Plot: Five women participate in a hiking retreat but only four come out the other side. Federal agents Aaron Falk and Carmen Cooper head into the mountains hoping to find their informant still alive.
Review: We reviewed the Australian mystery drama The Dry a couple of years ago. We enjoyed Eric Bana’s first Australian film after moving to Hollywood and found director Robert Connolly’s adaptation of Jane Harper’s novel to be refreshing. That film told the story of a federal investigator who returns home to investigate the murder of a childhood friend, which bears a distinct connection to a crime he himself was accused of decades prior. Bana and Connolly have reunited for the second novel in the Aaron Falk trilogy, Force of Nature. Carrying the subtitle that indicates it as a sequel to The Dry, Force of Nature is a substantially different story. Shifting from a...
Review: We reviewed the Australian mystery drama The Dry a couple of years ago. We enjoyed Eric Bana’s first Australian film after moving to Hollywood and found director Robert Connolly’s adaptation of Jane Harper’s novel to be refreshing. That film told the story of a federal investigator who returns home to investigate the murder of a childhood friend, which bears a distinct connection to a crime he himself was accused of decades prior. Bana and Connolly have reunited for the second novel in the Aaron Falk trilogy, Force of Nature. Carrying the subtitle that indicates it as a sequel to The Dry, Force of Nature is a substantially different story. Shifting from a...
- 5/8/2024
- by Alex Maidy
- JoBlo.com
Australian writer-director Robert Connolly had a domestic hit in 2021 with The Dry, a slow-burn murder mystery built around Eric Bana’s somber performance as a pensive city cop drawn back to the remote town of his childhood in the middle of a prolonged drought. Bana returns as Aaron Falk in Force of Nature: The Dry 2, which is otherwise a sequel in name alone. The setting this time is a lush and very wet mountain rainforest, drenched by a massive thunderstorm at a key point in the narrative. That makes half the title a complete misnomer.
This is a handsomely produced, solidly acted thriller that’s certainly watchable, though the perplexing subtitle is not its only issue. Unlike its riveting predecessor, it’s absorbing but never quite gripping.
Connolly sticks to novelist Jane Harper’s template from the first book in her Aaron Falk trilogy, in which the Australian Federal Police...
This is a handsomely produced, solidly acted thriller that’s certainly watchable, though the perplexing subtitle is not its only issue. Unlike its riveting predecessor, it’s absorbing but never quite gripping.
Connolly sticks to novelist Jane Harper’s template from the first book in her Aaron Falk trilogy, in which the Australian Federal Police...
- 5/6/2024
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
On Wednesday, April 10, 2024, The Women's Cancer Research Fund (Wcrf) welcomed guests to An Unforgettable Evening on behalf of Honorary Chairs Rita Wilson & Tom Hanks, along with Gala Chairs Jamie Alexander Tisch, Kelly Chapman Meyer, Quinn Ezralow, and Anastasia Soare, and Co-Chairs NJ Falk, Tom Ford, Kris Levine, Judy & Leonard Lauder, Dr. Stacie J. Stephenson & Richard J Stephenson, Steve Tisch and Lori Kanter Tritsch & William P. Lauder.
Demi Moore accepts the Courage Award onstage at An Unforgettable Evening
Credit/Copyright: Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Women's Cancer Research Fund
Hosted by Tig Notaro, the event returned to the Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel, for its 25th anniversary to raise money to benefit the Women’s Cancer Research Fund, a program of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (Bcrf).
This year, philanthropist Wallis Annenberg received the 2024 Unsung Hero Award, presented by Jamie Alexander Tisch and Rita Wilson, for her innovative dedication to...
Demi Moore accepts the Courage Award onstage at An Unforgettable Evening
Credit/Copyright: Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Women's Cancer Research Fund
Hosted by Tig Notaro, the event returned to the Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel, for its 25th anniversary to raise money to benefit the Women’s Cancer Research Fund, a program of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (Bcrf).
This year, philanthropist Wallis Annenberg received the 2024 Unsung Hero Award, presented by Jamie Alexander Tisch and Rita Wilson, for her innovative dedication to...
- 4/16/2024
- Look to the Stars
The Women's Cancer Research Fund has announced their An Unforgettable Evening event will take place on April 10 in Beverly Hills.
