In his first non-fiction book, literary-agent-turned-producer Charles Elton takes on a major topic: the first biography of “critically acclaimed then critically derided filmmaker Michael Cimino.” In “Cimino: The Deer Hunter, Heaven’s Gate, and The Price of a Vision,” Elton explores Cimino’s fraught legacy — including his two best known films, “The Deer Hunter” and “Heaven’s Gate” — and uses extensive interviews with Cimino’s peers, collaborators, enemies, and friends to explore and reevaluate a number of sprawling Hollywood myths.
In an excerpt below — available exclusively on IndieWire — Elton unpacks the real truth behind the persistent belief that Cimino’s epic (both in scale and in terms of financial failure) “Heaven’s Gate” led to the end of United Artists. The book is out today.
Michael Cimino’s epic Western, “Heaven’s Gate,” his first film since the Oscar-winning “The Deer Hunter,” was shown to the New York press on November 19, 1980. The next morning,...
In an excerpt below — available exclusively on IndieWire — Elton unpacks the real truth behind the persistent belief that Cimino’s epic (both in scale and in terms of financial failure) “Heaven’s Gate” led to the end of United Artists. The book is out today.
Michael Cimino’s epic Western, “Heaven’s Gate,” his first film since the Oscar-winning “The Deer Hunter,” was shown to the New York press on November 19, 1980. The next morning,...
- 3/29/2022
- by IndieWire Staff
- Indiewire
Director Joe Mantello’s The Boys in the Band begins with a spark, specifically the sound of a lighter, as we see Harold (played by Zachary Quinto in full Afro-wigged glory) light up and put a record on his hi-fi. The sound of Erma Franklin’s cover of Sam & Dave’s “Hold On I’m Comin’” sets the tone for 1968 New York City. In the montage that follows, we see Michael (Jim Parsons) buying provisions at the counter of Barney Greengrass; Donald (Matt Bomer) zooms over the bridge to Manhattan...
- 9/25/2020
- by Jerry Portwood
- Rollingstone.com
On the 26th of December 1973, William Friedkin’s The Exorcist hit theaters and horror hasn’t been the same since. The absolutely terrifying movie contains several indelible cinematic images, was controversial at the time, went on to be banned in many countries and spawned four sequels and two television series (and a stage adaptation featuring Ian McKellan as Pazuzu!). But let’s get back to that 1973 premiere and find out how unwitting audiences reacted to what they found.
One critic, Stanley Kauffmann writing in The New Republic, said:
“This is the most scary film I’ve seen in years — the only scary film I’ve seen in years…If you want to be shaken — and I found out, while the picture was going, that that’s what I wanted — then The Exorcist will scare the hell out of you.”
Variety, meanwhile, praised it as “pure cinematic terror” and director Joe Dante said:
“An amazing film,...
One critic, Stanley Kauffmann writing in The New Republic, said:
“This is the most scary film I’ve seen in years — the only scary film I’ve seen in years…If you want to be shaken — and I found out, while the picture was going, that that’s what I wanted — then The Exorcist will scare the hell out of you.”
Variety, meanwhile, praised it as “pure cinematic terror” and director Joe Dante said:
“An amazing film,...
- 12/26/2019
- by David James
- We Got This Covered
When the critic John Simon died last weekend, at 94, virtually every piece written about him — one usually calls these pieces “tributes,” though in Simon’s case I’m not sure the word applies — dealt front and center with the quality that had made him a legend: his famous vitriol, the gleeful and reflexive nastiness that sloshed through the cartridge of his poison pen.
For Simon, toxic negativity wasn‘t a tool for reviewing an art form; it was the art form. At New York magazine, where he was ensconced as the theater critic from 1968 to 2005, and at the National Review, where he reviewed movies for decades, he pushed the role of critical hanging judge as far as it could go, to the point that it was the driving force of his identity. In 1967, he was fired from New York’s Channel 13 for writing reviews that were deemed too “misanthropic,...
For Simon, toxic negativity wasn‘t a tool for reviewing an art form; it was the art form. At New York magazine, where he was ensconced as the theater critic from 1968 to 2005, and at the National Review, where he reviewed movies for decades, he pushed the role of critical hanging judge as far as it could go, to the point that it was the driving force of his identity. In 1967, he was fired from New York’s Channel 13 for writing reviews that were deemed too “misanthropic,...
