, every purchase you make through the links below helps us and is greatly appreciated.
Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
After being put through the awards season grinder — resulting in hours upon hours of conversations — what left is there to learn about the production of Richard Linklater‘s 12-years-in-the-making project Boyhood? The Criterion Collection edition proves, evidently, a fair amount. In fact, what’s so interesting about the plethora of special features — aside from an intimate...
Every week we dive into the cream of the crop when it comes to home releases, including Blu-ray and DVDs, as well as recommended deals of the week. Check out our rundown below and return every Tuesday for the best (or most interesting) films one can take home. Note that if you’re looking to support the site, every purchase you make through the links below helps us and is greatly appreciated.
Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
After being put through the awards season grinder — resulting in hours upon hours of conversations — what left is there to learn about the production of Richard Linklater‘s 12-years-in-the-making project Boyhood? The Criterion Collection edition proves, evidently, a fair amount. In fact, what’s so interesting about the plethora of special features — aside from an intimate...
- 10/25/2016
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Heath Ledger's Ennis Del Mar, Jake Gyllenhaal's Jack Twist in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain Meditations on Brokeback Mountain Part II: Ennis Del Mar – Iconic Film Character Moving on to another area of the film, I must add that Brokeback Mountain works just as beautifully from a purely cinematic standpoint. Let me analyze one short scene as an example of the brilliance of Ang Lee's direction, Rodrigo Pietro's cinematography, and Geraldine Peroni and Dylan Tichenor's editing. (The fact that Peroni and Tichenor's film editing wasn't nominated for an Oscar is shameful.) First, look at the picture at the top (click on the photo to enlarge it). This is right after Jack and Ennis' sheepherding job on Brokeback is finished, and they are about to leave one another for what they believe is forever. Notice that the colors are all washed out, in contrast to the vibrant colors we...
- 3/24/2011
- by Nathan Donarum
- Alt Film Guide
As you may have noticed, I will not be done with my Decade in Review until sometime into the new year. Hopefully we'll wrap up shortly after the Oscars; You know how distractingly all-consuming the Oscars can be! I hope you'll stay with it even though the rest of the media will move on any second now. They're always in such a rush. No stopping and smelling of the flowers. I've still got to update that "Actors of the Aughts" project for final compilation/statement. For now, let's move on to 2003. What follows is my original top ten list, based on films released in NYC in 2003. If I have anything new to say that'll be in red after the original text.
Special Mentions: The Cremaster Cycle and Angels in America
Most Underappreciated: Hulk (Ang Lee), In the Cut (Jane Campion), Anything Else (Woody Allen), Charlies Angels: Full Throttle (McG) and...
Special Mentions: The Cremaster Cycle and Angels in America
Most Underappreciated: Hulk (Ang Lee), In the Cut (Jane Campion), Anything Else (Woody Allen), Charlies Angels: Full Throttle (McG) and...
- 12/8/2009
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
This review was written for the festival screening of "Brokeback Mountain".
VENICE, Italy -- Everything you ever imagined about the characters of John Wayne and Montgomery Clift in "Red River" or Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott in "Ride the High Country" is revealed candidly in Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain", an epic Western about forbidden love.
Anne Proulx's 1997 short story in the New Yorker has been masterfully expanded by screenwriters Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana to provide director Lee with his best movie since "Sense and Sensibility" in 1995.
Featuring scenes filmed in the fabulous Canadian Rockies of Alberta and boasting a fine cast topped by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, "Brokeback Mountain" will appeal to moviegoers who enjoy grand filmmaking and poignant love stories, whether gay, hetero or otherwise.
The film, which screened in competition at the Venice International Film Festival, follows two men, Ennis Del Mar (Ledger) and Jack Twist (Gyllenhaal), and their love for each other that in the hide-bound and traditional world of the American West they must keep hidden, fearful not only of scandal but also for their lives.
Ennis and Jack meet in 1963 when they each show up looking for a summer's work herding sheep on Brokeback Mountain, Wyoming, on land owned by no-nonsense rancher Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid). In order to keep his herd safe, Aguirre is happy to break regulations by requiring one of his men to roam high in the mountains, sleeping rough with no fire, while the other maintains a base camp with a one-man tent throughout the summer and into the fall.