An Unforgettable Evening is Wcrf’s flagship fundraising event featuring extraordinary honorees and tributes to cancer survivors and the memory of those impacted by cancer. For 25 years, this event has brought together leaders in entertainment, cancer research and corporate philanthropy to raise funds for pioneering cancer research conducted at leading medical and academic institutions in California and across the U.S.
The gala will return to the Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel, with proceeds from the event benefiting the Women’s Cancer Research Fund, a program of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (Bcrf). Wcrf was founded by Quinn Ezralow, Kelly Chapman Meyer, Jamie Tisch and the late Anne Douglas, Renette Ezralow and Marion Laurie.
Who:
Courage Award Recipient Demi Moore; Unsung Hero Award Recipient Wallis Annenberg; Host Tig Notaro...
An Unforgettable Evening is Wcrf’s flagship fundraising event featuring extraordinary honorees and tributes to cancer survivors and the memory of those impacted by cancer. For 25 years, this event has brought together leaders in entertainment, cancer research and corporate philanthropy to raise funds for pioneering cancer research conducted at leading medical and academic institutions in California and across the U.S.
The gala will return to the Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel, with proceeds from the event benefiting the Women’s Cancer Research Fund, a program of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (Bcrf). Wcrf was founded by Quinn Ezralow, Kelly Chapman Meyer, Jamie Tisch and the late Anne Douglas, Renette Ezralow and Marion Laurie.
Who:
Courage Award Recipient Demi Moore; Unsung Hero Award Recipient Wallis Annenberg; Host Tig Notaro...
- 4/2/2024
- Look to the Stars
On Wednesday, April 10, 2024 The Women's Cancer Research Fund (Wcrf) Honorary Chairs Honorary Chairs Rita Wilson & Tom Hanks, along with Gala Chairs Quinn Ezralow, Kelly Chapman Meyer, Jamie Tisch and Anastasia Soare, and Co-Chairs NJ Falk, Tom Ford, Judy & Leonard Lauder, Kris Levine, Dr. Stacie J. Stephenson & Richard J Stephenson, Steve Tisch and Lori Kanter Tritsch & William P. Lauder will welcome guests to the 25th edition of An Unforgettable Evening.
The gala will return to the Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel, with proceeds from the event benefiting the Women’s Cancer Research Fund, a program of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (Bcrf). Wcrf was founded by Quinn Ezralow, Marion Laurie, Kelly Chapman Meyer, Jamie Tisch and the late Anne Douglas and Renette Ezralow.
This year’s gala will recognize trailblazing actress Demi Moore with the Courage Award for her unwavering support and dedication to raising awareness for breast cancer. Philanthropist Wallis Annenberg,...
The gala will return to the Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel, with proceeds from the event benefiting the Women’s Cancer Research Fund, a program of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (Bcrf). Wcrf was founded by Quinn Ezralow, Marion Laurie, Kelly Chapman Meyer, Jamie Tisch and the late Anne Douglas and Renette Ezralow.
This year’s gala will recognize trailblazing actress Demi Moore with the Courage Award for her unwavering support and dedication to raising awareness for breast cancer. Philanthropist Wallis Annenberg,...
- 3/25/2024
- Look to the Stars
The Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning film A New Kind of Wilderness has bowed at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival in Greece, marking its European premiere.
Director Silje Evensmo Jacobsen attended the Thessaloniki premiere in person along with two of the film’s protagonists: Freja Vatne Payne and Ronja Breda Vatne. Freja and Ronja are the daughters of Maria Vatne, a gifted photographer who celebrated her family’s unorthodox lifestyle in a remote area of Norway through a blog called Wild + Free. The film begins with stunning footage and photographs taken by Vatne of her kids – in addition to the girls, boys Falk (Norwegian for “falcon”) and the youngest, Ulv (Norwegian for wolf).
But that opening sequence is punctuated by a bracing image – Vatne hooked up to tubes as she receives chemotherapy treatment. This idyllic life of farming, home-schooling, and communing with nature will be cruelly interrupted by tragedy.
L-r Q&a moderator,...
