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This is our final round-up before the end of 2024, and it’s a good one. There are plenty of gift ideas lurking here––some choices to enjoy during time off, too. Note also that The Film Stage Holiday Gift Guide includes a list of my favorite cinema books from the last 12 months. One of those picks kicks off this column, and it is written by none other than the great Al Pacino.

Sonny Boy by Al Pacino (Penguin Press)

Al Pacino’s memoir, Sonny Boy, is easily one of the most eagerly awaited books of 2024. And for me, this look at the actor’s life and career more than lives up to the hype. Many highlights have already earned some social-media chatter––most notably young Al’s penis trauma (!), a near-death experience after a recent bout with Covid, and the reasons behind his decision to do Adam Sandler’s Jack and Jill.

The carbon-freeze sequence in The Empire Strikes Back was a nightmare for the cast and crew, with uncomfortable temperatures and illnesses caused by heavy amounts of steam on set. The dialogue for the carbon-freeze scene was rewritten on set, with Harrison Ford contributing ideas to make Han Solo's character more true to George Lucas' vision. Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher had a heated argument on the day of filming, but director Irvin Kershner was able to resolve the tension and bring the cast together to deliver the emotional moment of Leia and Han saying goodbye.

The Empire Strikes Back's emotional heavy-lifter was the carbon-freeze sequence, but shooting the scene was a hellish experience for the cast and crew. Believing they had outsmarted the Empire, the heroes aboard the Millennium Falcon head to Cloud City for refuge, where they're promptly betrayed by Lando Calrissian. As the final stroke in...

With Antiviral, Possessor and Infinity Pool, filmmaker Brandon Cronenberg has expeditiously carved out a distinct, experimental aesthetic for his work. However, he has followed in the footsteps of his legendary father David in one respect—forging a lasting alliance with his cinematographer. All but three of the elder Cronenberg’s 20 features films were shot by either Mark Irwin or Peter Suschitzky. All of Brandon’s efforts thus far bear the name of Canadian Dp Karim Hussain. Hussain begin writing, directing and shooting low budget genre films while still a teenager, before eventually opting to focus solely on the latter of those roles. He […]

The post When the Fungus Catches the Light: Dp Karim Hussain on Infinity Pool first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

With Antiviral, Possessor and Infinity Pool, filmmaker Brandon Cronenberg has expeditiously carved out a distinct, experimental aesthetic for his work. However, he has followed in the footsteps of his legendary father David in one respect—forging a lasting alliance with his cinematographer. All but three of the elder Cronenberg’s 20 features films were shot by either Mark Irwin or Peter Suschitzky. All of Brandon’s efforts thus far bear the name of Canadian Dp Karim Hussain. Hussain begin writing, directing and shooting low budget genre films while still a teenager, before eventually opting to focus solely on the latter of those roles. He […]

The post When the Fungus Catches the Light: Dp Karim Hussain on Infinity Pool first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Audiences generally view Star Wars' Darth Vader as one of the most iconic villains in popular culture, and The Empire Strikes Back deserves a lot of credit for subtly redesigning the villain and making him such an icon. Played by bodybuilder David Prowse, and with James Earl Jones as the voice actor, Darth Vader has been a staple in pop culture since he boarded the Tantive IV in the first Star Wars film, juxtaposing the stark white background of the consular ship. However, in the sequel, his look was slightly updated, which is when he became such a commanding presence.

Of course, Darth Vader's general appearance is the same in the 1980 classic - he still wears the famous helmet, chest piece, and all the outstanding accompanying parts of the costume. It's not that The Empire Strikes Back ditches anything; rather, it improves upon it. When Darth Vader emerges in The Empire Strikes Back,...

This review of “Crimes of the Future” was first published May 23, 2022, after its premiere at Cannes Film Festival.

It’s hard to say whether “Crimes of the Future” will be David Cronenberg’s final film — never believe a director who says they’re quitting — but it definitely feels like a closing argument, one that both reaffirms the filmmaker’s favorite themes and stylistic choices while also reflecting a shift in his point of view.

We’ve been here before with Cronenberg; his 1999 “Existenz” also had the feel of a greatest-hits collection. But for audiences starved for brash choices from one of the cinema’s boldest living provocateurs, even a rehash seems fresher than corporate-assembled, focus-group-approved content.

Should this be the Canadian auteur’s final feature, he won’t be leaving on a high note: “Crimes of the Future” won’t be remembered alongside masterpieces like “Dead Ringers,” “The Fly,” “The Brood,...

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“Just The Driver”

By Raymond Benson

Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg has always managed to push the envelope with nearly every one of his striking pieces of work since he appeared on the scene in the mid-1970s. Known at first as primarily a director of unique “body-horror” films (The Brood, 1979, or The Fly; 1986), Cronenberg spread his wings in the 1990s and moved away from the genre to tackle more dramatic and varied subjects. His 2007 crime picture about the Russian mafia operating in London, Eastern Promises, stands as a milestone title in the director’s filmography.

Kino Lorber Classics has released a superb 2-disk (4K Ultra and Blu-ray) package of the film, and the results are impressive. The picture quality is so sharp and clear that it could be used as a demonstration product for high definition televisions.

