Amy Winehouse biopic Back To Black sets a new widest UK-Ireland opening record for Studiocanal, starting its run in 719 sites.
The film beats the distributor’s previous record – February release Wicked Little Letters – by 33 venues. It is also the widest opening of the year, beating Warner Bros’ Dune: Part Two by two sites.
Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson from a script by Matt Greenhalgh, Back To Black depicts the life of music icon Winehouse, from her early career through her turbulent relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil, and her creation of seminal 2006 album Back To Black.
The film stars 2023 Screen Star of Tomorrow Marisa Abela as Winehouse,...
The film beats the distributor’s previous record – February release Wicked Little Letters – by 33 venues. It is also the widest opening of the year, beating Warner Bros’ Dune: Part Two by two sites.
Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson from a script by Matt Greenhalgh, Back To Black depicts the life of music icon Winehouse, from her early career through her turbulent relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil, and her creation of seminal 2006 album Back To Black.
The film stars 2023 Screen Star of Tomorrow Marisa Abela as Winehouse,...
- 4/12/2024
- ScreenDaily
Fans regularly make film biopics about famous musicians successful, but they also love to nitpick the results. Or to misquote Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division and the subject of a rather good musical biopic (Control), love will tear apart any work of fan service if it screws up the story, paints the subject in too unflattering a light or, worst of all, mangles the music with impersonations that barely rise above the level of karaoke. (Consider, if you dare, Kevin Spacey as Bobby Darin in Beyond the Sea.)
On the other hand, there’s also something irksome about biopics that have actors lip sync to the original songs, like Naomi Ackie did for I Wanna Dance With Somebody or, much less successfully, Dennis Quaid in Great Balls of Fire! Especially if that means access to the original recordings or even rights to the songs in the first...
On the other hand, there’s also something irksome about biopics that have actors lip sync to the original songs, like Naomi Ackie did for I Wanna Dance With Somebody or, much less successfully, Dennis Quaid in Great Balls of Fire! Especially if that means access to the original recordings or even rights to the songs in the first...
- 4/9/2024
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For regular updates, sign up for our weekly email newsletter and follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSGuy Maddin’s next film, Rumours, recently wrapped production in Hungary. The ensemble piece is led by Cate Blanchett and Alicia Vikander, who play world leaders who end up stranded in a forest during the annual G7 summit. Maddin has shared a breathless, spoof press release (below) announcing the film, describing the project as “an elevated dramedy and erotico-political threnody cum sylvan moodbank.”Paul Thomas Anderson is also at work on something new. So far, all we know is that his project is set in the present day and will star Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, and Regina Hall. Production begins in California later this year.Recommended VIEWINGOne of the most exciting rediscoveries of the 2023 Il Cinema Ritrovato festival was the restoration of David Schickele’s Bushman...
- 1/17/2024
- MUBI
London – A psychedelic eye mosaic commissioned by John Lennon for the swimming pool at his Kenwood home in Surrey in 1965 leads Bonhams’ Rock, Pop & Film sale on Wednesday 29 November at Knightsbridge, London.
Claire Tole-Moir, Bonhams Head of Popular Culture in London, commented: “This monumental mosaic, commissioned by John Lennon is a striking example of the Beatle’s artistic vision and influences. Lennon’s Kenwood home in the English countryside was a place of respite from all the public attention he experienced during the height of The Beatles’ popularity. It’s said Lennon would spend idle hours near the swimming pool and that the mosaic could even be seen from his favoured ‘sunroom’ at the top of the house. With Kenwood still under private ownership, it is very rare to see anything from when John Lennon lived there, making the ‘Psychedelic Eye’ mosaic an incredibly important artefact of Beatles history.”
Consisting of approximately 17,000 tiles,...
Claire Tole-Moir, Bonhams Head of Popular Culture in London, commented: “This monumental mosaic, commissioned by John Lennon is a striking example of the Beatle’s artistic vision and influences. Lennon’s Kenwood home in the English countryside was a place of respite from all the public attention he experienced during the height of The Beatles’ popularity. It’s said Lennon would spend idle hours near the swimming pool and that the mosaic could even be seen from his favoured ‘sunroom’ at the top of the house. With Kenwood still under private ownership, it is very rare to see anything from when John Lennon lived there, making the ‘Psychedelic Eye’ mosaic an incredibly important artefact of Beatles history.”
Consisting of approximately 17,000 tiles,...
- 11/8/2023
- by Music Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid Music
An Nft celebrating Joy Division’s wavy Unknown Pleasures artwork will include previously unheard vocal samples from the band. The new piece renders the pulsar from the cover as audio, which is then merged with the voice of the late frontman, Ian Curtis.
Peter Saville, the Factory Records co-founder and visual artist who designed the iconic sleeve, worked with Joy Division and New Order drummer Stephen Morris and the Joy Division Archive on the project, called CP1919. The Nft depicts the sleeve’s art — radio waves coming from a collapsed...
Peter Saville, the Factory Records co-founder and visual artist who designed the iconic sleeve, worked with Joy Division and New Order drummer Stephen Morris and the Joy Division Archive on the project, called CP1919. The Nft depicts the sleeve’s art — radio waves coming from a collapsed...
- 9/13/2023
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
Filmmaker and iconic music video director Anton Corbijn is turning his camera on the most recognizable album covers of all time.
From the director of “Control” and classic New Wave music videos from the likes of Depeche Mode and Joy Division, “Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)” charts the legacy of the design studio behind iconic rock imagery like Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” album cover. IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer for the film below.
“Squaring the Circle” captures the story behind co-founders Aubrey “Po” Powell and late visionary Storm Thorgerson, the creative geniuses behind the London-based iconic album art design studio, Hipgnosis. As Hipgnosis, the pair were responsible for some of the most recognizable album covers of all time, including “Dark Side of the Moon,” Paul McCartney and Wings’ “Band on the Run” and Led Zeppelin’s “Houses of the Holy,” all celebrating their 50th anniversaries this year.
From the director of “Control” and classic New Wave music videos from the likes of Depeche Mode and Joy Division, “Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)” charts the legacy of the design studio behind iconic rock imagery like Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” album cover. IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer for the film below.
“Squaring the Circle” captures the story behind co-founders Aubrey “Po” Powell and late visionary Storm Thorgerson, the creative geniuses behind the London-based iconic album art design studio, Hipgnosis. As Hipgnosis, the pair were responsible for some of the most recognizable album covers of all time, including “Dark Side of the Moon,” Paul McCartney and Wings’ “Band on the Run” and Led Zeppelin’s “Houses of the Holy,” all celebrating their 50th anniversaries this year.
- 5/4/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Magnetic Beats director Vincent Maël Cardona with Ed Bahlman (Joy Division - An Ideal For Living EP) and Anne-Katrin Titze: “When I hear the voice of Ian Curtis, still now, I hear the No Future thing.”
Vincent Maël Cardona’s Cannes Film Festival and César Award-winning Magnetic Beats, stars Thimothée Robart (Most Promising Actor Lumière Award-winner) with a first-rate supporting ensemble, including Marie Colomb, Joseph Olivennes, Antoine Pelletier, Philippe Frécon, Brian Powell, Olga Créancier-Werckmeister, Mathilde Bisson, and the director himself.
Philippe Bichon (Thimothée Robart), sound engineer for Radio Warsaw
Remembering Ian Curtis (with Joy Division’s Decades and Warsaw); David Bowie and Brian Eno’s Warszawa; Jon King in Gang of Four (Damaged Goods) and Camera Silens (Réalité); The Undertones (Teenage Kicks), Robert Görl (Dit Mir), a nod to John Peel and Bob Marley; noting The Pop Group and The Slits; Edith Nylon (seen in Philippe Puicouyoul’s La Brune Et Moi), and more,...
Vincent Maël Cardona’s Cannes Film Festival and César Award-winning Magnetic Beats, stars Thimothée Robart (Most Promising Actor Lumière Award-winner) with a first-rate supporting ensemble, including Marie Colomb, Joseph Olivennes, Antoine Pelletier, Philippe Frécon, Brian Powell, Olga Créancier-Werckmeister, Mathilde Bisson, and the director himself.
Philippe Bichon (Thimothée Robart), sound engineer for Radio Warsaw
Remembering Ian Curtis (with Joy Division’s Decades and Warsaw); David Bowie and Brian Eno’s Warszawa; Jon King in Gang of Four (Damaged Goods) and Camera Silens (Réalité); The Undertones (Teenage Kicks), Robert Görl (Dit Mir), a nod to John Peel and Bob Marley; noting The Pop Group and The Slits; Edith Nylon (seen in Philippe Puicouyoul’s La Brune Et Moi), and more,...
- 4/4/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Weekly music show Top of the Pops counted down the UK pop charts, jam-packed with performances from bands and solo artists whose singles had been selling well that week. It ran on the BBC from 1964 to 2006, seeing off seven prime ministers, 12 major military conflicts, and three separate Sugababes line-ups. As the decades passed, viewers watched the musical, cultural and fashion tastes of a nation shifting through the lenses of their musical heroes.