There's nothing romantic about herding huge numbers of four-legged beasts left to range far and wide, and cowboys pretty much have cornered whatever romance there is in rugged outdoor animal husbandry. Riding herd on sheep guaranteed a horseman a hard time in old Westerns, but Ennis and Jack make the most of it, even if their diet is mostly beans.
They don't talk much, but Ennis speaks of being raised by his brother and sister after their parents died in a car crash, and of a woman named Alma he plans to marry. Jack tells of stern parents and working the Texas rodeo circuit. The scenery is breathtakingly gorgeous but their days are hard, with bears and coyotes threatening, and the biting mountain cold, and the two men soon come to rely on each other totally.
One night, Ennis decides to sleep by the fire rather than head off to his lonely post, but in the wee small hours, with the fire dead, he's freezing. Jack yells at him to join him in his tent. A simple human gesture in sleep prompts a frantic coupling that in the cold light of morning each man is quick to dismiss.
The summer ends, and as time goes by Ennis marries Alma (Michelle Williams) and Jack weds Lureen (Anne Hathaway), and they each have kids. The men's shared passion keeps its fire, however, and their affection and need for each other grows. Over the years, they contrive to spend time together back on Brokeback Mountain. Always there is the threat of exposure and the fear it breeds.
Pulitzer Prize-winner McMurtry ("Lonesome Dove") and Ossana, his writing partner since 1993 who has shepherded the project for eight years, use a large canvas for what is really an intimate story. They develop the secondary characters with great insight and compassion. The women in the lives of Ennis and Jack are given full attention, and the acting, especially by Williams, Hathaway and Kate Mara, as Ennis' daughter Alma at age 19, is deeply affecting.
The fine details of the West are as precise as you would expect from a McMurtry piece, and Lee's adroitness with the excellent cast is on full display, particularly in the brave and moving performances of Ledger and Gyllenhaal.
The dusty towns of Wyoming and Texas are contrasted with the spectacular Canadian Rockies, splendidly filmed by Rodrigo Prieto, and the film benefits enormously from composer Gustavo Santaolalla's melodic and plangent score.
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
A Focus Features and River Road Entertainment presentation
Credits:
Director: Ang Lee
Screenplay: Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana
Based on the short story by: Annie Proulx
Producers: Diana Ossana, James Schamus
Executive producers: William Pohlad, Larry McMurtry, Michael Costigan, Michael Hausman, Alberta Film Entertainment
Director of photography: Rodrigo Prieto
Production designer: Judy Becker
Editors: Geraldine Peroni, Dylan Tichenor
Music: Gustavo Santaolalla
Cast:
Ennis Del Mar: Heath Ledger
Jack Twist: Jake Gyllenhaal
Joe Aguirre: Randy Quaid
Alma: Michelle Williams
Lureen Newsome: Anne Hathaway
Alma Jr., age 19: Kate Mara
Alma Jr., age 13: Cheyenne Hill
Cassie: Linda Cardellini
Monroe: Scott Michael Campbell
Fayette Newsome: Mary Liboiron
L.B. Newsome: Graham Beckel
Randall Malone: David Harbour
Lashawn Malone: Anna Faris
Jack's mother: Roberta Maxwell
John Twist: Peter McRobbie
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 134 minutes...
VENICE, Italy -- Everything you ever imagined about the characters of John Wayne and Montgomery Clift in "Red River" or Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott in "Ride the High Country" is revealed candidly in Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain", an epic Western about forbidden love.
Anne Proulx's 1997 short story in the New Yorker has been masterfully expanded by screenwriters Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana to provide director Lee with his best movie since "Sense and Sensibility" in 1995.
Featuring scenes filmed in the fabulous Canadian Rockies of Alberta and boasting a fine cast topped by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, "Brokeback Mountain" will appeal to moviegoers who enjoy grand filmmaking and poignant love stories, whether gay, hetero or otherwise.
The film, which screened in competition at the Venice International Film Festival, follows two men, Ennis Del Mar (Ledger) and Jack Twist (Gyllenhaal), and their love for each other that in the hide-bound and traditional world of the American West they must keep hidden, fearful not only of scandal but also for their lives.