- 11/30/2019
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Works of art that were once radical tend to find their cozy place in the cultural ecosystem. It’s almost funny to think that an audience ever booed “The Rite of Spring,” or that the Sex Pistols shocked people to their souls, or that museum patrons once stood in front of Jackson Pollock’s splatter paintings or Warhol’s soup cans and said, “But is it art?” In 1971, “A Clockwork Orange” was a scandal, but it quickly came to be thought of as a Kubrick classic.
Yet “Natural Born Killers,” a brazenly radical movie when it was first released, on August 26, 1994 (25 years ago tomorrow), has never lost its sting of audacity. It’s still dangerous, crazy-sick, luridly hypnotic, ripped from the id, and visionary. I loved the movie from the moment I saw it. It haunted me for weeks afterward, and over the next few years I saw it over...
Yet “Natural Born Killers,” a brazenly radical movie when it was first released, on August 26, 1994 (25 years ago tomorrow), has never lost its sting of audacity. It’s still dangerous, crazy-sick, luridly hypnotic, ripped from the id, and visionary. I loved the movie from the moment I saw it. It haunted me for weeks afterward, and over the next few years I saw it over...
- 8/25/2019
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveriesNEWSJohn Huston, Orson Welles and Peter Bogdanovich on the set of The Other Side of the WindWe're still holding our breath, but it looks like we may all get to see Orson Welles' beleaguered film project The Other Side of the Wind, to be released in some fashion by Netflix.The Tribeca Film Festival, running April 17 - 30, has announced its full lineup. Robert Osborne, Turner Classic Movies host and defacto representative in the United States for the appreciation of older films, has died at the age of 84. With his passing, the number of venerable, welcoming advocates for classic cinema is dropping precariously low.Recommended VIEWINGThe proof is the pudding: Director Terrence Malick actually participated in a public, recorded conversation! He was at SXSW to promote his new film, Austin-set Song to Song, and took place in a discussion with Richard Linklater...
- 3/14/2017
- MUBI
The French Connection 45th Anniversary Screening in Los Angeles
By Todd Garbarini
The Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre in Los Angeles will be presenting a 45th anniversary screening of William Friedkin’s Oscar-winning 1971 crime drama The French Connection. The 102-minute film will be screened on Saturday, June 18, 2016 at 7:30 pm. Starring Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, Tony Lo Bianco, Fernando Rey, Marcel Bozuffi, and the two real-life detectives who broke the actual case: the late Eddie Eagen and Salvatore “Sonny” Grosso, The French Connection is a New York movie of the first order and paved the way for gritty crime dramas like The Seven-Ups and The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3.
Director Friedkin is scheduled to appear at a Q&A session following the film.
From the press release:
Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.
45th Anniversary Screening
This gritty and gripping police thriller won five...
By Todd Garbarini
The Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre in Los Angeles will be presenting a 45th anniversary screening of William Friedkin’s Oscar-winning 1971 crime drama The French Connection. The 102-minute film will be screened on Saturday, June 18, 2016 at 7:30 pm. Starring Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, Tony Lo Bianco, Fernando Rey, Marcel Bozuffi, and the two real-life detectives who broke the actual case: the late Eddie Eagen and Salvatore “Sonny” Grosso, The French Connection is a New York movie of the first order and paved the way for gritty crime dramas like The Seven-Ups and The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3.
Director Friedkin is scheduled to appear at a Q&A session following the film.
From the press release:
Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.
45th Anniversary Screening
This gritty and gripping police thriller won five...
- 6/11/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
The Royale Laemmle Theater in Los Angeles will be presenting a 55th anniversary screening of Robert Rossen’s The Hustler. The 134-minute film, which stars Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie, George C. Scott, Myron McCormick, Murray Hamilton, and both Jake Lamotta and Vincent Gardenia as bartenders, will be screened on Wednesday, March 16, 2016 at 7:00 pm.
Actress Piper Laurie, who appears in the film as Sarah Packard, is scheduled to appear at a Q&A session after the film to discuss her role and career.
From the press release:
The Hustler
Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.