Anna Khitrova (Naomi Watts) is a...

Howard Franklin’s absorbing tale of the New York underworld is told from the point of view of a night-prowling shutterbug who documents life on the streets, from the swanky nightclubs to gangland killings on the cold sidewalks. Joe Pesci has his most endearing role in a part suggested by the famous photographer Weegee, a small man with artistic ambitions for his ‘found photos’ of party revelers and bloody corpses. Is Barbara Hershey’s club owner using him for selfish purposes? What happens if the hoods suddenly regard him as a hindrance, instead of a boost to their egos? The colorful production elicits a richly atmospheric image of New York in wartime. The biggest surprise: Pesci’s dialogue is all PG-rated! (The movie itself is an ‘R’.) With David Gianapoulos, Jared Harris, Stanley Tucci and Jerry Adler.

The Public Eye

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1992 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date...

Denise Cronenberg, the sister of film director David Cronenberg and a prominent costume designer who dressed such stars as Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen, Julianne Moore, Robert Pattinson, and Jeremy Irons, has died. She passed May 22 at Brant Hospital in Burlington, Ontario, Canada at age 81 from complications of old age.

“We would put on plays in our house for the neighborhood and they were always instigated by Denise,” said David Cronenberg, age 77. “She was always a performer, which certainly later helped her with her work in terms of understanding actors and performances.”

Denise’s first first film as David’s costume designer was the 1986 remake of The Fly, starring Jeff Goldblum.

“She would conspire with the actors and it was very delicious for them, because they would feel very special because she was paying attention to them,” said David. “All good costume designers have to do this, but it’s a...

Filmmakers/authors discuss the movies they wish more people were familiar with.

Movies Referenced In This Episode

Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the ’70s (2012)

Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man (1976)

Island of Lost Souls (1932)

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau (2014)

Top Gun (1986)

Water Power (1977)

Taxi Driver (1976)

In Fabric (2018)

A Climax of Blue Power (1974)

Forced Entry (1975)

Once Upon A Time In America (1984)

Nashville Girl (1976)

Ms .45 (1981)

Act of Vengeance a.k.a. Rape Squad (1974)

High Plains Drifter (1973)

Design For Living (1933)

Trouble In Paradise (1932)

Melody (1971)

Oliver! (1968)

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

That’ll Be The Day (1973)

Stardust (1974)

The Errand Boy (1961)

Looney Tunes: Back In Action (2003)

The Bellboy (1960)

Which Way To The Front? (1970)

Hardly Working (1980)

A Night In Casablanca (1946)

The Cocoanuts (1929)

Duck Soup (1933)

Boeing Boeing (1965)

Confessions of a Young American Housewife (1974)

Cockfighter (1974)

The Second Civil War (1997)

I, A Woman (1965)

The Devil At Your Heels (1981)

The...

When David Cronenberg accepts his Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival, the occasion will be marked by a screening of one of his 21 films. Cronenberg’s selection? “M. Butterfly,” his 1993 adaptation of David Henry Hwang’s Tony-winning play, about the decades-spanning love affair between a cross-dressing Chinese opera singer and the French diplomat unaware of his lover’s gender identity.

It’s a surprising choice, but then surprises are to be expected from the 75-year-old Canadian auteur, who has consistently evaded predictability across a five-decade career. “M. Butterfly” is rarely spoken of by critics as one of Cronenberg’s essential, or indeed quintessential, works: Reviews at the time were cool, and the film hasn’t built much of a revisionist following since. Yet Cronenberg is said to consider it among his most personal films. On closer inspection, you can see why. In an oeuvre that has...

Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo were teenagers when filming began on this superlative wartime thriller. Taking over eight years to complete, it imagines life in an England occupied by Nazi Germany and run by home-grown English collaborators. The film’s realism outdoes any big-studio picture — the period detail and military hardware are uncannily authentic. It also pushes the limit of the documentary form by using the ugly testimony of real English fascists in a fictional context. Mr. Brownlow opens up his behind-the-scenes film archive for this dual-format release.

It Happened Here

Region A+B Blu-ray + Pal DVD

Bfi (UK)

1964 / B&W / 1:33 flat full frame / 100 min. / Street Date July 23, 2018 / available through Amazon UK / £14.99

Starring: Pauline Murray, Sebastian Shaw, Bart Allison, Reginald Marsh, Frank Bennett, Derek Milburn, Nicolette Bernard, Nicholas Moore, Rex Collett, Michael Passmore, Peter Dyneley.

Cinematography: Kevin Brownlow, Peter Suschitzky

Film Editor: Kevin Brownlow

Costumes and Military Consultant: Andrew Mollo

Written,...

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

It Happened Here

A film by Kevin Brownlow &

Andrew Mollo

Dual Format Edition release, 23 July 2018

Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo’s immensely powerful It Happened Here depicts an alternative history in which England has been invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany. Coming to Blu-ray for the first time, on 23 July 2018, the film is presented in a new 2K remaster (from the original camera negative) by the BFI National Archive, supervised by Kevin Brownlow, to mark his 80th birthday. A raft of exceptional extras include previously unseen behind-the-scenes footage, new interviews, news items, trailers and more.