Ennis and Jack meet in 1963 when they each show up looking for a summer's work herding sheep on Brokeback Mountain, Wyoming, on land owned by no-nonsense rancher Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid). In order to keep his herd safe, Aguirre is happy to break regulations by requiring one of his men to roam high in the mountains, sleeping rough with no fire, while the other maintains a base camp with a one-man tent throughout the summer and into the fall.
There's nothing romantic about herding huge numbers of four-legged beasts left to range far and wide, and cowboys pretty much have cornered whatever romance there is in rugged outdoor animal husbandry. Riding herd on sheep guaranteed a horseman a hard time in old Westerns, but Ennis and Jack make the most of it, even if their diet is mostly beans.
They don't talk much, but Ennis speaks of being raised by his brother and sister after their parents died in a car crash, and of a woman named Alma he plans to marry. Jack tells of stern parents and working the Texas rodeo circuit. The scenery is breathtakingly gorgeous but their days are hard, with bears and coyotes threatening, and the biting mountain cold, and the two men soon come to rely on each other totally.
One night, Ennis decides to sleep by the fire rather than head off to his lonely post, but in the wee small hours, with the fire dead, he's freezing. Jack yells at him to join him in his tent. A simple human gesture in sleep prompts a frantic coupling that in the cold light of morning each man is quick to dismiss.
The summer ends, and as time goes by Ennis marries Alma (Michelle Williams) and Jack weds Lureen (Anne Hathaway), and they each have kids. The men's shared passion keeps its fire, however, and their affection and need for each other grows. Over the years, they contrive to spend time together back on Brokeback Mountain. Always there is the threat of exposure and the fear it breeds.
Pulitzer Prize-winner McMurtry ("Lonesome Dove") and Ossana, his writing partner since 1993 who has shepherded the project for eight years, use a large canvas for what is really an intimate story. They develop the secondary characters with great insight and compassion. The women in the lives of Ennis and Jack are given full attention, and the acting, especially by Williams, Hathaway and Kate Mara, as Ennis' daughter Alma at age 19, is deeply affecting.
The fine details of the West are as precise as you would expect from a McMurtry piece, and Lee's adroitness with the excellent cast is on full display, particularly in the brave and moving performances of Ledger and Gyllenhaal.
The dusty towns of Wyoming and Texas are contrasted with the spectacular Canadian Rockies, splendidly filmed by Rodrigo Prieto, and the film benefits enormously from composer Gustavo Santaolalla's melodic and plangent score.
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
A Focus Features and River Road Entertainment presentation
Credits:
Director: Ang Lee
Screenplay: Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana
Based on the short story by: Annie Proulx
Producers: Diana Ossana, James Schamus
Executive producers: William Pohlad, Larry McMurtry, Michael Costigan, Michael Hausman, Alberta Film Entertainment
Director of photography: Rodrigo Prieto
Production designer: Judy Becker
Editors: Geraldine Peroni, Dylan Tichenor
Music: Gustavo Santaolalla
Cast:
Ennis Del Mar: Heath Ledger
Jack Twist: Jake Gyllenhaal
Joe Aguirre: Randy Quaid
Alma: Michelle Williams
Lureen Newsome: Anne Hathaway
Alma Jr., age 19: Kate Mara
Alma Jr., age 13: Cheyenne Hill
Cassie: Linda Cardellini
Monroe: Scott Michael Campbell
Fayette Newsome: Mary Liboiron
L.B. Newsome: Graham Beckel
Randall Malone: David Harbour
Lashawn Malone: Anna Faris
Jack's mother: Roberta Maxwell
John Twist: Peter McRobbie
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 134 minutes...
American film editor Geraldine Peroni died at her New York home on Tuesday after reportedly committing suicide. She was 51. The city's medical examiner's office ruled the movie maker - who frequently worked with director Robert Altman - had killed herself, however her family are disputing that finding. Peroni was due to edit the new Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal film Brokeback Mountain later this year. Peroni worked on eight Altman films, including Vincent And Theo, Dr T And The Women and The Company. Altman says, "Her death is a big loss. She made my work so easy. She reads me better than anybody had ever read me, and, consequently, she did the work; I didn't have to. So it was a wonderful situation. But those things don't last." During her 20 year film career, she was nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA award for The Player.
- 8/10/2004
- WENN
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