The Hustler (1961)
55th Anniversary Screening
Wednesday, March 16, at 7:00 Pm at the Royal Theatre
Three-Time Oscar Nominee Piper Laurie in person for Q&A after the screening
Robert Rossen’s The Hustler, one of the most incisive character dramas of the 1960s, earned nine Academy Award nominations and won two Oscars,...
Actress Piper Laurie, who appears in the film as Sarah Packard, is scheduled to appear at a Q&A session after the film to discuss her role and career.
From the press release:
The Hustler
Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.
The Hustler (1961)
55th Anniversary Screening
Wednesday, March 16, at 7:00 Pm at the Royal Theatre
Three-Time Oscar Nominee Piper Laurie in person for Q&A after the screening
Robert Rossen’s The Hustler, one of the most incisive character dramas of the 1960s, earned nine Academy Award nominations and won two Oscars,...
- 3/9/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
The Royale Laemmle Theater in Los Angeles will be presenting a 55th anniversary screening of Robert Rossen’s The Hustler. The 134-minute film, which stars Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie, George C. Scott, Myron McCormick, Murray Hamilton, and both Jake Lamotta and Vincent Gardenia as bartenders, will be screened on Wednesday, March 16, 2016 at 7:00 pm.
Actress Piper Laurie, who appears in the film as Sarah Packard, is scheduled to appear at a Q&A session after the film to discuss her role and career.
From the press release:
The Hustler
Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.
The Hustler (1961)
55th Anniversary Screening
Wednesday, March 16, at 7:00 Pm at the Royal Theatre
Three-Time Oscar Nominee Piper Laurie in person for Q&A after the screening
Robert Rossen’s The Hustler, one of the most incisive character dramas of the 1960s, earned nine Academy Award nominations and won two Oscars,...
Actress Piper Laurie, who appears in the film as Sarah Packard, is scheduled to appear at a Q&A session after the film to discuss her role and career.
From the press release:
The Hustler
Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.
The Hustler (1961)
55th Anniversary Screening
Wednesday, March 16, at 7:00 Pm at the Royal Theatre
Three-Time Oscar Nominee Piper Laurie in person for Q&A after the screening
Robert Rossen’s The Hustler, one of the most incisive character dramas of the 1960s, earned nine Academy Award nominations and won two Oscars,...
- 3/9/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
The Royale Laemmle Theater in Los Angeles will be presenting a 55th anniversary screening of Robert Rossen’s The Hustler. The 134-minute film, which stars Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie, George C. Scott, Myron McCormick, Murray Hamilton, and both Jake Lamotta and Vincent Gardenia as bartenders, will be screened on Wednesday, March 16, 2016 at 7:00 pm.
Actress Piper Laurie, who appears in the film as Sarah Packard, is scheduled to appear at a Q&A session after the film to discuss her role and career.
From the press release:
The Hustler
Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.
The Hustler (1961)
55th Anniversary Screening
Wednesday, March 16, at 7:00 Pm at the Royal Theatre
Three-Time Oscar Nominee Piper Laurie in person for Q&A after the screening
Robert Rossen’s The Hustler, one of the most incisive character dramas of the 1960s, earned nine Academy Award nominations and won two Oscars,...
Actress Piper Laurie, who appears in the film as Sarah Packard, is scheduled to appear at a Q&A session after the film to discuss her role and career.
From the press release:
The Hustler
Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.
The Hustler (1961)
55th Anniversary Screening
Wednesday, March 16, at 7:00 Pm at the Royal Theatre
Three-Time Oscar Nominee Piper Laurie in person for Q&A after the screening
Robert Rossen’s The Hustler, one of the most incisive character dramas of the 1960s, earned nine Academy Award nominations and won two Oscars,...
- 3/9/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
The Royale Laemmle Theater in Los Angeles will be presenting a 55th anniversary screening of Robert Rossen’s The Hustler. The 134-minute film, which stars Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie, George C. Scott, Myron McCormick, Murray Hamilton, and both Jake Lamotta and Vincent Gardenia as bartenders, will be screened on Wednesday, March 16, 2016 at 7:00 pm.
Actress Piper Laurie, who appears in the film as Sarah Packard, is scheduled to appear at a Q&A session after the film to discuss her role and career.
From the press release:
The Hustler
Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.