‘The German invasion of England took place in July 1940 after the British retreat from Dunkirk. Strongly resisted at first, the German army took months to restore order, but the resistance movement, lacking outside support, was finally crushed. Then, in 1944, it reappeared.’

That is what happened when history...

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

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It Happened Here

A film by Kevin Brownlow &

Andrew Mollo

Dual Format Edition release, 23 July 2018

Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo’s immensely powerful It Happened Here depicts an alternative history in which England has been invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany. Coming to Blu-ray for the first time, on 23 July 2018, the film is presented in a new 2K remaster (from the original camera negative) by the BFI National Archive, supervised by Kevin Brownlow, to mark his 80th birthday. A raft of exceptional extras include previously unseen behind-the-scenes footage, new interviews, news items, trailers and more.

‘The German invasion of England took place in July 1940 after the British retreat from Dunkirk. Strongly resisted at first, the German army took months to restore order, but the resistance movement, lacking outside support, was finally crushed. Then, in 1944, it reappeared.

With The Get Down in the rearview mirror, Baz Luhrmann has stated he stepped away in order to focus on a new feature film. While that project hasn’t been announced yet, we do have new work from him in the form of a new holiday commercial, which is of course behind billed a a “cinematic short film” by H&M, who last recruited Wes Anderson. Titled “The Secret Life of Flowers,” it’s shot by frequent David Cronenberg cinematographer Peter Suschitzky and is set in a lavish mansion with all the opulence one would expect from the director.

“I wanted the film to be like a whole movie. It’s a very modern love story, set in a country house that is full of its own secrets and it’s like a metaphor for our times – it’s harsh out there in the world, but in here, the things...

Looking back on this still-young century makes clear that 2007 was a major time for cinematic happenings — and, on the basis of this retrospective, one we’re not quite through with ten years on. One’s mind might quickly flash to a few big titles that will be represented, but it is the plurality of both festival and theatrical premieres that truly surprises: late works from old masters, debuts from filmmakers who’ve since become some of our most-respected artists, and mid-career turning points that didn’t necessarily announce themselves as such at the time. Join us as an assembled team, many of whom were coming of age that year, takes on their favorites.

In remembering David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises, one scene immediately comes to mind: Viggo Mortensen fighting two fully clothed men in a bathhouse while completely nude. Cronenberg, never one to shy away from showing the human body,...

A forgotten oddity from the early 1970s is Jacques Demy’s English language mounting of The Pied Piper, a rather bleak but mostly unequivocal version of the famed Grimm Bros. fairy tale about a titular piper who infamously lured the children of Hamelin to their assumed deaths after being rebuffed by the townsfolk when he similarly rid the town of plague carrying rats.

Set in the 1300s of northern Germany, this UK production blends bits of Robert Browning’s famed poem of the legend into the film, but the end result is unusually straightforward and unfussy, considering Demy’s predilection for inventive, colorful musicals, such as the classic confections The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort. The stunt casting of Donovan as the piper generates a certain amount of interest, although he’s whittled down to a supporting character amongst a cast of master character actors like Donald Pleasence, John Hurt, Peter Vaughan, and child star Jack Wild.

Notably, The Pied Piper is one of the few Demy films not to be built around a strong, beautiful female lead, which may also explain why there’s no center point in the film. Cathryn Harrison (daughter of Rex, who starred in Louis Malle’s Black Moon) and a gone-to-seed Diana Dors (though not featured as memorably as her swarthy turn in Skolimowski’s Deep End) are the tiny flecks of feminine representation. It was also not Demy’s first English language production, as he’d made a sequel to his New Wave entry Lola (1961) with 1969’s Los Angeles set Model Shop. So what compelled him to make this departure, which premiered in-between two of his most whimsical Catherine Deneuve titles (Donkey Skin; A Slightly Pregnant Man) is perhaps the film’s greatest mystery.

Cultural familiarity with the material tends to work against our expectations. At best, Donovan is a mere supporting accent, popping up to supply mellow, anachronistic music at odd moments before the dramatic catalyst involving his ability to conjure rats with music arrives. Prior to his demeaning, Demy’s focus is mostly on the omnipotent and aggressive power of the corrupting church (Peter Vaughan’s Bishop) and Donald Pleasence’s greedy town leader, whose son (a sniveling John Hurt) is more intent on starting wars and making counterfeit gold to pay his gullible minions than stopping the encroaching plague. Taking the brunt of their violence is the Jewish alchemist, Melius (Michael Hordern), who is wise enough to know the rats have something to do with the spread of the disease. Demy uses his tragic demise to juxtapose the piper’s designs on the children.

While Hurt and Pleasance are entertaining as a toxic father and son, Demy seems estranged from anyone resembling a protagonist. Donovan is instantly forgettable, and the H.R. Pufnstuf and Oliver! child star Jack Wild gets upstaged by a wild mop of hair and a pronounced limp (which explains why he isn’t entranced along with the other children), and the film plays as if Donovan’s role might have been edited down in post. The script was the debut of screenwriters Andrew Birkin (Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, 2006) and Mark Peploe (The Passenger, 1975; The Last Emperor, 1987) who would both go on to write a number of offbeat auteur entries.