But as those things changed, so did the ways in which we experienced music. It began with MTV and VH1, and continued with the proliferation of portable entertainment tech; the evolution of the internet, downloads and streaming; and our ability to listen to or watch whatever we wanted, whenever and wherever we pleased. In this futuristic soundscape, Top of the Pops became an anachronism. The show still managed to occupy a warm niche in the public consciousness thanks...
But as those things changed, so did the ways in which we experienced music. It began with MTV and VH1, and continued with the proliferation of portable entertainment tech; the evolution of the internet, downloads and streaming; and our ability to listen to or watch whatever we wanted, whenever and wherever we pleased. In this futuristic soundscape, Top of the Pops became an anachronism. The show still managed to occupy a warm niche in the public consciousness thanks...
- 3/8/2023
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
The nominations of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2023 are in, and the list features George Michael, Kate Bush, Missy Elliott, the White Stripes, Sheryl Crow, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order, Cyndi Lauper, Willie Nelson, Rage Against the Machine, Soundgarden, the Spinners, A Tribe Called Quest, and Warren Zevon. The top vote-getters will be announced in May and inducted in the fall.
“This remarkable list of Nominees reflects the diverse artists and music that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame honors and celebrates,” said John Sykes,...
“This remarkable list of Nominees reflects the diverse artists and music that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame honors and celebrates,” said John Sykes,...
- 2/1/2023
- by Andy Greene
- Rollingstone.com
If you want to see two classic English groups here in North America for the price of one, there are some great shows coming in September. The Pet Shop Boys along with the rock band New Order are touring the U.S. and Canada along with a touring DJ Paul Oakenfield.
> Get Deals On Pet Shop Boys & New Order Concert Tickets Now!
Pet Shop Boys have been nominated for six Grammies and were even designated the most successful British musical duo in the 1999 Guinness Book of World Records. Their most recent album, Hotspot, released in 2020 and was the fourteenth record release by the pop duo.
New Order is the band that spun off from Joy Division, which disbanded after the suicide of frontman Ian Curtis. They have built up a well-respected musical legacy of their own after some years in Joy Division’s shadow. This co-headlining tour was meant to...
> Get Deals On Pet Shop Boys & New Order Concert Tickets Now!
Pet Shop Boys have been nominated for six Grammies and were even designated the most successful British musical duo in the 1999 Guinness Book of World Records. Their most recent album, Hotspot, released in 2020 and was the fourteenth record release by the pop duo.
New Order is the band that spun off from Joy Division, which disbanded after the suicide of frontman Ian Curtis. They have built up a well-respected musical legacy of their own after some years in Joy Division’s shadow. This co-headlining tour was meant to...
- 9/4/2022
- by Jacob Linden
- Uinterview
Aitch has said he is “over it” after Liam Gallagher turned down his request to collaborate on a song.
The Manchester rapper has long been campaigning for the former Oasis star to work with him.
Turning down the offer earlier this year, Gallagher, a Manchester City supporter, had said: “He seems like a nice lad, but I don’t want to be on anyone’s album… He’s a [Manchester] United fan, so it ain’t f***ing happening. No mate. But I do appreciate the fact that he thinks I’m cool.”
Reflecting on Gallagher’s words months later, Aitch has now said in a new interview: “I’m over it. He’s a Blue, and I’m a Red, I’m never gonna change, and he’s never going to change, it is what it is.”
He told The Telegraph: “He actually came to watch me. I did a...
The Manchester rapper has long been campaigning for the former Oasis star to work with him.
Turning down the offer earlier this year, Gallagher, a Manchester City supporter, had said: “He seems like a nice lad, but I don’t want to be on anyone’s album… He’s a [Manchester] United fan, so it ain’t f***ing happening. No mate. But I do appreciate the fact that he thinks I’m cool.”
Reflecting on Gallagher’s words months later, Aitch has now said in a new interview: “I’m over it. He’s a Blue, and I’m a Red, I’m never gonna change, and he’s never going to change, it is what it is.”
He told The Telegraph: “He actually came to watch me. I did a...
- 8/20/2022
- by Ellie Harrison
- The Independent - Music
Aitch has promised to fix an advertisement for his new album Close To Home that was painted over a famous Manchester mural of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis.
The rapper, whose debut album is out Friday (19 August), posted on Twitter yesterday that he’d become aware of the advertisement being painted over the iconic mural in Manchester’s Northern Quarter on Port Street.
“It’s come to light that the iconic Ian Curtis mural on Port Street has been painted over with my album artwork,” the rapper tweeted.
It’s...
The rapper, whose debut album is out Friday (19 August), posted on Twitter yesterday that he’d become aware of the advertisement being painted over the iconic mural in Manchester’s Northern Quarter on Port Street.
“It’s come to light that the iconic Ian Curtis mural on Port Street has been painted over with my album artwork,” the rapper tweeted.
It’s...
- 8/17/2022
- by Hollie Geraghty
- Rollingstone.com
Amy Winehouse biopic “Back to Black” is close to securing its lead.
Multiple sources tell Variety that Marisa Abela, one of the stars of HBO and BBC drama “Industry,” is a frontrunner to play Winehouse. It’s believed Abela is in discussions, though the role isn’t yet locked in and a small group of other actors are also believed to be in the mix.
As previously reported, the role was always intended to go to a newcomer, and producers have been keen to hire a fresh face rather than go down the pop-star casting route.
The scene-stealing Abela plays the privileged but troubled Yasmin Kara-Hanani in the sexy, London-set financial thriller “Industry,” which returns next month for Season 2. The 25-year-old British actor also starred in Sky TV series “Cobra” and appears alongside James Norton in the crime thriller “Rogue Agent” (previously titled “Freegard”). She also appears in the forthcoming drama “She Is Love,...
Multiple sources tell Variety that Marisa Abela, one of the stars of HBO and BBC drama “Industry,” is a frontrunner to play Winehouse. It’s believed Abela is in discussions, though the role isn’t yet locked in and a small group of other actors are also believed to be in the mix.
As previously reported, the role was always intended to go to a newcomer, and producers have been keen to hire a fresh face rather than go down the pop-star casting route.
The scene-stealing Abela plays the privileged but troubled Yasmin Kara-Hanani in the sexy, London-set financial thriller “Industry,” which returns next month for Season 2. The 25-year-old British actor also starred in Sky TV series “Cobra” and appears alongside James Norton in the crime thriller “Rogue Agent” (previously titled “Freegard”). She also appears in the forthcoming drama “She Is Love,...
- 7/28/2022
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Producer Orian Williams makes his directorial debut with Jeff Buckley biopic “Everybody Here Wants You.” Culmination will produce and kick off worldwide sales of the pic at the European Film Market.
“Everybody Here Wants You” stars Reeve Carney as the singer-songwriter whose career was cut short by his death in 1997. The film has full support of the Buckley estate and has access to Buckley’s music.
Culmination Prod.’s Tom Butterfield will produce alongside Buckley’s mother, Mary Guibert, and Alison Raykovich, manager of his estate and VP of Jeff Buckley Music. Culmination’s Harry White handles sales at the EFM.
Jeff Buckley met his father, singer-songwriter Tim Buckley, whose own music spurred an intense following, only once. Tim Buckley died in 1975, but his estranged son did possess the same gift for music. Jeff Buckley released one album, “Grace,” in 1994, which rocketed him to the top of critics lists and inspired a deep fandom,...
“Everybody Here Wants You” stars Reeve Carney as the singer-songwriter whose career was cut short by his death in 1997. The film has full support of the Buckley estate and has access to Buckley’s music.
Culmination Prod.’s Tom Butterfield will produce alongside Buckley’s mother, Mary Guibert, and Alison Raykovich, manager of his estate and VP of Jeff Buckley Music. Culmination’s Harry White handles sales at the EFM.
Jeff Buckley met his father, singer-songwriter Tim Buckley, whose own music spurred an intense following, only once. Tim Buckley died in 1975, but his estranged son did possess the same gift for music. Jeff Buckley released one album, “Grace,” in 1994, which rocketed him to the top of critics lists and inspired a deep fandom,...
- 3/1/2021
- by Carole Horst
- Variety Film + TV
As the David Bowie biopic Stardust is released, we take a look through the greatest music star portrayals – from Johnny Cash and Billie Holiday to Ian Curtis and Ray Charles
Some inspired casting made this biopic fiercely watchable – and it’s a movie that doesn’t quite conform to either of the genre’s two templates: underdog rise or tragic downfall. Dennis Quaid is the rock’n’roll wild man Jerry Lee Lewis, the insurgent 50s star who married his 13-year-old cousin, Myra, played by Winona Ryder – to the horror of the US and that of his other cousin, the preacher Jimmy Swaggart, played by Alec Baldwin. But Lewis stays unrepentant and defiant to the end. A fascinating dramatisation of how sex, evangelical passion and rock’n’roll euphoria are all close cousins in the American family.