The Hustler (1961)
55th Anniversary Screening
Wednesday, March 16, at 7:00 Pm at the Royal Theatre
Three-Time Oscar Nominee Piper Laurie in person for Q&A after the screening
Robert Rossen’s The Hustler, one of the most incisive character dramas of the 1960s, earned nine Academy Award nominations and won two Oscars,...
Actress Piper Laurie, who appears in the film as Sarah Packard, is scheduled to appear at a Q&A session after the film to discuss her role and career.
From the press release:
The Hustler
Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.
The Hustler (1961)
55th Anniversary Screening
Wednesday, March 16, at 7:00 Pm at the Royal Theatre
Three-Time Oscar Nominee Piper Laurie in person for Q&A after the screening
Robert Rossen’s The Hustler, one of the most incisive character dramas of the 1960s, earned nine Academy Award nominations and won two Oscars,...
- 3/9/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
The Royale Laemmle Theater in Los Angeles will be presenting a 55th anniversary screening of Robert Rossen’s The Hustler. The 134-minute film, which stars Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie, George C. Scott, Myron McCormick, Murray Hamilton, and both Jake Lamotta and Vincent Gardenia as bartenders, will be screened on Wednesday, March 16, 2016 at 7:00 pm.
Actress Piper Laurie, who appears in the film as Sarah Packard, is scheduled to appear at a Q&A session after the film to discuss her role and career.
From the press release:
The Hustler
Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.
The Hustler (1961)
55th Anniversary Screening
Wednesday, March 16, at 7:00 Pm at the Royal Theatre
Three-Time Oscar Nominee Piper Laurie in person for Q&A after the screening
Robert Rossen’s The Hustler, one of the most incisive character dramas of the 1960s, earned nine Academy Award nominations and won two Oscars,...
Actress Piper Laurie, who appears in the film as Sarah Packard, is scheduled to appear at a Q&A session after the film to discuss her role and career.
From the press release:
The Hustler
Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.
The Hustler (1961)
55th Anniversary Screening
Wednesday, March 16, at 7:00 Pm at the Royal Theatre
Three-Time Oscar Nominee Piper Laurie in person for Q&A after the screening
Robert Rossen’s The Hustler, one of the most incisive character dramas of the 1960s, earned nine Academy Award nominations and won two Oscars,...
- 3/9/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Twenty years ago, Quentin Tarantino sucker-punched moviegoers with Pulp Fiction, a sprawling, pop-culture-filled romp that secured him as one of the most enticing, up-and-coming filmmakers of the '90s. Critics were transfixed — for better or for worse — by the film and its director's obsession with obscenity, violence, and unconventional narrative structure. Some swooned at Fiction and Tarantino (The New Yorker's Anthony Lane, though not entirely taken with the film as a whole, went as far as saying Tarantino had invented his very own kind of plot). Others, like Howie Movshovitz and Stanley Kauffmann, seemed to bristle at what they perceived to be Tarantino's disconnectedness from reality, which some argued was rooted in the writer-director's version of film school: working at a video-rental store. We've taken a trip to the archives to round up a few takes on Tarantino's classic."[A] triumphant, cleverly disorienting journey through a demimonde that springs entirely from...
- 10/14/2014
- by Sean Fitz-Gerald
- Vulture
"Inside Llewyn Davis," the fantastic film from the Coen Brothers, was the big winner at the National Society of Film Critics awards taking home the Best Picture, Director, Actor (Oscar Isaac), and Cinematography (Bruno Delbonnel).
So how do they vote? Here's their explanation (taken from their official website):
The Society, made up of many of the country.s most distinguished movie critics, held its 48th annual awards voting meeting, using a weighted ballot system, at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Center as guests of the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Scrolls will be sent to the winners.
Fifty-six members are eligible to vote, though a few disqualify themselves if they haven.t seen every film. Any film that opened in the U.S. during the year 2013 was eligible for consideration. There is no nomination process; members meet, vote (using a weighted ballot), and announce all on January 4th. There is...
So how do they vote? Here's their explanation (taken from their official website):
The Society, made up of many of the country.s most distinguished movie critics, held its 48th annual awards voting meeting, using a weighted ballot system, at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Center as guests of the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Scrolls will be sent to the winners.