Disc Review:

Kino Lorber releases this obscurity as part of their Studio Classics label, presented in 1.66:1. Picture and sound quality are serviceable, however, the title would have greatly benefitted from a restoration. Dp Peter Suschitzky’s frames rightly capture the period, including some awesomely creepy frescoes housing Pleasence and son, but the color sometimes seems faded or stripped from some sequences. Kino doesn’t include any extra features.

Final Thoughts:

More of a curio piece for fans of Demy, The Pied Piper mostly seems a missed opportunity of the creepy legend.

Film Review: ★★½/☆☆☆☆☆

Disc Review: ★★★/☆☆☆☆☆

The post The Pied Piper | Blu-ray Review appeared first on Ioncinema.com.

Resting on laurels is for suckers.

It’s been four excruciatingly long years since The World’s End, the last film from Edgar Wright, which in Edgar-Wright-fan years is like a century. He was set up to direct Ant-Man, but we all know how that turned out. And while you might think Wright spent some of his time post-Marvel licking that particular wound, you’d be wrong, because Edgar Wright knows that living well is the best revenge, so in the last few years he’s been busy gearing up for not one but two films. Immediately after Ant-Man Wright started developing Baby Driver, which is at long last completed, set for a June 28 release, and so far is garnering the best reviews of the director’s career. At the same time he was starting Baby Driver back in 2014, though, there was another project the director was kicking around, an adaptation of the novel Grasshopper Jungle, and...

Plus: A news and article roundup and five perfect shots

If it’s Monday, then it’s time for a new week of episodes from our One Perfect Podcast channel.

Up first and dropping today, the latest installment of After the Credits, our new kind of review show with Columnist Matthew Monagle. This week Matthew is once again joined by Fsr Chief Film Critic Rob Hunter, and the film up for discussion is the Jake Gyllenhaal, Ryan Reynolds sci-fi freak-out Life.

Then, coming up on Wednesday it’s the newest episode of Shot by Shot in which myself, Fsr Video Content Editor H. Perry Horton, and One Perfect Shot founder Geoff Todd will be discussing the cinematography of the most adrenaline-fueled action film of all-time, Mad Max: Fury Road.

And finally, Fsr head honcho Neil Miller is back on Friday with another episode of The Big Idea, his weekly take on the biggest media and entertainment news...

Ryan Lambie Mar 3, 2019

Fearsome monsters, grasping hands, and a suggestive tree. Here are 10 fantasy movie moments that scarred us as kids...

This article comes from Den of Geek UK.

Sooner or later, you're going to see a scary movie. Whether you sneak down and watch a horror film on late night television, watch a Nightmare on Elm Street sequel at a friend's house or watch clips of slasher movies on YouTube, horror movies are always out there, waiting in the wings for the young and curious. But long before most of us graduate to the stage in our lives where we start seeking out R-rated movies of gore and terror, we reliably encounter scary moments in what might initially seem to be harmless family adventure films.

The 1980s was an unusually fertile period for dark fantasies where the seeming lightness of their subject matter--dragons, unicorns and other mythical beasts--was joined by odd jabs of darkness,...

Ryan Lambie Mar 22, 2017

Fearsome monsters, grasping hands, and a suggestive tree. Here are 10 fantasy movie moments that scarred us as kids...

Sooner or later, you're going to see a scary movie. Whether you sneak down and watch a horror film on late night television, watch a Nightmare On Elm Street sequel round a friend's house or watch clips of slasher movies on YouTube, horror movies are always out there, waiting in the wings for the young and curious.

See related The Last Kingdom series 2 episode 1 review The Last Kingdom series 2: politics, battles and arselings What can we expect from new BBC drama, The Last Kingdom?

But long before most of us graduate to the stage of our lives where we start seeking out 18-rated movies of gore and terror, we reliably encounter scary moments in what might initially seem to be harmless family adventure films.

The 1980s was an...

When people accuse David Cronenberg’s work of being “cold” or “clinical,” I suspect the movie they’re really talking about is his 1988 psychological thriller, Dead Ringers. It is a movie about surgeons, so of course it’s clinical. It is photographed with special cameras and carefully choreographed movements that require precision. It is a film about two men who share an unspoken bond and who keep all of their emotions under wraps. Of course it feels cold. But it is also a movie in which a woman tears into the flesh connecting conjoined twins with her teeth. There’s no mistaking it for anything but a David Cronenberg movie.

Jeremy Irons plays Beverly and Elliot Mantle, twin gynecologists who run their own highly successful and experimental clinic. Despite their deep connection, the brothers are different: Elliot is suave and confident, while Beverly is shy and frightened. When they meet...

Well, genre fans, November 15th is a rather quiet week on the home entertainment front, as there are only a few releases coming our way this Tuesday. Scream Factory has put together a stellar Collector’s Edition Blu-ray for David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers, and Synapse Films is releasing their Collector's Edition steelbook of Dario Argento's Phenomena.

The sixth season of Game of Thrones makes its way home this week, too, and Star Wars fans can finally enjoy The Force Awakens in 3D from the comfort of their couches with a brand new set that arrives on Tuesday.