Some inspired casting made this biopic fiercely watchable – and it’s a movie that doesn’t quite conform to either of the genre’s two templates: underdog rise or tragic downfall. Dennis Quaid is the rock’n’roll wild man Jerry Lee Lewis, the insurgent 50s star who married his 13-year-old cousin, Myra, played by Winona Ryder – to the horror of the US and that of his other cousin, the preacher Jimmy Swaggart, played by Alec Baldwin. But Lewis stays unrepentant and defiant to the end. A fascinating dramatisation of how sex, evangelical passion and rock’n’roll euphoria are all close cousins in the American family.
- 1/14/2021
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
New Order will release a comprehensive box set of their second album, Power, Corruption and Lies — which broke them into the U.K. Top 10 — this fall.
In addition to a remastered version of the album, the group has dug deep into its vaults to provide a holistic look at the making of the album. The set includes an LP, two CDs, two DVDs and a book and will drop on October 2nd.
The band also included previously unreleased writing sessions, Peel sessions and instrumentals, in addition to many of the...
In addition to a remastered version of the album, the group has dug deep into its vaults to provide a holistic look at the making of the album. The set includes an LP, two CDs, two DVDs and a book and will drop on October 2nd.
The band also included previously unreleased writing sessions, Peel sessions and instrumentals, in addition to many of the...
- 8/5/2020
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
Banish the dull images of test tubes and musty lecture halls when considering Radioactive (available on Amazon Prime starting July 24th). The biopic traces the career trajectory of Madame Marie Curie (a magnificent Rosamund Pike), the Polish immigrant born Maria Salomea Skłodowska who became the first person — and the only woman — to win two Nobel prizes. She shared the first in 1903, for discovering radium and polonium (named after her native country), with her French husband and fellow physicist Pierre Curie (Sam Riley). And the historical drama would be a dutiful thing,...
- 7/23/2020
- by Peter Travers
- Rollingstone.com
I have a friend who loves to walk out of movies. He’ll give almost anything a try, but he knows his taste and can tell when he’s seen enough. It’s almost a matter of pride for him to cut bait at a certain point during the screening, once he has determined that the film is only going to disappoint him further.
That’s one approach, like the crowds who duck out of Broadway shows at intermission. Not me. I often describe myself as a “cinemasochist,” by which I mean that I’m game to suffer through nearly all movies, no matter how long, boring or bad they are out of some mixture of curiosity and duty — the exception being at film festivals, where I figure that committing to a dud means potentially depriving myself of the opportunity to find something better screening in another theater.
As a film critic,...
That’s one approach, like the crowds who duck out of Broadway shows at intermission. Not me. I often describe myself as a “cinemasochist,” by which I mean that I’m game to suffer through nearly all movies, no matter how long, boring or bad they are out of some mixture of curiosity and duty — the exception being at film festivals, where I figure that committing to a dud means potentially depriving myself of the opportunity to find something better screening in another theater.
As a film critic,...
- 7/17/2020
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Peter Hook had planned to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Joy Division’s Closer — an LP that, due to the death of singer Ian Curtis two months before its release, the band never performed live — with a series of full-album performances this summer. Then coronavirus hit, postponing the shows until January (and perhaps indefinitely). “Closer — because of what happened — has always felt a little detached. I never played those songs [live] as Joy Division. And it actually felt after a couple of years like the LP was by somebody else,” Hook...
- 7/17/2020
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Every generation has that moment right before they’re forced to grow up and everything goes to shit — before society herds them into the adult lives they never wanted, but had to accept in lieu of a better stable. For the former ravers and ruffians of mid-’90s Scotland, whose already fading dreams were squelched out completely by a government decree that criminalized public music characterized “by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats,” that last gasp of disobedience has now been re-crystallized in all its raging glory.
, Brian Welsh’s “Beats” is a burn-it-all-down bildungsroman about a country in transition and the kids who’ll be left behind; an ecstasy-fueled barnstormer that somehow manages to thread the needle between “Trainspotting” and “Superbad” (with a little “Footloose” sprinkled in there for good measure). And while even the movie’s best moments are derivative enough to deserve that kind of mix-and-match categorization,...
, Brian Welsh’s “Beats” is a burn-it-all-down bildungsroman about a country in transition and the kids who’ll be left behind; an ecstasy-fueled barnstormer that somehow manages to thread the needle between “Trainspotting” and “Superbad” (with a little “Footloose” sprinkled in there for good measure). And while even the movie’s best moments are derivative enough to deserve that kind of mix-and-match categorization,...
- 6/26/2020
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Every generation has that moment right before they’re forced to grow up and everything goes to shit — before society herds them into the adult lives they never wanted, but had to accept in lieu of a better stable. For the former ravers and ruffians of mid-’90s Scotland, whose already fading dreams were squelched out completely by a government decree that criminalized public music characterized “by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats,” that last gasp of disobedience has now been re-crystallized in all its raging glory.
, Brian Welsh’s “Beats” is a burn-it-all-down bildungsroman about a country in transition and the kids who’ll be left behind; an ecstasy-fueled barnstormer that somehow manages to thread the needle between “Trainspotting” and “Superbad” (with a little “Footloose” sprinkled in there for good measure). And while even the movie’s best moments are derivative enough to deserve that kind of mix-and-match categorization,...
, Brian Welsh’s “Beats” is a burn-it-all-down bildungsroman about a country in transition and the kids who’ll be left behind; an ecstasy-fueled barnstormer that somehow manages to thread the needle between “Trainspotting” and “Superbad” (with a little “Footloose” sprinkled in there for good measure). And while even the movie’s best moments are derivative enough to deserve that kind of mix-and-match categorization,...
- 6/26/2020
- by David Ehrlich
- Thompson on Hollywood
Ten years have passed since Jorge Garcia wrapped his breakthrough role as the scene-stealing goofball on ABC’s “Lost,” and the world hasn’t seen much of him since then. The same can be said for Memo Garrido, the soft-spoken recluse portrayed by Garcia in what amounts to his first lead role with the Chilean drama “Nobody Knows I’m Here,” which makes up for missed time. Gaspar Antillo’s directorial debut is a curious and intriguing mixed bag that meshes “A Star Is Born” with “Searching for Sugarman” to craft the sullen backwoods story of a talented singer hiding from the world that rejected his talent long ago. Despite a bumpy screenplay and some odd tonal choices, .
Despite the mysterious aura, “Nobody Knows I’m Here” wastes little time establishing Memo’s backstory: Grainy video recounts the melodic voice of his childhood, and how his father struggled to make a buck...
Despite the mysterious aura, “Nobody Knows I’m Here” wastes little time establishing Memo’s backstory: Grainy video recounts the melodic voice of his childhood, and how his father struggled to make a buck...
- 6/24/2020
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Ten years have passed since Jorge Garcia wrapped his breakthrough role as the scene-stealing goofball on ABC’s “Lost,” and the world hasn’t seen much of him since then. The same can be said for Memo Garrido, the soft-spoken recluse portrayed by Garcia in what amounts to his first lead role with the Chilean drama “Nobody Knows I’m Here,” which makes up for missed time. Gaspar Antillo’s directorial debut is a curious and intriguing mixed bag that meshes “A Star Is Born” with “Searching for Sugarman” to craft the sullen backwoods story of a talented singer hiding from the world that rejected his talent long ago. Despite a bumpy screenplay and some odd tonal choices, .
Despite the mysterious aura, “Nobody Knows I’m Here” wastes little time establishing Memo’s backstory: Grainy video recounts the melodic voice of his childhood, and how his father struggled to make a buck...
Despite the mysterious aura, “Nobody Knows I’m Here” wastes little time establishing Memo’s backstory: Grainy video recounts the melodic voice of his childhood, and how his father struggled to make a buck...
- 6/24/2020
- by Eric Kohn
- Thompson on Hollywood
He made his name playing Ian Curtis then found himself in Disney films with Angelina Jolie, but has his current turn as Marie Curie’s husband really taught him how to make a bomb?
Science wasn’t Sam Riley’s thing at school. Instead, he stared out of the window dreaming of becoming an actor or a rock star. But for his latest role – as Pierre Curie alongside Rosamund Pike’s Marie in the biopic Radioactive – Riley read some textbooks. And during the shoot, a professor taught them how to use the Curies’ 19th-century lab equipment so they looked authentic.
So could he make a bomb? “Probably, if I looked online,” he says.
Science wasn’t Sam Riley’s thing at school. Instead, he stared out of the window dreaming of becoming an actor or a rock star. But for his latest role – as Pierre Curie alongside Rosamund Pike’s Marie in the biopic Radioactive – Riley read some textbooks. And during the shoot, a professor taught them how to use the Curies’ 19th-century lab equipment so they looked authentic.
So could he make a bomb? “Probably, if I looked online,” he says.
- 6/18/2020
- by Sam Wollaston
- The Guardian - Film News
After attending a Sex Pistols concert in July 1976, Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook felt they were ready to form a band despite not being accomplished as skilled instrument players. They, therefore, posted in a local records store a “singer wanted” post that resulted in Ian Curtis being picked as the lyricist. The group called itself “Joy Division,” and after only four years of thrilling performances, Ian Curtis committed suicide by hanging himself in his kitchen. The band later rebranded itself as “New Order.” Still, with the recent anniversary of Ian’s death that occurred on May 18, 1980, we are
Casting A Movie Biopic about Joy Division...