Fifty-six members are eligible to vote, though a few disqualify themselves if they haven.t seen every film. Any film that opened in the U.S. during the year 2013 was eligible for consideration. There is no nomination process; members meet, vote (using a weighted ballot), and announce all on January 4th. There is...
- 1/6/2014
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
The Coen Brothers’ take on the early 1960s New York folk scene was named Best Picture Of The Year 2013 by the National Society Of Film Critics on January 4.
The Society’s 48th annual awards voting meeting’s weighted ballot system also delivered the Coens the best director crown, named Oscar Isaac best actor and anointed Bruno Delbonnel best cinematographer.
Cate Blanchett won the actress award for Blue Jasmine, James Franco was voted best supporting actor for Spring Breakers and Jennifer Lawrence best supporting actress for American Hustle.
Before Midnight earned the best screenplay. Blue Is The Warmest Color was named best foreign film, while An Act Of Killing took the documentary prize.
Leviathan was named best experimental film. Stray Dogs by Ming-liang Tsai and Hide Your Smiling Faces by Daniel Patrick Carbone shared Best Film Awaiting American Distribution.
The following won the Film Heritage Award:
MoMA for its Allan Dwan retrospective;
the surviving reels of Orson Welles’ first...
The Society’s 48th annual awards voting meeting’s weighted ballot system also delivered the Coens the best director crown, named Oscar Isaac best actor and anointed Bruno Delbonnel best cinematographer.
Cate Blanchett won the actress award for Blue Jasmine, James Franco was voted best supporting actor for Spring Breakers and Jennifer Lawrence best supporting actress for American Hustle.
Before Midnight earned the best screenplay. Blue Is The Warmest Color was named best foreign film, while An Act Of Killing took the documentary prize.
Leviathan was named best experimental film. Stray Dogs by Ming-liang Tsai and Hide Your Smiling Faces by Daniel Patrick Carbone shared Best Film Awaiting American Distribution.
The following won the Film Heritage Award:
MoMA for its Allan Dwan retrospective;
the surviving reels of Orson Welles’ first...
- 1/4/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The Coen Brothers’ take on the early 1960s New York folk scene was named Best Picture Of The Year 2013 by the National Society Of Film Critics on January 4.
The Society’s 48th annual awards voting meeting’s weighted ballot system also delivered the Coens the best director crown, named Oscar Isaac best actor and anointed Bruno Delbonnel best cinematographer.
Cate Blanchett won the actress award for Blue Jasmine, James Franco was voted best supporting actor for Spring Breakers and Jennifer Lawrence best supporting actress for American Hustle.
Before Midnight earned the best screenplay. Blue Is The Warmest Color was named best foreign film, while An Act Of Killing took the documentary prize.
Leviathan was named best experimental film. Stray Dogs by Ming-liang Tsai and Hide Your Smiling Faces by Daniel Patrick Carbone shared Best Film Awaiting American Distribution.
The following won the Film Heritage Award: MoMA for its Allan Dwan retrospective; the surviving reels of Orson Welles’ first...
The Society’s 48th annual awards voting meeting’s weighted ballot system also delivered the Coens the best director crown, named Oscar Isaac best actor and anointed Bruno Delbonnel best cinematographer.
Cate Blanchett won the actress award for Blue Jasmine, James Franco was voted best supporting actor for Spring Breakers and Jennifer Lawrence best supporting actress for American Hustle.
Before Midnight earned the best screenplay. Blue Is The Warmest Color was named best foreign film, while An Act Of Killing took the documentary prize.
Leviathan was named best experimental film. Stray Dogs by Ming-liang Tsai and Hide Your Smiling Faces by Daniel Patrick Carbone shared Best Film Awaiting American Distribution.
The following won the Film Heritage Award: MoMA for its Allan Dwan retrospective; the surviving reels of Orson Welles’ first...
- 1/4/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Andy Kaufman alive? Or Andy Kaufman hoax? New York City-born comedian Andy Kaufman, little known outside the United States but well-remembered in the U.S. by those who watched the late ’70s / early ’80s television series Taxi, is alive, married, and has a (previously unknown) grown daughter who goes by the name of McCoy. Well, if — and that’s a big if (or perhaps a small one, considering people’s willful gullibility and/or downright stupidity) — you believe the story reported in numerous outlets in the last couple of days: Andy Kaufman may have faked his own death of lung cancer at age 35 in 1984 so he could escape the limelight. (Photo: Andy Kaufman) At the New York-based Andy Kaufman Awards last Monday night, November 11, 2013, a woman claiming to be Kaufman’s daughter — calling herself "McCoy" (reportedly the name Kaufman used when checking himself into hospitals) — appeared on stage with Michael Kaufman,...