Dead Ringers: Collector’s Edition (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)

Claire Niveau (Genevieve Bujold) is in love with handsome Beverly. Or does she love Elliot? It’s uncertain because brothers Beverly and Elliot Mantle are identical twins sharing the same medical practice, apartment and women: including unsuspecting Claire.

In portrayals that...

"Two bodies. Two minds. One soul." Identical twins share more than their looks in David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers. Scream Factory will release the psychological thriller on a Collector's Edition Blu-ray beginning November 15th, and we've been provided with three copies to give away to lucky Daily Dead readers.

————

Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) Collector's Edition Blu-ray copy of Dead Ringers.

How to Enter: For a chance to win, email [email protected] with the subject “Dead Ringers Contest”. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.

Entry Details: The contest will end at 12:01am Est on November 18th. This contest is only open to those who are eighteen years of age or older that live in the United States. Only one entry per household will be accepted.

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Dead Ringers Collector's Edition Blu-ray: "Claire Niveau (Geneviève Bujold) is in love with handsome Beverly. Or does she love Elliot?...

"Separation can be a terrifying thing." Featuring a dangerous love triangle involving identical twins, David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers will be released on a Collector's Edition Blu-ray on November 15th from Scream Factory, and we have a look at a high-def clip and trailer from the film.

Dead Ringers Collector's Edition Blu-ray: "Claire Niveau (Geneviève Bujold) is in love with handsome Beverly. Or does she love Elliot? It's uncertain because brothers Beverly and Elliot Mantle are identical twins sharing the same medical practice, apartment and women – including unsuspecting Claire.

In portrayals that won the New York Film Critics Circle Best Actor Award, Jeremy Irons plays twin gynecologists whose emotional dependency collapses into mind games, madness and murder. David Cronenberg (The Fly) won the Los Angeles Film Critics Awards Best Director honors for melding split-screen techniques, body doubles and Iron's uncanny acting into an eerie, fact-based tale.

Bonus Features

Disc One...

This November, Scream Factory will release Dead Ringers and Rabid on Collector's Edition Blu-rays, respectively, and to help make the wait a little sweeter, they've unveiled the full list of special features for both David Cronenberg movies.

Press Release: Progenitor of the body horror genre and master of psychological terror, filmmaker David Cronenberg is known for his visceral style, crafting stories that interweave audacious physical transformations with challenging narratives and complex emotional arcs.

This November, two seminal Cronenberg films, Dead Ringers and Rabid, make their Collector’s Edition Blu-ray debuts from Scream Factory. Each film features a new 2k scan and is loaded with new bonus features, making these critically acclaimed masterpieces must-owns for cinephiles.

Dead Ringers November 15th, 2016

Cronenberg’s haunting tale of twin gynecologists and the woman they both love will make its Blu-ray debut November 15th, 2016 from Scream Factory, in conjunction with Morgan Creek Productions. The two-disc...

It's strange, it's different, and I can see why it wasn't a theatrical hit... but Matteo Garrone's superb telling of three very adult, very extreme 17th century folk tales is a special item, beautifully directed and visually splendid. Tale of Tales Blu-ray Shout! Factory 2016 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 133 min. / Street Date September 6, 2016 / 22.97 Starring Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones, John C. Reilly, Shirley Henderson, Hayley Carmichael, Bebe Cave, Stacy Martin, Christian Lees, Jonah Lees, Laura Pizzirani, Franco Pistoni, Jessie Cave. Cinematography Peter Suschitzky Film Editor Marco Spoletini Production Design Dimitri Capuani Original Music Alexandre Desplat Written by Edoardo Albinati, Ugo Chiti, Matteo Garrone, Massimo Gaudioso from a book by Giambattista Basile Produced by Matteo Garrone, Anne Labadie, Jean Labadie, Jeremy Thomas Directed by Matteo Garrone

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Matteo Garrone needs no more endorsement than a mention of his terrific modern gangster film Gomorrah (2008), an epic that makes the...

My guest for this month is Herb van der Poll, and he’s joined me to discuss the film I chose for him, the 1988 Dutch–French film The Vanishing. You can follow the show on Twitter @cinemagadfly.

Show notes:

The director, George Sluizer, didn’t really direct much else besides this film and its remake The soundtrack definitely has a Tears for Fears vibe to it, which is 100% ok with me Herb checked with his Dutch parents to make sure we pronounced Spoorloos correctly Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu is basically perfect as the villain in this film If you enjoy this film, you’d probably also love Alfred Hitchock’s The Lady Vanishes The actress who plays the second girlfriend Lieneke, Gwen Eckhaus, was randomly in a television series in the Netherlands called Spoorloos verdwenen, which I assume is unrelated Getting a compliment on your film from Stanley Kubrick is a big...

British cinematographer Peter Suschitzky is known for his collaborations with David Cronenberg (Cosmopolis, A Dangerous Method, Eastern Promises, A History of Violence, Spider, eXistenZ, Crash, Naked Lunch and Dead Ringers). His eclectic career saw him start working in fantastical “what if” tales on It Happened Here (1966) and Privilege (1967). He worked with Peter Watkins, Albert Finney, Peter Watkins, John Boorman, Ken Russell and Warris Hussein in Britain, before Hollywood came calling. is first trip to Cannes, working on Charlie Bubbles by Albert Finney, was cancelled after the festival was stopped by the May ’68 protests led by Jean Luc-Godard. This year, I met him at the […]...