Casting A Movie Biopic about Joy Division...
- 5/21/2020
- by Jennifer Borama
- TVovermind.com
To mark the 40th anniversary of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis’ death, Mark Lanegan teamed up with Cold Cave for an icy rendition of “Isolation,” a track off of Joy Division’s final album, 1980’s Closer.
Lanegan joined Cold Cave in a room for a live performance, singing side by side and trading vocals with the dark-wave band’s frontman, Wes Eisold. Lanegan nods along to the beat, looking as though he’s absorbing the vibe, as the group plays the tune’s skittery rhythms and chilly synth lines.
The...
Lanegan joined Cold Cave in a room for a live performance, singing side by side and trading vocals with the dark-wave band’s frontman, Wes Eisold. Lanegan nods along to the beat, looking as though he’s absorbing the vibe, as the group plays the tune’s skittery rhythms and chilly synth lines.
The...
- 5/19/2020
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
New Order’s Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris will reminisce about their Joy Division singer Ian Curtis during a livestream event taking place Monday, May 18th — the 40th anniversary of Curtis’ death.
Moving Through the Silence: Celebrating the Life & Legacy of Ian Curtis will also feature an appearance by the Killers’ Brandon Flowers, who will speak about Curtis’ influence on his music, as well as performances by artists like Elbow and Kodaline. Additionally, performers will be revealed Friday.
The interviews with Sumner and Morris highlights the “two hours of live and exclusive conversation,...
Moving Through the Silence: Celebrating the Life & Legacy of Ian Curtis will also feature an appearance by the Killers’ Brandon Flowers, who will speak about Curtis’ influence on his music, as well as performances by artists like Elbow and Kodaline. Additionally, performers will be revealed Friday.
The interviews with Sumner and Morris highlights the “two hours of live and exclusive conversation,...
- 5/13/2020
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
BAFTA has announced the winners of this year’s British Academy Children’s Awards. There were three first-time winners at the ceremony in London, including Emily Burnett who won the BAFTA for Performer for her role in The Dumping Ground; Lindsey Russell for Presenter for Blue Peter; and Bella Ramsay for her performance in The Worst Witch in the Young Performer category.
Dirk Campbell, also for The Worst Witch, won in the Director category. The coming-of-age film Leaving Care, following two care leavers as they navigate a series of firsts without the help of a family, won two BAFTAs: Content For Change and Teen.
CBeebies won Channel, the seventh time since the category was introduced in 2006.
Horrible Histories won Comedy, the sixth time it has won in this category. The Drama award was won by Creeped Out.
The show that pitches the nation’s pets against each other – Play...
Dirk Campbell, also for The Worst Witch, won in the Director category. The coming-of-age film Leaving Care, following two care leavers as they navigate a series of firsts without the help of a family, won two BAFTAs: Content For Change and Teen.
CBeebies won Channel, the seventh time since the category was introduced in 2006.
Horrible Histories won Comedy, the sixth time it has won in this category. The Drama award was won by Creeped Out.
The show that pitches the nation’s pets against each other – Play...
- 12/1/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Jack O’Connell is in advanced negotiations to play Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder in Agc Studios’ “Twisting My Melon.” The project, which Agc will fully finance and co-produce, was announced at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.
In addition to O’Connell, Jason Isaacs is in talks to play Derek Ryder, Shaun’s father. Holliday Grainger (“Cinderella”) will likely play Shaun’s girlfriend and Maxine Peake (“The Theory of Everything”) will portray his much-put-upon mother. The Happy Mondays were giants of the independent music scene in the U.K., combining elements of funk and psychedelia with hits such as “Hallelujah” and “Mad Cyril.”
The project was originated and developed by Matt Greenhalgh and his production company Maine Road Films. He co-wrote the screenplay with Andrew Knott and William Ash and will direct and produce the film. Greenhalgh has dramatized the rock world before, writing screenplays for the John Lennon...
In addition to O’Connell, Jason Isaacs is in talks to play Derek Ryder, Shaun’s father. Holliday Grainger (“Cinderella”) will likely play Shaun’s girlfriend and Maxine Peake (“The Theory of Everything”) will portray his much-put-upon mother. The Happy Mondays were giants of the independent music scene in the U.K., combining elements of funk and psychedelia with hits such as “Hallelujah” and “Mad Cyril.”
The project was originated and developed by Matt Greenhalgh and his production company Maine Road Films. He co-wrote the screenplay with Andrew Knott and William Ash and will direct and produce the film. Greenhalgh has dramatized the rock world before, writing screenplays for the John Lennon...
- 9/6/2019
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
In the early 2000s, the Manchester music scene — and its most scene-connected label, Factory Records — became the basis of one of pop’s most unexpectedly beguiling feature films, 24 Hour Party People. This summer, Creation Stories, a quasi-companion piece to that movie, plans to start shooting in London.
The film focuses on the life and musical discoveries of Alan McGee, the Scottish head of Creation Records — the U.K. indie label that, throughout the Eighties and Nineties, rolled out Oasis, the Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Teenage Fanclub...
The film focuses on the life and musical discoveries of Alan McGee, the Scottish head of Creation Records — the U.K. indie label that, throughout the Eighties and Nineties, rolled out Oasis, the Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Teenage Fanclub...
- 5/2/2019
- by David Browne
- Rollingstone.com
The Joy Division story has been told many times, yet it never stops seeming too bizarre to be true. Jon Savage, best known for his classic punk history, England’s Dreaming, was one of the band’s first chroniclers in the 1970s, but he tells the tale in a new way in his excellent new book This Searing Light, The Sun and Everything Else. It’s the ultimate oral history of one of rock’s most haunting legends, in the words of the band, their friends, enemies and witnesses. Savage...
- 4/21/2019
- by Rolling Stone
- Rollingstone.com
Madrid — Freddie Highmore, star of ABC’s “The Good Doctor,” the top exported U.S. scripted series last year, has been joined on bank heist thriller “Way Down” by Liam Cunningham, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey and Sam Riley.
Cunningham plays Sir Davos Seaworth in “Game of Thrones”; Astrid Bergès-Frisbey embodied mermaid Syrena in “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.”; Riley portrayed Ian Curtis in “Control,” and Diaval in Disney‘s “Maleficent,” alongside Angelina Jolie.
Directed by Jaume Balagueró, the ambitious English-language heist thriller partners two of Europe’s biggest media corporations, Spain’s Mediaset España and France’s TF1 Group. Ghislain Barrois and Álvaro Augustín, at Telecinco Cinema, Mediaset España’s film arm, are producing with El Tesoro de Drake Aie, Ciudadano Ciskul (Francisco Sánchez) and Think Studio (Eneko Lizarraga), in collaboration with Mediaset España and TF1 Group.
Highmore himself will take a producer credit. “Way Down” will be sold at...
Cunningham plays Sir Davos Seaworth in “Game of Thrones”; Astrid Bergès-Frisbey embodied mermaid Syrena in “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.”; Riley portrayed Ian Curtis in “Control,” and Diaval in Disney‘s “Maleficent,” alongside Angelina Jolie.
Directed by Jaume Balagueró, the ambitious English-language heist thriller partners two of Europe’s biggest media corporations, Spain’s Mediaset España and France’s TF1 Group. Ghislain Barrois and Álvaro Augustín, at Telecinco Cinema, Mediaset España’s film arm, are producing with El Tesoro de Drake Aie, Ciudadano Ciskul (Francisco Sánchez) and Think Studio (Eneko Lizarraga), in collaboration with Mediaset España and TF1 Group.
Highmore himself will take a producer credit. “Way Down” will be sold at...
- 4/15/2019
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Joy Division formed in the summer of 1976 after bassist Peter Hook and guitarist Bernard Sumner felt the spark to start a band after seeing the Sex Pistols. They put out two full-lengths of icy, bass-driven post-punk before the band ended in 1980 after frontman Ian Curtis died by suicide. The rest of the band members moved forward under the name New Order.
Now Hook, who has had an acrimonious relationship with his sometime bandmates since his departure from New Order in 2007, is auctioning off many of the things he’s held...
Now Hook, who has had an acrimonious relationship with his sometime bandmates since his departure from New Order in 2007, is auctioning off many of the things he’s held...
- 12/26/2018
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
Sean Harris first grabbed me when he gave life to the tragic figure that was Joy Division's Ian Curtis in 24 Hour Party People, and then a little later in Billy O'Brien's Isolation and then I luxuriated in his cunning role in the small-screen series The Borgias. He has always struck me as an actor who gives himself over the the characters he portrays, bringing instant menace when that's required, as in the two latest Mission: Impossible blockbusters. Though I haven't seen Possum yet, he quickly conveys his character's very, er, distinctive traits in our exclusive clip. The directorial debut of Matthew Holness, who also wrote the original screenplay, Possum tells the tale of "a disgraced children's puppeteer [who] must confront his sinister stepfather and...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 11/1/2018
- Screen Anarchy
Revered for a glittering career working with the most notable names in music and, latterly, in the world of the film, 62-year old Anton Corbijn sits before us rather in a rather reflective mood on a wet afternoon in the heart of the ancient Italian city of Lucca.