- 11/15/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The top stories of the week from Toh!News:Hunnam Ditches 'Fifty Shades of Grey,' Who Will Play Christian to Johnson's Anastasia? Fleming Steps Up to Improve Deadline, Split Year Between Two CoastsNew Republic Film Critic Stanley Kauffmann Dies at 97, Critics Write TributesTed Hope Talks Exit from San Francisco Film Society, Schamus, and Indie Film's FutureReviews:This Weekend: Don't Miss Riveting "Captain Phillips"; Plus Disney Nightmare "Escape From Tomorrow" and Franco's Faulkner Arrive Nyff: Stiller's Fantasy Crowdpleaser "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" Divides Critics (Video)Review and Roundup: Critics Love "Gloria," Chile's Must-See Foreign-Language Oscar ContenderReview: James Franco's "As I Lay Directing" (Trailer)Review: "Zero Charisma" Stars Uber-Geek from Austin, TexasFestivals:nyff: James Gray Talks "The Immigrant," Joaquin Phoenix Doesn't (Q & A Video) At Nyff Tribute, Ralph Fiennes Discusses Importance of Directors, ImaginationMill Valley Film Fest: San...
- 10/12/2013
- by TOH!
- Thompson on Hollywood
The New Republic announced Wednesday that the magazine's five-decade critic Stanley Kauffmann had died of pneumonia complications in New York: Noam Scheiber wrote: “Rip Stanley Kauffmann. A sad day for the cinephiles out there, and the Tnr family.” It's easy to say that this is sad news but the man was 97 years old. We should all be so lucky to last so long--he filed his last column in August, reviewing “Our Nixon,” “Israel: A Home Movie” and “Museum Hours.” However it is disturbing that the older critics in Gerald Peary's 2009 documentary “For the Love of Movies” are dropping, one by one, from Roger Ebert to Andrew Sarris. Kauffmann was a key contributor in the culture wars of the 60s and 70s--along with other critics of his generation such as Sarris and Pauline Kael--to pushing movies and criticism into being taken seriously. In fact Kauffmann coined the phrase the Film Generation.
- 10/9/2013
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Stanley Kauffmann, the erudite critic, author and editor who reviewed movies for The New Republic for more than 50 years, wrote his own plays and fiction, and helped discover the classic novels "Fahrenheit 451" and "The Moviegoer," died Wednesday. He was 97.
Kauffmann died of pneumonia at St. Luke's Hospital in Manhattan, said Adam Plunkett, assistant literary editor at The New Republic.
Kauffmann started at The New Republic in 1958 and remained there - except for a brief interlude - for the rest of his life, becoming one of the oldest working critics in history. He wrote during a dynamic era that featured the rise of the French New Wave and the emergence of such American directors as Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. He was among the last survivors of a generation of reviewers that included The New Yorker's Pauline Kael and the Village Voice's Andrew Sarris, idols of the "Film Generation," so-called by Kauffmann himself.
Kauffmann died of pneumonia at St. Luke's Hospital in Manhattan, said Adam Plunkett, assistant literary editor at The New Republic.
Kauffmann started at The New Republic in 1958 and remained there - except for a brief interlude - for the rest of his life, becoming one of the oldest working critics in history. He wrote during a dynamic era that featured the rise of the French New Wave and the emergence of such American directors as Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. He was among the last survivors of a generation of reviewers that included The New Yorker's Pauline Kael and the Village Voice's Andrew Sarris, idols of the "Film Generation," so-called by Kauffmann himself.
- 10/9/2013
- by Cineplex.com and contributors
- Cineplex
Stanley Kauffmann, the erudite critic, author and editor who reviewed movies for The New Republic for more than 50 years, wrote his own plays and fiction, and helped discover the classic novels Fahrenheit 451 and The Moviegoer, died Wednesday. He was 97.