Both titles won seven prizes at the 60th David Di Donatellos, while Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth took home two from fourteen nominations.

In a surprise result at Italy’s major national film prizes, the David di Donatellos, debut film They Call Him Jeeg Robot won seven major awards.

Matteo Garrone’s Tale Of Tales also gathered seven statuettes, six of which were in technical categories, as well as Best Director for Matteo Garrone.

Box office sensation Perfect Strangers won Best Film and Best Screenplay while only two awards (Best Musical Score and Best Song) went to Paolo Sorrentino’s Oscar-nominated Youth.

They Call Him Jeeg Robot, Gabriele Mainetti’s first feature film, is a superhero story co-produced by RaiCinema about a Roman thief who gains superhuman strength after a near-mortal accident.

Starring Claudio Santamaria (Diaz - Don’t Clean Up This Blood) as the titular hero and Luca Marinelli (Don’t Be Evil) as the villain, the movie...

Where was Leonard Pinth Garnell when we needed him?  Joseph Losey is often accused of pretension but in this case he may be guilty. Robert Shaw and Malcolm McDowell are escapees scrambling across a rocky terrain, pursued by a helicopter that seems satisfied to just harass them. Keeping the audience in the dark doesn't reap any dramatic or thematic benefit that I can see. Figures in a Landscape Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1970 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date January 12, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Robert Shaw, Malcolm McDowell, Roger Lloyd Pack, Pamela Brown. Cinematography Henri Alekan, Peter Suschitzky, Guy Tabary Film Editor Reginald Beck Art Direction Ted Tester Original Music Richard Rodney Bennett Written by Robert Shaw from the novel by Barry England Produced by John Kohn Directed by Joseph Losey

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Joseph Losey is a gold mine for film criticism but a real problem for simple film reviewing.

Lucasfilm

When Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace hit cinemas, the initial reaction was one of disappointment (if not quite the mass hatred which that evolved into), although not without a few clear positives. The story got thrashed for its reliance on pseudo-politics, the acting was found more wooden than an Ewok city and everybody finally agreed with Harrison Ford that George Lucas might not be the best wordsmith. But one thing everyone could find time to praise was the visuals.

The world Lucas created for Star Wars is phenomenal, an oft-described used future that serves as a fantasy realm of knights and rogues, and is so expertly realised that even cynics (be they prequel haters or those who “don’t get” the saga in general), can’t deny that the galaxy far, far away looks great.

That’d be all for nothing, though, if it was for the cinematography,...

Two Latin American films take home top awards.

Argentine director Santiago Mitre’s Paulina (Patota) has won the Nespresso Grand Prize at the 54th Critics’ Week – the Cannes Film Festival sidebar devoted to first and second features.

The film stars Dolorès Fonzi as a promising young lawyer who ditches a hot shot career in Buenos Aires to teach in an impoverished town on the border with Brazil and Paraguay. Brutally attacked by a group of youths shortly after her arrival, she has to decide whether to continue with her mission.

Mitre won the €10,000 prize, which has previously been awarded to Guillermo del Toro, Gaspar Noe and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu among others.

Paulina marks Mitre’s second film after The Student, which won Locarno’s special jury prize in 2011.

Land and Shade (La tierra y la sombra), from Colombian filmmaker César Augusto Acevado, won the France 4 Visionary Award, which rewards “outstanding creativity and innovation” and includes a prize...

This year's Critics' Week jury, presided over by Ronit Elkabetz (other members: Katell Quillévéré, Peter Suschitzky, Andréa Picard and Boyd van Hoeij) has presented the The Nespresso Grand Prize to Santiago Mitre's Paulina. The France 4 Visionary Award, presented for "outstanding creativity and innovation," goes to Cesar Augusto Acevedo's Land and Shade, which also picks up the Sacd Award. And winning the Gan Foundation Support for Distribution is Clément Cogitore's The Wakhan Front. We've got reviews of, trailers for and clips from the winners. » - David Hudson...

This year's Critics' Week jury, presided over by Ronit Elkabetz (other members: Katell Quillévéré, Peter Suschitzky, Andréa Picard and Boyd van Hoeij) has presented the The Nespresso Grand Prize to Santiago Mitre's Paulina. The France 4 Visionary Award, presented for "outstanding creativity and innovation," goes to Cesar Augusto Acevedo's Land and Shade, which also picks up the Sacd Award. And winning the Gan Foundation Support for Distribution is Clément Cogitore's The Wakhan Front. We've got reviews of, trailers for and clips from the winners. » - David Hudson...

Cannes — Once upon a time there were fairy tales that were strange and horrific. Fairy tales that were meant to entertain and to enlighten. Fairy tales that weren't just meant for young children. Italian filmmaker Matteo Garrone takes you back to that time with "Tale of Tales," his loose adaptation of Giambattista Basile's "The Tale of Tales, or Entertainment for Little Ones," which screened Wednesday night at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. The result is a slightly bumpy two hours of storytelling, but it's peppered with wonder and unexpected humor. Best known for his critically acclaimed thriller "Gomorrah," Garrone has fashioned a lose narrative around three nearby kingdoms in Basile's tales. The main story, if there is one, centers on a distraught, barren Queen (Salma Hayek) who's husband, the King of Longtrellis (John C. Reilly), makes a deal with a mysterious charlatan (Franco Pistoni) in order to get her pregnant.