Appearing at the Lucca Film Festival for a career retrospective, he took some time out to talk to HeyUGuys’ Greg Wetherall about Kurt Cobain and the Nirvana collaboration he turned down, why he wouldn’t go into photography if he were starting out today and his own favourite album artwork.
Right now, he’s musing on what has happened to his beloved photography in the modern world. “I wouldn’t become a photographer now”, he sighs. “To find your voice is so hard. Now, when I come up with something, people look at it, because they know me, but if you don’t have that position,...
Appearing at the Lucca Film Festival for a career retrospective, he took some time out to talk to HeyUGuys’ Greg Wetherall about Kurt Cobain and the Nirvana collaboration he turned down, why he wouldn’t go into photography if he were starting out today and his own favourite album artwork.
Right now, he’s musing on what has happened to his beloved photography in the modern world. “I wouldn’t become a photographer now”, he sighs. “To find your voice is so hard. Now, when I come up with something, people look at it, because they know me, but if you don’t have that position,...
- 5/16/2018
- by Greg Wetherall
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Chuck Berry’s Chuck, his first album in 38 years, will come out this year. It’s hard to say whether Berry recorded it — with his longtime backing band — knowing that his remaining time was limited, but he did include a dedication to his wife Themetta in the album’s release statement: “My darlin’, I’m growing old! I’ve worked on this record for a long time. Now I can hang up my shoes!”
However the record turns out, it will be impossible to listen to it without Berry’s death coloring how we enjoy the music. Given that the...
However the record turns out, it will be impossible to listen to it without Berry’s death coloring how we enjoy the music. Given that the...
- 3/21/2017
- by Alex Heigl
- PEOPLE.com
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They’ve made some of the best thrillers of the past six years. We list some of the best modern thriller directors currently working...
Director Guillermo del Toro once described suspense as being about the withholding of information: either a character knows something the audience doesn’t know, or the audience knows something the character doesn’t. That’s a deliciously simple way of describing something that some filmmakers often find difficult to achieve: keeping viewers on the edges of their seats.
The best thrillers leave us scanning the screen with anticipation. They invite us to guess what happens next, but then delight in thwarting expectations. We can all name the great thriller filmmakers of the past - Alfred Hitchcock, Carol Reed, Brian De Palma - but what about the current crop of directors? Here’s our pick of the filmmakers who’ve made some great modern thrillers over the past six years - that is, between the year 2010 and the present.
Jeremy Saulnier - Blue Ruin, Green Room
To think there was once a time when Jeremy Saulnier was seriously quitting the film business.
“To be honest," Saulner told us back in 2014, “Macon and I had really given up on our quest to break into the industry and become legitimate filmmakers. So what we were trying to do with Blue Ruin was archive our 20 year arc and bring it to a close. Really just revisit our stomping grounds and use locations that were near and dear to us and build a narrative out of that.”
Maybe this personal touch explains at least partly why Blue Ruin wound up getting so much attention in Cannes in 2013, signalling not the end of Saulnier and his star Macon Blair’s career, but a brand new chapter. But then again, there’s more than just hand-crafted intimacy in Saulnier’s revenge tale; there’s also its lean, minimal storytelling and the brilliance of its characterisation. Blue Ruin is such an effective thriller because its protagonist is so atypical: sad-eyed, inexperienced with guns, somewhat soft around the edges, Macon Blair’s central character is far from your typical righteous avenger.
Green Room, which emerged in the UK this year, explores a similar clash between very ordinary people and extraordinary violence. A young punk band shout about anarchy and aggression on stage, but they quickly find themselves out of their depth when they’re cornered by a group of bloodthirsty neo-Nazis. In Saulnier’s films, grubby, unseemly locations are matched by often beautiful locked-off shots. Familiar thriller trappings are contrasted by twists of fortune that are often shocking.
Denis Villeneuve - Sicario, Prisoners
Here’s one of those directors who can pack an overwhelming sense of dread in a single image: in Sicario, his searing drug-war thriller from last year, it was the sight of tiny specks of dust falling in the light scything through a window. That single shot proved to be the calm before the storm, as Villeneuve unleashed a salvo of blood-curdling events: an attempted FBI raid on a building gone horribly awry. And this, I think, is the brilliance of Villeneuve’s direction, and why he’s so good at directing thrillers like Sicario or 2013’s superb Prisoners - he understands the rhythm of storytelling, and how scenes of quiet can generate almost unbearable tension.
Another case in point: the highway sequence in Sicario, where Emily Blunt’s FBI agent is stuck in a traffic jam outside one of the most violent cities in the world. Villeneueve makes us feel the stifling heat and the claustrophobia; something nasty’s going to happen, we know that - but it’s the sense of anticipation which makes for such an unforgettable scene.
Prisoners hews closely to the template of a modern mystery thriller, but it’s once again enriched by Villeneuve’s expert pacing and the performances he gets out of his actors. Hugh Jackman’s seldom been better as a father on the hunt for his missing child, while Jake Gyllenhaal mesmerises as a cop scarred by his own private traumas.
Lynne Ramsay - We Need To Talk About Kevin
Ramsay’s We Need To Talk About Kevin may be the most effective psychological thriller of recent years. About the difficult relationship between a mother (Tilda Swinton) and her distant, possibly sociopathic son (Ezra Miller), Ramsay’s film is masterfully told from beginning to end - which is impressive, given that the source novel by Lionel Shriver is told via a series of letters. Ramsay takes the raw material from the book and crafts something cinematic and highly disturbing: a study of guilt, sorrow and recrimination. Tension bubbles even in casual conversations around the dinner table. Miller is an eerie, cold-eyed blank. Swinton is peerless. One scene, in which Swinton’s mother comes home in the dead of night, is unforgettable. Here’s hoping Ramsay returns with another feature film very soon.
Morten Tyldum - Headhunters
All kinds of thrillers have emerged from Scandinavia over the past few years, whether on the large or small screen or in book form. Morten Tyldum’s Headhunters is among the very best of them. The fast-paced and deliriously funny story of an art thief who steals a painting from the wrong guy, Headhunters launched Tyldum on an international stage - Alan Turing drama The Imitation Game followed, and the Sony sci-fi film Passengers is up next. It isn’t hard to see why, either: Headhunters shows off Tyldum’s mastery of pace and tone, as his pulp tale hurtles from intense chase scenes to laugh-out-loud black comedy.
Joel Edgerton - The Gift
Granted, Joel Edgerton’s better known as an actor, having turned in some superb performances in the likes of Warrior, Zero Dark Thirty and Warror. But with a single film - The Gift, which he wrote, directed, produced and starred in - Edgerton established himself as a thriller filmmaker of real promise. About a successful, happily married couple whose lives are greatly affected by an old face from the husband’s past, The Gift is an engrossing, unsettling movie with superb performances from Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall as well as Edgerton.
A riff on the ‘killer in our midst’ thrillers of the 80s and 90s - The Stepfather, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle and so on - The Gift is all the more effective because of its restraint. We’re never quite sure who the villain of the piece is, at least at first - and Edgerton’s use of the camera leaves us wrong-footed at every turn. The world arguably needs more thrillers from Joel Edgerton.
If you haven’t seen The Gift yet, we’d urge you to track it down.
David Michod - Animal Kingdom
The criminals at play in this true-life crime thriller are all the more chilling because they’re so mundane - a bunch of low-level thieves, murderers and gangsters who prowl around the rougher parts of Melbourne, Australia. Writer-director David Michod spent years developing Animal Kingdom, and it was worth the effort: it’s an intense, engrossing film, for sure, but it’s also a believable glimpse of the worst of human nature. Ben Mendelsohn and Jacki Weaver play villains of different kinds; the latter a manipulative grandmother who looks over her brood of criminals, the former a spiteful thief. Crafting moments of incredible tension from simple exchanges, Michod launched himself as a formidable talent with this feature debut.
Ben Affleck - The Town, Argo
Affleck’s period drama-thriller Argo won all kinds of awards, but we’d argue his earlier thrillers were equally well made. Gone Baby Gone was a confident debut and an economical adaptation of Dennis LeHane’s novel. The Town, released in 2010, was a heist thriller that made the most of its Boston setting. One of its key scenes - a bank robbery in which the thieves wear a range of bizarre outfits, including a nun’s habit - is masterfully staged. With Affleck capable of teasing out great performances from his actors and staging effective set-pieces, it’s hardly surprising he’s so heavily involved in making at least one Batman movie for Warner - as well as playing the hero behind the mask.