Director Silje Evensmo Jacobsen attended the Thessaloniki premiere in person along with two of the film’s protagonists: Freja Vatne Payne and Ronja Breda Vatne. Freja and Ronja are the daughters of Maria Vatne, a gifted photographer who celebrated her family’s unorthodox lifestyle in a remote area of Norway through a blog called Wild + Free. The film begins with stunning footage and photographs taken by Vatne of her kids – in addition to the girls, boys Falk (Norwegian for “falcon”) and the youngest, Ulv (Norwegian for wolf).
But that opening sequence is punctuated by a bracing image – Vatne hooked up to tubes as she receives chemotherapy treatment. This idyllic life of farming, home-schooling, and communing with nature will be cruelly interrupted by tragedy.
L-r Q&a moderator,...
- 3/10/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Based on Jane Harper’s bestseller, this twisty mystery follows Falk as he investigates a dodgy CEO (Richard Roxburgh) and his missing employee (Anna Torv)
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The first and perhaps most obvious point to make about Robert Connolly’s sequel to his popular and finely made mystery-thriller The Dry is that it’s not dry at all – it’s very, very wet. The director, again adapting a bestselling novel by Jane Harper, opens with shots of lush wilderness – the film is largely based in the Victorian mountain ranges – and rain-covered leaves.
The first time we see Eric Bana, back again as federal police agent Aaron Falk, he’s doing laps in a swimming pool. His fellow agent, Carmen Cooper (Jacqueline McKenzie), is anxious to solve their latest case – a missing person’s investigation – as flooding might soon hit the region. It is police informant...
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The first and perhaps most obvious point to make about Robert Connolly’s sequel to his popular and finely made mystery-thriller The Dry is that it’s not dry at all – it’s very, very wet. The director, again adapting a bestselling novel by Jane Harper, opens with shots of lush wilderness – the film is largely based in the Victorian mountain ranges – and rain-covered leaves.
The first time we see Eric Bana, back again as federal police agent Aaron Falk, he’s doing laps in a swimming pool. His fellow agent, Carmen Cooper (Jacqueline McKenzie), is anxious to solve their latest case – a missing person’s investigation – as flooding might soon hit the region. It is police informant...
- 2/7/2024
- by Luke Buckmaster
- The Guardian - Film News
Norwegian documentary filmmaker Silje Evensmo Jacobsen wanted to follow a family living the dream. Instead, she witnessed them going through a nightmare.
“Maria Vatne had this blog called ‘Wild+Free’ and I was fascinated by it. I discovered it 10 years ago,” the director of “A New Kind of Wilderness” – which has its world premiere Friday at Sundance Film Festival – about the mother of four who, alongside her partner Nik, decided to live on a farm, surrounded by nature.
“I called her up, saying I wanted to make a series about it. It didn’t work out and then she wrote she was sick.”
Maria died shortly after.
“I was devastated, even though I didn’t really know her. She was someone I admired, because I also had, and still have, this dream: What if we just decided to reinvent our lives? That’s what Maria and Nik did.”
Despite the tragedy,...
“Maria Vatne had this blog called ‘Wild+Free’ and I was fascinated by it. I discovered it 10 years ago,” the director of “A New Kind of Wilderness” – which has its world premiere Friday at Sundance Film Festival – about the mother of four who, alongside her partner Nik, decided to live on a farm, surrounded by nature.
“I called her up, saying I wanted to make a series about it. It didn’t work out and then she wrote she was sick.”
Maria died shortly after.
“I was devastated, even though I didn’t really know her. She was someone I admired, because I also had, and still have, this dream: What if we just decided to reinvent our lives? That’s what Maria and Nik did.”
Despite the tragedy,...
- 1/19/2024
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Since 1991 (and primarily within the last 10 years), a total of six TV performers have earned recognition from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for reprising roles that had brought them Golden Globe nominations at least a decade earlier. With this and his own stellar HFPA track record in mind, Kelsey Grammer – the two-time Best TV Comedy Actor-winning star of “Frasier” – can more than reasonably be expected to join said prestigious club by scoring his ninth bid in the category (and first in 22 years) for the Paramount Plus revival of his beloved NBC sitcom. What’s more, he might actually make history as the first actor involved in such a situation to pull off a comeback victory.
Grammer collected his first eight Golden Globe nominations for “Frasier” between 1994 and 2002 and emerged triumphant in both 1996 and 2001. After saying goodbye to Dr. Frasier Crane 19 years ago, he is now set to lead a long-awaited...