Elie Wajeman’s The Anarchists, starring Palme d’Or winner Adele Exarchopoulos and Cesar winner Tahar Rahim, to open Critics’ Week

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Cannes Critics’ Week, devoted to first and second features, has unveiled the line-up for its 54th edition (May 14-22).

In total, 1,750 shorts and 1,000 features were submitted for consideration.

Artistic director Charles Tesson said this year’s poster - showing actress Lou de Laâge, seemingly embracing the air on a beach - captured the spirit of the parallel section.

“On the poster the actress Lou de Laâge embraces the open horizon in front of her,” he said. “This wonderful energy and amazing life force it carries embody the desire leading us to discover the new breath of fresh air in cinema worldwide.”

The section will open with French Elie Wajeman’s second film The Anarchists (Les Anarchistes) set in Paris in 1899, starring the reportedly sizzling on-screen couple of Tahar Rahim and Adèle Exarchopoulos...

Director David Cronenberg (Eastern Promises, A History of Violence) returns with a provocative satire about the Hollywood film industry and the demons of celebrity obsession in the Focus World release Maps To The Stars, now available on Digital HD and debuting on Blu-ray with Digital HD and DVD on April 14, 2015 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

Academy Award winner Julianne Moore (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay) stars with Mia Wasikowska (The Kids Are All Right), Olivia Williams (Hyde Park on Hudson), John Cusack (Being John Malkovich), and Robert Pattinson (The Twilight Saga) in this unforgettable darkly comic thriller written by Bruce Wagner (I’m Losing You). Hollywood actress Havana Segrand (Moore) is unraveling as her career flounders. Her self-help psychotherapist (Cusack) and his wife (Williams) are busy managing the career of their child-star son. But when a mysterious young woman named Agatha (Wasikowska) befriends a limo driver and aspiring actor (Pattinson) all their lives get together,...

Actress and filmmaker joined by four including Katell Quillévéré and Andréa Picard.

Israeli actress and filmmaker Ronit Elkabetz will preside over the jury of the 54th Semaine de la Critique in Cannes (May 14-22).

Elkabetz is something of a Critics’ Week regular having starred in Keren Yedaya’s 2004 feature Or and directed 2008 drama 7 Days (Shiva).

Her third film Gett, the Trial of Viviane Amsalem, selected at the Directors’ Fortnight in 2014, was nominated for the Golden Globes 2015 in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

Also on the jury are director Katell Quillévéré, DoP Peter Suschitzky, Toronto programmer Andréa Picard and journalist Boyd van Hoeij.

The jury will award three prizes: the Nespresso Grand Prize and the France 4 Visionary Award for feature films, the Sony CineAlta Discovery Prize for short films.

The 54th Cannes Critics’ Week sidebar has named Israeli actress and filmmaker Ronit Elkabetz as jury president. Elkabetz co-helmed this year’s Golden Globe nominee Gett: The Trial Of Viviane Amsalem with her brother Shlomi. It ran last year in Directors’ Fortnight. Elkabetz’s jury will include director Katell Quillévéré, cinematographer Peter Suschitzky, Toronto Film Fest programmer Andréa Picard and journalist Boyd van Hoeij. The panel will award the Nespresso Grand…...

The 54th Cannes Critics’ Week sidebar has named Israeli actress and filmmaker Ronit Elkabetz as jury president. Elkabetz co-helmed this year’s Golden Globe nominee Gett: The Trial Of Viviane Amsalem with her brother Shlomi. It ran last year in Directors’ Fortnight. Elkabetz’s jury will include director Katell Quillévéré, cinematographer Peter Suschitzky, Toronto Film Fest programmer Andréa Picard and journalist Boyd van Hoeij. The panel will award the Nespresso Grand…...

An actress/filmmaker who could easily call the impractical venue/annually gem-filled gift-giving Cannes sidebar a home away from home, Ronit Elkabetz, who has seen a pair of her films play in the section, will now serve as jury president for the Cannes’ Critics’ Week (May 14th to the 22nd). Filmmaker Katell Quillévéré (Love Like Poison), Peter Suschitzky (regular Cronenberg Dp and has The Tale of Tales coming out), Andréa Picard (the mastermind behind Tiff’s Wavelengths) and THR critic Boyd van Hoeij will share jury duties and hand out a trio of awards. Last year, it was It Follows and The Tribe that were the break out film of the section. Our Nicholas Bell recently remarked that Elkabetz “owns every frame” of Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem. Line-up will be released on April 20th.

John Boorman's career is littered with misfires, maybe the price we pay for the huge artistic risks he takes. In between the early triumphs of Point Blank (1967) and Hell in the Pacific (1968) and his masterwork Deliverance (1972) lies Leo the Last, which gets very little love and not even the kind of scornful attention accorded to catastrophes like Zardoz (1974) and Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977).