Anton Corbijn - The American, A Most Wanted Man
The quiet, almost meditative tone of Anton Corbijn’s movies mean they aren’t necessarily to everyone’s taste, but they’re visually arresting and almost seductive in their rhythm and attention to detail. Already a celebrated photographer, Corbijn successfully crossed over into filmmaking with Control, an exquisitely-made drama about Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis. Corbijn took a markedly different direction with The American, a thriller about an ageing contract killer (George Clooney) who hides out in a small Italian town west of Rome. Inevitably, trouble eventually comes calling.
Corbijn’s direction remains gripping because he doesn’t give us huge action scenes to puncture the tension. We can sense the capacity for violence coiled up beneath the hitman’s calm exterior, and Corbijn makes sure we only see rare flashes of that toughness - right up until the superbly-staged climax.
A Most Wanted Man, based on the novel by John le Carre, is a similarly astute study of an isolated yet fascinating character - in this instance, the world-weary German intelligence agent Gunther Bachmann, brilliantly played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Tragically, the film proved to be one of the last before Hoffman’s death in 2014.
Paul Greengrass - Green Zone, Captain Phillips
Mention Greengrass’ name, and the director’s frequent use of handheld cameras might immediately spring to mind. But time and again, Greengrass has proved a master of his own personal approach - you only have to look at the muddled, migraine-inducing films of his imitators to see how good a director Greengrass is. Part of the filmmakers’ visual language rather than a gimmick, Greengrass’ camera placement puts the viewer in the middle of the story, whether it’s an amnesiac agent on the run (his Bourne films) or on a hijacked aircraft (the harrowing United 93). While not a huge hit, Green Zone was an intense and intelligent thriller set in occupied Iraq. The acclaimed Captain Phillips, meanwhile, was a perfect showcase for Greengrass’ ability to fuse realism and suspense; the true story of a merchant vessel hijacked by Somali pirates, it is, to quote Greengrass himself, “a contemporary crime story.”
John Hillcoat - Lawless, Triple 9
We can’t help thinking that, with a better marketing push behind it, Triple 9 could have been a much bigger hit when it appeared in cinemas earlier this year. It has a great cast - Chiwetel Ejiofor, Norman Reedus, Anthony Mackie and Aaron Paul as a group of seasoned thieves, Kate Winslet cast against type as a gangland boss - and its heist plot rattles along like an express train.
Hillcoat seems to have the western genre pulsing through his veins, and he excels at creating worlds that are desolate and all-enveloping, whether his subjects are period pieces (The Proposition, Lawless) or post-apocalyptic dramas (The Road). Triple 9 sees Hillcoat make an urban western that is both classic noir and entirely contemporary; his use of real cops and residents around the film’s Atlanta location give his heightened story a grounding that is believable in the moment. Nowhere is this more in evidence than in the scene in which Casey Affleck’s cop breaches a building while hunkered down behind a bullet-proof shield. Hillcoat places us right there in the scene with Affleck and the cops sneaking into the building behind him; we sense the claustrophobia and vulnerability.
Hillcoat explained to us in February that this sequence wasn’t initially written this way in the original script; it changed when the director and his team discovered how real-world cops protect themselves in real-world situations. In Triple 9, research and great filmmaking combine to make an unforgettably intense thriller.
Jim Mickel - Cold In July
Seemingly inspired by such neo-Noir thrillers as Red Rock West and Blood Simple, 2014‘s Cold In July is a genre gem from director Jim Mickle (Stake Land, We Are What We Are). Michael C Hall plays an ordinary guy in 80s America who shoots an intruder who breaks into his home, and becomes drawn into a moody conspiracy that takes in crooked cops, porn and a private eye (who's also keen pig-rearer) played by Don Johnson. Constantly shifting between tones, Mickel’s thriller refuses to stick to genre expectations. In one scene, after Hall shoots the burglar dead, Mickel’s camera lingers over the protagonist as he cleans up the blood and glass. It’s touches like these that make Cold In July far more than a typical thriller.
Mickel’s teaming up with Sylvester Stallone next; we’re intrigued to see what that partnership produces.
Martin Scorsese - Shutter Island
As a filmmaker, Scorsese needs no introduction. As a director of thrillers, he’s in a class of his own: from Taxi Driver via the febrile remake of Cape Fear to the sorely underrated Bringing Out The Dead, his films are full of suspense and the threat of violence. Shutter Island, based on the Dennis LeHane novel of the same name, saw Scorsese plunge eagerly into neo-noir territory. A murder mystery set in a mental institution on the titular Shutter Island, its atmosphere is thick with menace. Like a combination of Robin Hardy's The Wicker Man and Adrian Lyne’s cult classic Jacob’s Ladder, Shutter Island’s one of those stories where we never know who we can trust - even the protagonist, played by Leonardo DiCaprio.
David Fincher - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl
After the trial by fire that was Alien 3, David Fincher found his footing in the 90s with such hits as Seven and The Game. In an era where thrillers were in much greater abundance, from the middling to the very good, Seven in particular stood out as a genre classic: smartly written, disturbing, repulsive and yet captivating to look at all at once. Fincher’s affinity for weaving atmospheric thrillers continued into the 2010s, first with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, a superb retelling of Stieg Larsson’s book which didn’t quite find the appreciative audience deserved, and Gone Girl, an even better movie which - thankfully - became a hit.
Based on Gillian Flynn’s novel (and adapted by the author herself), Gone Girl is both a gripping thriller and a thoroughly twisted relationship drama. Fincher’s mastery of the genre is all here: his millimetre-perfect composition, seamless touches of CGI and subtle yet effective uses of colour and shadow. While not a straight-up masterpiece like the period thriller Zodiac, Gone Girl is still a glossy, smart and blackly funny yarn in the Hitchcock tradition. If there’s one master of the modern thriller currently working, it has to be Fincher.
See related John Hillcoat interview: Triple 9, crime, fear of comic geniuses Jim Mickle interview: Cold In July, thrillers, Argento Jeremy Saulnier interview: Green Room, John Carpenter Jeremy Saulnier interview: making Blue Ruin & good thrillers Denis Villeneuve interview: Sicario, Kurosawa, sci-fi, ugly poetry Morten Tyldum interview: The Imitation Game, Cumberbatch, Headhunters Paul Greengrass interview: Captain Phillips & crime stories Movies Feature Ryan Lambie thrillers 15 Jun 2016 - 06:11 Cold In July Triple 9 Shutter Island Gone Girl David Fincher Martin Scorsese John Hillcoat Directors thrillers movies...
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They’ve made some of the best thrillers of the past six years. We list some of the best modern thriller directors currently working...
Director Guillermo del Toro once described suspense as being about the withholding of information: either a character knows something the audience doesn’t know, or the audience knows something the character doesn’t. That’s a deliciously simple way of describing something that some filmmakers often find difficult to achieve: keeping viewers on the edges of their seats.
The best thrillers leave us scanning the screen with anticipation. They invite us to guess what happens next, but then delight in thwarting expectations. We can all name the great thriller filmmakers of the past - Alfred Hitchcock, Carol Reed, Brian De Palma - but what about the current crop of directors? Here’s our pick of the filmmakers who’ve made some great modern thrillers over the past six years - that is, between the year 2010 and the present.
Jeremy Saulnier - Blue Ruin, Green Room
To think there was once a time when Jeremy Saulnier was seriously quitting the film business.
“To be honest," Saulner told us back in 2014, “Macon and I had really given up on our quest to break into the industry and become legitimate filmmakers. So what we were trying to do with Blue Ruin was archive our 20 year arc and bring it to a close. Really just revisit our stomping grounds and use locations that were near and dear to us and build a narrative out of that.”
Maybe this personal touch explains at least partly why Blue Ruin wound up getting so much attention in Cannes in 2013, signalling not the end of Saulnier and his star Macon Blair’s career, but a brand new chapter. But then again, there’s more than just hand-crafted intimacy in Saulnier’s revenge tale; there’s also its lean, minimal storytelling and the brilliance of its characterisation. Blue Ruin is such an effective thriller because its protagonist is so atypical: sad-eyed, inexperienced with guns, somewhat soft around the edges, Macon Blair’s central character is far from your typical righteous avenger.
Green Room, which emerged in the UK this year, explores a similar clash between very ordinary people and extraordinary violence. A young punk band shout about anarchy and aggression on stage, but they quickly find themselves out of their depth when they’re cornered by a group of bloodthirsty neo-Nazis. In Saulnier’s films, grubby, unseemly locations are matched by often beautiful locked-off shots. Familiar thriller trappings are contrasted by twists of fortune that are often shocking.
Denis Villeneuve - Sicario, Prisoners
Here’s one of those directors who can pack an overwhelming sense of dread in a single image: in Sicario, his searing drug-war thriller from last year, it was the sight of tiny specks of dust falling in the light scything through a window. That single shot proved to be the calm before the storm, as Villeneuve unleashed a salvo of blood-curdling events: an attempted FBI raid on a building gone horribly awry. And this, I think, is the brilliance of Villeneuve’s direction, and why he’s so good at directing thrillers like Sicario or 2013’s superb Prisoners - he understands the rhythm of storytelling, and how scenes of quiet can generate almost unbearable tension.