Kauffmann died of pneumonia at St. Luke’s Hospital in Manhattan, said Adam Plunkett, assistant literary editor at The New Republic.
Kauffmann started at The New Republic in 1958 and remained there – except for a brief interlude – for the rest of his life, becoming one of the oldest working critics in history. He wrote during a dynamic era that featured the...
Kauffmann died of pneumonia at St. Luke’s Hospital in Manhattan, said Adam Plunkett, assistant literary editor at The New Republic.
Kauffmann started at The New Republic in 1958 and remained there – except for a brief interlude – for the rest of his life, becoming one of the oldest working critics in history. He wrote during a dynamic era that featured the...
- 10/9/2013
- by Associated Press
- EW - Inside Movies
Stanley Kauffmann,who ladled out praise and pans as the New Republic’s film and theater critic for more than five decades, is dead. He was 97. The New Republic said he died of pneumonia at St. Luke’s Hospital on Wednesday morning. Kauffmann’s voice was intellectual and measured. He championed directors like Francois Truffaut, Ingmar Bergman and Sam Peckinpah without ever adopting the hectoring or evangelical tone favored by contemporaries like Pauline Kael or Andrew Sarris. He had the good fortune to sound off on popular culture at a time when films like “The Godfather” and “Mean Streets” raised the art form and.
- 10/9/2013
- by Brent Lang
- The Wrap
James Gray's reception in North America is a little bewildering, regardless of which side you stand on. To some, including this author, Gray's qualities as a filmmaker are obvious. Decidedly at odds with the trends of contemporary cinema since he made his debut with Little Odessa in 1994 (something discussed in the following interview), Gray's so-called "classical" style is invested in things seemingly forgotten in American movies. He stands outside of the present, yet it is far too simple to say he comes out of the past. Aside from Clint Eastwood, is there another director working in Hollywood making subtle, emotional, expertly-crafted dramas while also maintaining a delicately mannered mise en scène? Because of this, Gray seems out of place. Maybe that explains the lack of Cannes awards on his shelf (despite four trips to the festival's competition), the dissenting reviews (which don't even appear to be written on the...
- 10/6/2013
- by Adam Cook
- MUBI
Andrew Sarris, a leading movie critic during a golden age for reviewers who popularized the French reverence for directors and inspired debate about countless films and filmmakers, died Wednesday. He was 83.
Sarris died at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan after complications developed from a stomach virus, according to his wife, film critic Molly Haskell.
Sarris was best known for his work with the Village Voice, his opinions especially vital during the 1960s and 1970s, when movies became films, or even cinema, and critics and fans argued about them the way they once might have contended over paintings or novels.
No longer was the big screen just entertainment. Thanks to film studies courses and revival houses, movies were analyzed in classrooms and in cafes. Audiences discovered such foreign directors as Federico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman, rediscovered older works by Howard Hawks, John Ford and others from Hollywood, and...
Sarris died at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan after complications developed from a stomach virus, according to his wife, film critic Molly Haskell.
Sarris was best known for his work with the Village Voice, his opinions especially vital during the 1960s and 1970s, when movies became films, or even cinema, and critics and fans argued about them the way they once might have contended over paintings or novels.
No longer was the big screen just entertainment. Thanks to film studies courses and revival houses, movies were analyzed in classrooms and in cafes. Audiences discovered such foreign directors as Federico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman, rediscovered older works by Howard Hawks, John Ford and others from Hollywood, and...
- 6/20/2012
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Jason Sperb's new book, Disney's Most Notorious Film: Race, Convergence, and the Hidden Histories of Song of the South, will be out soon from the University of Texas Press.
In other news. "Barbara, a slow-burning drama set in communist East Germany from director Christian Petzold, is the front runner for this year's Lolas, Germany's equivalent of the Oscar, with eight nominations, including best film." Scott Roxborough has more in the Hollywood Reporter; the Süddeutsche Zeitung has the full list. The awards will be presented in Berlin on April 27.
Los Angeles. "Maya Deren's best-known achievement, her remarkable 1943 dream-poem Meshes of the Afternoon, was just the beginning of a too-brief career," writes Tom von Logue Newth in the Weekly. "Her output would extend from experiments in psychodrama, like Meshes and Witch's Cradle, a fascinating, barely edited collaboration with Marcel Duchamp made during Deren's short period in Hollywood; to highly personal dance...