Maybe this is because bad drama has kitsch value, whereas bad comedy nobody can stand, and Leo the Last appears, at times, to be attempting humor, a surprising choice for Boorman whose very humorlessness can seem a strength in his successful films and a weakness in his failures. There's something heroic about the fact that it apparently never occurred to Boorman that a man having sex wearing full plate armor (Excalibur), Sean Connery in thigh boots, bandoliers and nappy (Zardoz) and Linda Blair doing a musical...

Cannes -- Last time I was here on the Croisette, David Cronenberg was here with "Cosmopolis," and his son Brandon Cronenberg was here with "Antiviral." It was interesting seeing Brandon make a film that felt like it came from the young and squishy heart of his father, while David made a movie that felt like a genuine explosion of anger without a clear target to land on. It is easy to say that filmmakers lose steam as they work, that age and success mellow even the most genuinely furious artists, but I don't think that's the case with Cronenberg. After all, since the year 2000, he's made three films that I think are all very strong in their own way and very different than anything he'd done before. "Spider" is an upsetting glimpse into a damaged mind, one that traps us inside looking out rather than trying to explain or excuse.

Today is "Star Wars Day." You know, "May the fourth," because it sounds like "May the force (be with you)." Get It??? There has been plenty of "Star Wars" discussion this week as the people threatening to give us a seventh film in this storied franchise dropped a few casting details on the world. People like Oscar Isaac and Max von Sydow and Adam Driver will be joining old timers Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher for "Star Wars: Episode VII - Whatever Nifty Subtitle They Give It," and we'll probably be hearing about it constantly as the film forges on through production and post-production. To mark today's occasion, director J.J. Abrams and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan offered up a video howdy, which you can watch below if these movies are your thing. In case it's not readily evident, they're certainly not my thing, but I can't very well be...

Welcome back to Cannes Check, In Contention's annual preview of the films in Competition at next month's Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off on May 14. Taking on different selections every day, we'll be examining what they're about, who's involved and what their chances are of snagging an award from Jane Campion's jury. Next up: David Cronenberg's "Maps to the Stars." The director: David Cronenberg (Canadian, 71 years old). I don't think I exactly need to introduce Cronenberg, unless your auteur radar extends only to directors who have been nominated for Oscars. The cinema's currently dormant king of body horror has shifted in and out of genres and levels of respectability, his previous 20 features taking him from shoestring kink ("Stereo") to more elaborate gross-out cult items ("Videodrome") to warped mainstream fare ("The Fly") to icy arthouse provocations ("Crash") to tastefully cerebral prestige items ("A Dangerous Method"), with any number of stages in between.

Michael Fassbender and Viggo Mortensen play Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, the trailblazers of modern psychonalysis in director David Cronenberg's assured drama. Keira Knightley unflinchingly plays Russian refugee Sabina Spielrein who was reputed to have enjoyed a sado-masochistic fling with Jung to the cold disapproval of Freud. Cronenberg brings his imaginatively precise approach to an intriguing story well served by stand-out performances from the three leads - complete with spanking scenes - and sumptuous cinematography from Peter Suschitzky.

Peter Suschitzky has photographed films for John Boorman, Ken Russell and most notably David Cronenberg, but the 72-year-old d.p. still prepares each film with the written word. “It begins with a careful reading of the screenplay,” he says in a polite English accent over the phone from London, “trying to get a feel for, subconsciously, what’s in that script.” Suschitzky is giving interviews to promote, Evolution, Tiff’s celebration of hometown boy and horror master, Cronenberg. Evolution launches Hallowe’en week at the Tiff Bell Lightbox in downtown Toronto with a multimedia exhibition of celebrating Cronenberg’s five-decade career that began long before […]...

Peter Suschitzky has photographed films for John Boorman, Ken Russell and most notably David Cronenberg, but the 72-year-old d.p. still prepares each film with the written word. “It begins with a careful reading of the screenplay,” he says in a polite English accent over the phone from London, “trying to get a feel for, subconsciously, what’s in that script.” Suschitzky is giving interviews to promote, Evolution, Tiff’s celebration of hometown boy and horror master, Cronenberg. Evolution launches Hallowe’en week at the Tiff Bell Lightbox in downtown Toronto with a multimedia exhibition of celebrating Cronenberg’s five-decade career that began long before […]...

Photo: 20th Century Fox Release Year: 1988 Studio: 20th Century Fox Director: David Cronenberg Screenwriter: David Cronenberg and Norman Snider based on the book "Twins" by Bari Wood and Jack Geasland Starring: Jeremy Irons as Beverly and Elliot Mantle and Genevieve Bujold as Claire Niveau Cinematographer: Peter Suschitzky (Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, Eastern Promises, Cosmopolis) Note: Today's entry is yet another installment contributing to Nathaniel's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" series at TheFilmExperience where several others have contributed their favorite shots from Dead Ringers as well. Photo: 20th Century Fox Photo: 20th Century Fox Photo: 20th Century Fox Photo: 20th Century Fox Photo: 20th Century Fox Photo: 20th Century Fox Photo: 20th Century Fox Photo: 20th Century Fox Photo: 20th Century Fox Photo: 20th Century Fox Photo: 20th Century Fox Photo: 20th Century Fox Photo: 20th Century Fox This is probably my favorite overall shot...