Another case in point: the highway sequence in Sicario, where Emily Blunt’s FBI agent is stuck in a traffic jam outside one of the most violent cities in the world. Villeneueve makes us feel the stifling heat and the claustrophobia; something nasty’s going to happen, we know that - but it’s the sense of anticipation which makes for such an unforgettable scene.
Prisoners hews closely to the template of a modern mystery thriller, but it’s once again enriched by Villeneuve’s expert pacing and the performances he gets out of his actors. Hugh Jackman’s seldom been better as a father on the hunt for his missing child, while Jake Gyllenhaal mesmerises as a cop scarred by his own private traumas.
Lynne Ramsay - We Need To Talk About Kevin
Ramsay’s We Need To Talk About Kevin may be the most effective psychological thriller of recent years. About the difficult relationship between a mother (Tilda Swinton) and her distant, possibly sociopathic son (Ezra Miller), Ramsay’s film is masterfully told from beginning to end - which is impressive, given that the source novel by Lionel Shriver is told via a series of letters. Ramsay takes the raw material from the book and crafts something cinematic and highly disturbing: a study of guilt, sorrow and recrimination. Tension bubbles even in casual conversations around the dinner table. Miller is an eerie, cold-eyed blank. Swinton is peerless. One scene, in which Swinton’s mother comes home in the dead of night, is unforgettable. Here’s hoping Ramsay returns with another feature film very soon.
Morten Tyldum - Headhunters
All kinds of thrillers have emerged from Scandinavia over the past few years, whether on the large or small screen or in book form. Morten Tyldum’s Headhunters is among the very best of them. The fast-paced and deliriously funny story of an art thief who steals a painting from the wrong guy, Headhunters launched Tyldum on an international stage - Alan Turing drama The Imitation Game followed, and the Sony sci-fi film Passengers is up next. It isn’t hard to see why, either: Headhunters shows off Tyldum’s mastery of pace and tone, as his pulp tale hurtles from intense chase scenes to laugh-out-loud black comedy.
Joel Edgerton - The Gift
Granted, Joel Edgerton’s better known as an actor, having turned in some superb performances in the likes of Warrior, Zero Dark Thirty and Warror. But with a single film - The Gift, which he wrote, directed, produced and starred in - Edgerton established himself as a thriller filmmaker of real promise. About a successful, happily married couple whose lives are greatly affected by an old face from the husband’s past, The Gift is an engrossing, unsettling movie with superb performances from Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall as well as Edgerton.
A riff on the ‘killer in our midst’ thrillers of the 80s and 90s - The Stepfather, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle and so on - The Gift is all the more effective because of its restraint. We’re never quite sure who the villain of the piece is, at least at first - and Edgerton’s use of the camera leaves us wrong-footed at every turn. The world arguably needs more thrillers from Joel Edgerton.
If you haven’t seen The Gift yet, we’d urge you to track it down.
David Michod - Animal Kingdom
The criminals at play in this true-life crime thriller are all the more chilling because they’re so mundane - a bunch of low-level thieves, murderers and gangsters who prowl around the rougher parts of Melbourne, Australia. Writer-director David Michod spent years developing Animal Kingdom, and it was worth the effort: it’s an intense, engrossing film, for sure, but it’s also a believable glimpse of the worst of human nature. Ben Mendelsohn and Jacki Weaver play villains of different kinds; the latter a manipulative grandmother who looks over her brood of criminals, the former a spiteful thief. Crafting moments of incredible tension from simple exchanges, Michod launched himself as a formidable talent with this feature debut.
Ben Affleck - The Town, Argo
Affleck’s period drama-thriller Argo won all kinds of awards, but we’d argue his earlier thrillers were equally well made. Gone Baby Gone was a confident debut and an economical adaptation of Dennis LeHane’s novel. The Town, released in 2010, was a heist thriller that made the most of its Boston setting. One of its key scenes - a bank robbery in which the thieves wear a range of bizarre outfits, including a nun’s habit - is masterfully staged. With Affleck capable of teasing out great performances from his actors and staging effective set-pieces, it’s hardly surprising he’s so heavily involved in making at least one Batman movie for Warner - as well as playing the hero behind the mask.
Anton Corbijn - The American, A Most Wanted Man
The quiet, almost meditative tone of Anton Corbijn’s movies mean they aren’t necessarily to everyone’s taste, but they’re visually arresting and almost seductive in their rhythm and attention to detail. Already a celebrated photographer, Corbijn successfully crossed over into filmmaking with Control, an exquisitely-made drama about Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis. Corbijn took a markedly different direction with The American, a thriller about an ageing contract killer (George Clooney) who hides out in a small Italian town west of Rome. Inevitably, trouble eventually comes calling.
Corbijn’s direction remains gripping because he doesn’t give us huge action scenes to puncture the tension. We can sense the capacity for violence coiled up beneath the hitman’s calm exterior, and Corbijn makes sure we only see rare flashes of that toughness - right up until the superbly-staged climax.
A Most Wanted Man, based on the novel by John le Carre, is a similarly astute study of an isolated yet fascinating character - in this instance, the world-weary German intelligence agent Gunther Bachmann, brilliantly played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Tragically, the film proved to be one of the last before Hoffman’s death in 2014.
Paul Greengrass - Green Zone, Captain Phillips
Mention Greengrass’ name, and the director’s frequent use of handheld cameras might immediately spring to mind. But time and again, Greengrass has proved a master of his own personal approach - you only have to look at the muddled, migraine-inducing films of his imitators to see how good a director Greengrass is. Part of the filmmakers’ visual language rather than a gimmick, Greengrass’ camera placement puts the viewer in the middle of the story, whether it’s an amnesiac agent on the run (his Bourne films) or on a hijacked aircraft (the harrowing United 93). While not a huge hit, Green Zone was an intense and intelligent thriller set in occupied Iraq. The acclaimed Captain Phillips, meanwhile, was a perfect showcase for Greengrass’ ability to fuse realism and suspense; the true story of a merchant vessel hijacked by Somali pirates, it is, to quote Greengrass himself, “a contemporary crime story.”
John Hillcoat - Lawless, Triple 9
We can’t help thinking that, with a better marketing push behind it, Triple 9 could have been a much bigger hit when it appeared in cinemas earlier this year. It has a great cast - Chiwetel Ejiofor, Norman Reedus, Anthony Mackie and Aaron Paul as a group of seasoned thieves, Kate Winslet cast against type as a gangland boss - and its heist plot rattles along like an express train.
Hillcoat seems to have the western genre pulsing through his veins, and he excels at creating worlds that are desolate and all-enveloping, whether his subjects are period pieces (The Proposition, Lawless) or post-apocalyptic dramas (The Road). Triple 9 sees Hillcoat make an urban western that is both classic noir and entirely contemporary; his use of real cops and residents around the film’s Atlanta location give his heightened story a grounding that is believable in the moment. Nowhere is this more in evidence than in the scene in which Casey Affleck’s cop breaches a building while hunkered down behind a bullet-proof shield. Hillcoat places us right there in the scene with Affleck and the cops sneaking into the building behind him; we sense the claustrophobia and vulnerability.
Hillcoat explained to us in February that this sequence wasn’t initially written this way in the original script; it changed when the director and his team discovered how real-world cops protect themselves in real-world situations. In Triple 9, research and great filmmaking combine to make an unforgettably intense thriller.
Jim Mickel - Cold In July
Seemingly inspired by such neo-Noir thrillers as Red Rock West and Blood Simple, 2014‘s Cold In July is a genre gem from director Jim Mickle (Stake Land, We Are What We Are). Michael C Hall plays an ordinary guy in 80s America who shoots an intruder who breaks into his home, and becomes drawn into a moody conspiracy that takes in crooked cops, porn and a private eye (who's also keen pig-rearer) played by Don Johnson. Constantly shifting between tones, Mickel’s thriller refuses to stick to genre expectations. In one scene, after Hall shoots the burglar dead, Mickel’s camera lingers over the protagonist as he cleans up the blood and glass. It’s touches like these that make Cold In July far more than a typical thriller.
Mickel’s teaming up with Sylvester Stallone next; we’re intrigued to see what that partnership produces.
Martin Scorsese - Shutter Island
As a filmmaker, Scorsese needs no introduction. As a director of thrillers, he’s in a class of his own: from Taxi Driver via the febrile remake of Cape Fear to the sorely underrated Bringing Out The Dead, his films are full of suspense and the threat of violence. Shutter Island, based on the Dennis LeHane novel of the same name, saw Scorsese plunge eagerly into neo-noir territory. A murder mystery set in a mental institution on the titular Shutter Island, its atmosphere is thick with menace. Like a combination of Robin Hardy's The Wicker Man and Adrian Lyne’s cult classic Jacob’s Ladder, Shutter Island’s one of those stories where we never know who we can trust - even the protagonist, played by Leonardo DiCaprio.