In other news. "Barbara, a slow-burning drama set in communist East Germany from director Christian Petzold, is the front runner for this year's Lolas, Germany's equivalent of the Oscar, with eight nominations, including best film." Scott Roxborough has more in the Hollywood Reporter; the Süddeutsche Zeitung has the full list. The awards will be presented in Berlin on April 27.
Los Angeles. "Maya Deren's best-known achievement, her remarkable 1943 dream-poem Meshes of the Afternoon, was just the beginning of a too-brief career," writes Tom von Logue Newth in the Weekly. "Her output would extend from experiments in psychodrama, like Meshes and Witch's Cradle, a fascinating, barely edited collaboration with Marcel Duchamp made during Deren's short period in Hollywood; to highly personal dance...
- 3/23/2012
- MUBI
Roger Ebert is widely acclaimed as one of the world's leading film critics, but since treatment for thyroid cancer he has been unable to speak. Here, he explains how he remains so positive about life
Roger Ebert, who has been reviewing movies for the Chicago Sun-Times since 1967, was the first film critic to win a Pulitzer prize. He is one of the few critics to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His reviews – he still writes up to six a week both for the newspaper and his website (which receives 110 million visits a year) – are syndicated around the world. He runs his own film festival, Eberfest, and co-wrote the screenplay of Russ Meyer's 1970 camp classic, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.
In 2006, following post-surgical complications connected to his treatment for thyroid cancer, Ebert lost a large section of his right jaw; he has not been able to speak,...
Roger Ebert, who has been reviewing movies for the Chicago Sun-Times since 1967, was the first film critic to win a Pulitzer prize. He is one of the few critics to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His reviews – he still writes up to six a week both for the newspaper and his website (which receives 110 million visits a year) – are syndicated around the world. He runs his own film festival, Eberfest, and co-wrote the screenplay of Russ Meyer's 1970 camp classic, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.
In 2006, following post-surgical complications connected to his treatment for thyroid cancer, Ebert lost a large section of his right jaw; he has not been able to speak,...
- 11/6/2011
- by Rachel Cooke
- The Guardian - Film News
Yesterday on the online culture magazine The Rumpus -- a site I've contributed to in the past -- a writer by the name of Larry Fahey wrote a piece entitled "All Thumbs: Roger Ebert and the Decline of Film Criticism". The article begins with the sentence "I hate Roger Ebert," and goes on to outline how Ebert has destroyed not only film criticism, but also filmmaking, and life as we know it. Fahey begins by delineating two different kinds of critics, those who approach movies as art and those who approach them as products. Into the former category, Fahey places writers like Anthony Lane and Stanley Kauffmann. Into the latter, he places Rex Reed, Leonard Maltin, Gene Shalit, and worst of all Ebert, who is, in Fahey's estimation:
"...the kind [of critic] that sees movies as products, like cell phones or refrigerators or spatulas. These critics consider it their responsibility not to inspire debate or thought,...
"...the kind [of critic] that sees movies as products, like cell phones or refrigerators or spatulas. These critics consider it their responsibility not to inspire debate or thought,...
- 10/21/2010
- by Matt Singer
- ifc.com
I take two big gulps of black coffee this morning. First, because the Cannes line-up has been officially announced (and it’s downright thrilling), and second and most immediately, because the 52nd edition of the San Francisco International Film Festival launches this evening at San Francisco’s majestic movie palace The Castro Theatre with the West Coast premiere of Peter Bratt’s La Mission, followed by an opening night party at Bruno’s and a rare opportunity to party among the ruins of El Capitan, one of the jewels of yesteryear’s Miracle Mile. I take a third gulp to chase those two down.
Although I’ve already offered a few previews for SFIFF52, I’d like to officially begin my coverage with comments on what I consider to be one of the most prescient, fascinating and must-see selections in SFIFF52’s line-up: the West Coast premiere of Boston Phoenix...
Although I’ve already offered a few previews for SFIFF52, I’d like to officially begin my coverage with comments on what I consider to be one of the most prescient, fascinating and must-see selections in SFIFF52’s line-up: the West Coast premiere of Boston Phoenix...
- 4/23/2009
- by Michael Guillen
- Screen Anarchy
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