Grammer collected his first eight Golden Globe nominations for “Frasier” between 1994 and 2002 and emerged triumphant in both 1996 and 2001. After saying goodbye to Dr. Frasier Crane 19 years ago, he is now set to lead a long-awaited...
- 10/6/2023
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
There are only two certainties in this world; death and that "Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island" is the best Scooby-Doo movie ever made. Scooby and the gang first debuted in 1969, but it wasn't until 1998 that "Zombie Island" set the standard for all things Scoob. It's scary, the animation is stunning, the voice-acting is top-notch, and every subsequent Scooby story has been chasing that high ever since. /Film's own Valerie Ettenhofer recently solidified her place as an expert on all things Mystery Incorporated with their oral history of the film and uncovered some production mysteries in the process.
Model Coordinator Lance Falk was interviewed as part of the piece and told Ettenhofer that "The Twilight Zone" was a major influence on not just the tone of the film, but also the structure. Lest we forget, most episodes of "Scooby-Doo" are roughly 20 minutes, which has an entirely different storytelling structure than that of a feature-length film.
Model Coordinator Lance Falk was interviewed as part of the piece and told Ettenhofer that "The Twilight Zone" was a major influence on not just the tone of the film, but also the structure. Lest we forget, most episodes of "Scooby-Doo" are roughly 20 minutes, which has an entirely different storytelling structure than that of a feature-length film.
- 9/22/2023
- by BJ Colangelo
- Slash Film
If you came of age sometime between 1969 and now, there's a good chance you grew up with Scooby-Doo. The snack-loving Great Dane became a mainstay in homes across America when "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" first premiered, and Mystery Inc.'s reputation kept growing long after Joe Ruby and Ken Spears' groovy series ended its three-season run. In the decades since, Scooby, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, and Velma have become a global phenomenon, and even during low points in Scooby history, there's still a strong sense of cultural awareness for the lovable pup and his mystery-solving crew.
Scooby fans are also well-known for our strong opinions; with over a hundred Scooby titles to choose from across film, TV, web, comics, and more, Scooby fans have a knack for developing a strong individual sense of what works and what doesn't in the franchise. While most fans may not agree on what Scooby properties...
Scooby fans are also well-known for our strong opinions; with over a hundred Scooby titles to choose from across film, TV, web, comics, and more, Scooby fans have a knack for developing a strong individual sense of what works and what doesn't in the franchise. While most fans may not agree on what Scooby properties...
- 9/22/2023
- by Valerie Ettenhofer
- Slash Film
Whenever a producer in recent times has exited their partnership with a star, quite often said producer’s output is not as robust.
It’s a different situation for Bruna Papandrea, who after peeling off from Reese Witherspoon’s Pacific Standard Production Company has been on quite a roll with such TV hits as HBO’s The Undoing, Netflix’s Anatomy of a Scandal and Luckiest Girl Alive, Hulu’s Nine Perfect Strangers and now the Prime Video limited series The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart based on Holly Ringland’s novel. This is all under Papandrea’s six-year-old production banner Made Up Stories, which is devoted to female-centric stories.
On today’s Crew Call podcast, we talk with Papandrea about why she went solo with Made Up Stories, the genesis of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, and more.
Lost Flowers of Alice Hart follows the story of the title protagonist.
It’s a different situation for Bruna Papandrea, who after peeling off from Reese Witherspoon’s Pacific Standard Production Company has been on quite a roll with such TV hits as HBO’s The Undoing, Netflix’s Anatomy of a Scandal and Luckiest Girl Alive, Hulu’s Nine Perfect Strangers and now the Prime Video limited series The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart based on Holly Ringland’s novel. This is all under Papandrea’s six-year-old production banner Made Up Stories, which is devoted to female-centric stories.
On today’s Crew Call podcast, we talk with Papandrea about why she went solo with Made Up Stories, the genesis of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, and more.
Lost Flowers of Alice Hart follows the story of the title protagonist.
- 8/14/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
In a studio overlooking Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, Rian Johnson is strapped to a lie detector machine. Next to him at the controls sits Natasha Lyonne, twiddling the device’s knobs with all the sinister intent of a supervillain. This photoshoot tableau is, of course, ripped right from the Meet the Parents Ben Stiller-Robert De Niro interrogation scene. Next, in an homage to the pithiest of TV detective tropes, Lyonne will pose at a typewriter, fake-talking into a rotary-dial phone. The visual nod this time goes to Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote.
In fact, the late, great Lansbury is connective tissue for Johnson and Lyonne. Lansbury and Lyonne appeared briefly together in Johnson’s film, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, on a Zoom call playing the mystery game Among Us with Daniel Craig’s Detective Benoit Blanc.
Little did we know back when that film premiered,...
In fact, the late, great Lansbury is connective tissue for Johnson and Lyonne. Lansbury and Lyonne appeared briefly together in Johnson’s film, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, on a Zoom call playing the mystery game Among Us with Daniel Craig’s Detective Benoit Blanc.
Little did we know back when that film premiered,...
- 6/1/2023
- by Antonia Blyth
- Deadline Film + TV
Ben Affleck has been known to make the kind of old-school, supremely entertaining movies that make you want to bang your fists on the table and let out a “This is how you do it!”. And Air, unsurprisingly, is another one of his gambles that turns out to be a win for him and the everyone else involved. Without infusing his creation with too much gimmicky tension, Affleck makes you swoon over his instinctive mastery, with the story of a win echoing through the lobbies and the offices instead of the wild uproar of people witnessing Jordan’s magic on the court. There’s no big reveal to be found down the line with Air, which has found its name in the groundbreaking foundation of Air Jordan, a pair of shoes worn by a legendary basketball player. It’s about the wild passage one risky sports marketing deal provided for...
- 5/12/2023
- by Lopamudra Mukherjee
- Film Fugitives
The grand theme of Wings of Desire, Wim Wenders’s fantasy of angels in Berlin before the end of the Cold War, is storytelling in all its forms as a coping mechanism of the human race. Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and his more objective but similarly empathetic cohort, Cassiel (Otto Sander), whose wings are only fleetingly shown, regularly swap tales of the small behaviors and interactions they’ve witnessed after traversing the skies and streets to hear “only what is spiritual in people’s minds.”
Among those observed are an elderly poet, Homer (Curt Bois), wandering the sites of his vanished haunts from the pre-Nazi era, wondering why “an epic of peace” has never been sung; Peter Falk, playing some eternal version of himself, arriving to shoot a film and provide a good measure of American soul and humor to Berliners and angels alike; and waitress turned trapeze artist Marion preparing...
Among those observed are an elderly poet, Homer (Curt Bois), wandering the sites of his vanished haunts from the pre-Nazi era, wondering why “an epic of peace” has never been sung; Peter Falk, playing some eternal version of himself, arriving to shoot a film and provide a good measure of American soul and humor to Berliners and angels alike; and waitress turned trapeze artist Marion preparing...
- 5/10/2023
- by Bill Weber
- Slant Magazine
Shot when the city seemed forever divided by the wall, this intensely romantic story of an angel who longs for human love is unlike any other
Wim Wenders’ extravagantly wistful, intensely literary romantic fantasy, co-conceived with Peter Handke, is re-released and right now it looks more than anything like an elegiac “city symphony” about Berlin. How extraordinary to think that just two years after this film came out, the Wall and the city’s division into east and west – which had seemed as poetically fixed and immutable as a river shoreline – disappeared. With its amazing crane and helicopter shots, Wenders’ movie swoops and hovers and floats over the city, pointedly surmounting the hated wall, enacting the longing of Berliners to somehow overcome history’s gravity and get over this ugly barrier.
Bruno Ganz and Otto Sander play Damiel and Cassiel, two angels in the sky above Berlin who amuse themselves...
Wim Wenders’ extravagantly wistful, intensely literary romantic fantasy, co-conceived with Peter Handke, is re-released and right now it looks more than anything like an elegiac “city symphony” about Berlin. How extraordinary to think that just two years after this film came out, the Wall and the city’s division into east and west – which had seemed as poetically fixed and immutable as a river shoreline – disappeared. With its amazing crane and helicopter shots, Wenders’ movie swoops and hovers and floats over the city, pointedly surmounting the hated wall, enacting the longing of Berliners to somehow overcome history’s gravity and get over this ugly barrier.
Bruno Ganz and Otto Sander play Damiel and Cassiel, two angels in the sky above Berlin who amuse themselves...
- 6/22/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
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