David Fincher - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl
After the trial by fire that was Alien 3, David Fincher found his footing in the 90s with such hits as Seven and The Game. In an era where thrillers were in much greater abundance, from the middling to the very good, Seven in particular stood out as a genre classic: smartly written, disturbing, repulsive and yet captivating to look at all at once. Fincher’s affinity for weaving atmospheric thrillers continued into the 2010s, first with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, a superb retelling of Stieg Larsson’s book which didn’t quite find the appreciative audience deserved, and Gone Girl, an even better movie which - thankfully - became a hit.
Based on Gillian Flynn’s novel (and adapted by the author herself), Gone Girl is both a gripping thriller and a thoroughly twisted relationship drama. Fincher’s mastery of the genre is all here: his millimetre-perfect composition, seamless touches of CGI and subtle yet effective uses of colour and shadow. While not a straight-up masterpiece like the period thriller Zodiac, Gone Girl is still a glossy, smart and blackly funny yarn in the Hitchcock tradition. If there’s one master of the modern thriller currently working, it has to be Fincher.
See related John Hillcoat interview: Triple 9, crime, fear of comic geniuses Jim Mickle interview: Cold In July, thrillers, Argento Jeremy Saulnier interview: Green Room, John Carpenter Jeremy Saulnier interview: making Blue Ruin & good thrillers Denis Villeneuve interview: Sicario, Kurosawa, sci-fi, ugly poetry Morten Tyldum interview: The Imitation Game, Cumberbatch, Headhunters Paul Greengrass interview: Captain Phillips & crime stories Movies Feature Ryan Lambie thrillers 15 Jun 2016 - 06:11 Cold In July Triple 9 Shutter Island Gone Girl David Fincher Martin Scorsese John Hillcoat Directors thrillers movies...
- 6/14/2016
- Den of Geek
A troubling hush seems to follow Anton Corbijn’s fourth and least enthusiastically received Life, a snapshot on the short but intensely felt celebrity of actor James Dean revolving around a famed photo shoot for the titular magazine administered by Dennis Stock. Considering the film stars Dane DeHaan and Robert Pattinson in the lead roles, the lukewarm reception of the film seems surprising, beginning with a muted response at the premiere at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival, where it played as a Special Gala Screening. Based on the film’s marketing and demure DVD release, one would be surprised to note Us distributor Cinedigm collected a titch over one million in box office following a limited theatrical and VOD release in December of 2015.
Following his 2014 John Le Carre adaptation A Man Most Wanted, director Anton Corbijn delves into the life of another desired individual, cherished cinematic icon James Dean with Life.
Following his 2014 John Le Carre adaptation A Man Most Wanted, director Anton Corbijn delves into the life of another desired individual, cherished cinematic icon James Dean with Life.
- 3/8/2016
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Anton Corbijn is a bit of a late bloomer when it comes to filmmaking. The prolific photographer and music-video director had a whole career before he made his first film, “Control,” a biopic of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, at age 51. Since then, he’s turned in the excellent and stylish genre-hopping films “The American” and “A Most Wanted Man,” and his most recent picture, “Life,” with Robert Pattinson and Dane DeHaan. In Marrakech serving on the jury for the Marrakech International Film Festival, Corbijn just seemed happy to be there, humble and grateful for the experience. He mentioned that serving on juries was a bit of a film school for him, particularly with this year’s jury President, Francis Ford Coppola. There was also a shout-out to an “off the scale” experience serving on the jury for the Moscow Film Festival with Abel Ferrera, but unfortunately, he didn’t...
- 12/14/2015
- by Katie Walsh
- The Playlist
Or Something Like It: Corbijn Resurrects Dean Without a Cause
Following his 2014 John Le Carre adaptation A Man Most Wanted, director Anton Corbijn delves into the life of another desired individual, cherished cinematic icon James Dean with Life. Focusing on the behind-the-scenes relationship between Dean and photographer Dennis Stock during the creation of a belabored, but eventually fruitful 1955 photo shoot for the titular magazine, Luke Davies’ screenplay falls short of showcasing any kind of notable bond potentially worth documenting.
Two artists come together for what would eventually become a particularly notable moment for them both and Corbijn does a fine job of catching the significance of changing times. Dean exhibits the sort of Beat sensibility that had revived a new generation’s interest in literature the decade prior, and Corbijn catches him just at the cusp of the stardom that would possess the public’s attention. But neither persona manages...
Following his 2014 John Le Carre adaptation A Man Most Wanted, director Anton Corbijn delves into the life of another desired individual, cherished cinematic icon James Dean with Life. Focusing on the behind-the-scenes relationship between Dean and photographer Dennis Stock during the creation of a belabored, but eventually fruitful 1955 photo shoot for the titular magazine, Luke Davies’ screenplay falls short of showcasing any kind of notable bond potentially worth documenting.
Two artists come together for what would eventually become a particularly notable moment for them both and Corbijn does a fine job of catching the significance of changing times. Dean exhibits the sort of Beat sensibility that had revived a new generation’s interest in literature the decade prior, and Corbijn catches him just at the cusp of the stardom that would possess the public’s attention. But neither persona manages...
- 12/4/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
For a minute there, it appeared that photographer turned feature film director Anton Corbijn was going to retire. He’d made three terrific indie movies, the black and white Joy Division/Ian Curtis movie “Control,” the awesome Bergman-esque assassin thriller “The American” with George Clooney and the slow-burn war-on-terror thriller “A Most Wanted Man” with the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. He’d actually contemplated it for a minute, but apparently after his last feature with Hoffman, Corbijn has found himself more comfortable behind the camera and with more to say (he spoke more about rediscovering his mojo in our interview from last year). Read More: Review: Anton Corbijn's 'Life' Starring Robert Pattinson & Dane DeHaan That’s a boon for us, as his latest, “Life,” features the inspired pair of Robert Pattinson and Dane DeHaan as two real-life artists. In 1955, ambitious Hollywood photographer Dennis Stock (Pattinson) and the...
- 8/31/2015
- by Edward Davis
- The Playlist
Film Nation
It’s been almost 60-years since James Dean passed away at the tender age of 24, but his legend hasn’t diminished an iota. Still one of the most iconic stars of all time, his status has largely endured due to the sense of tragic mystery he cultivates.
Now film-maker Anton Corbijn and star Dane Dehaan will try to pry back a little of that mystique with Life.
Check out the new trailer for the movie below.
Life focuses on the relationship Dean had with photographer Dennis Stock at the inception point of the actor’s burgeoning fame. Robert Pattinson will depict Stock, with Ben Kingsley and Joel Edgerton rounding out the cast.
Aside from a few prior stills, this is the first proper look we’re getting at DeHaan as Dean. He seems appropriately broody and cleans up nicely to resemble the star, but the heart of the...
It’s been almost 60-years since James Dean passed away at the tender age of 24, but his legend hasn’t diminished an iota. Still one of the most iconic stars of all time, his status has largely endured due to the sense of tragic mystery he cultivates.
Now film-maker Anton Corbijn and star Dane Dehaan will try to pry back a little of that mystique with Life.
Check out the new trailer for the movie below.
Life focuses on the relationship Dean had with photographer Dennis Stock at the inception point of the actor’s burgeoning fame. Robert Pattinson will depict Stock, with Ben Kingsley and Joel Edgerton rounding out the cast.
Aside from a few prior stills, this is the first proper look we’re getting at DeHaan as Dean. He seems appropriately broody and cleans up nicely to resemble the star, but the heart of the...
- 8/12/2015
- by Daniel Kelly
- Obsessed with Film
Four feature films in and photographer-turned-director Anton Corbijn is carving out a very interesting career for himself, mixing the sensibilities of art-house pictures and smart, character-driven dramas that often come with a personal touch. So far, he’s made a movie about ‘70s post-punk band Joy Division and singer Ian Curtis (“Control”), a moody and atmospheric assassin drama (“The American”), a war-on-terror drama (“A Most Wanted Man”) and for his next picture, a biopic about James Dean and the Life magazine photographer that took some of the first, now-iconic, pictures that helped launch his superstardom (our review from the Berlin International Film Festival here). Read More: Watch: First Clip From Anton Corbijn’s ‘Life’ Starring Robert Pattinson & Dane DeHaan, Plus Full Berlin Press Conference Titled simply “Life,” Corbijn brings his well-observed understanding between the photographer and subject in a drama that stars Dane Dehaan as the reluctant star James...
- 8/12/2015
- by Edward Davis
- The Playlist
The British actor, who takes the screen in Woody Allen’s new film Irrational Man, loves football and Joy Division – enough that he has an Ian Curtis tattoo
Never mind the refined chin line or rakish mid-length brown locks through which Jamie Blackley runs his fingers as he slouches at a 45-degree angle on a banquette in the dimly lit bar of the Carlyle hotel on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. What’s harder to notice is underneath his thin, striped T-shirt: a fist-sized tattoo of the late Joy Division singer Ian Curtis leaning on a microphone.
That bit of ink can certainly tell us more about this 24-year-old newcomer, who has a supporting role in Woody Allen’s latest film, Irrational Man, than any of the reviews, which have largely ignored him.
Continue reading...
Never mind the refined chin line or rakish mid-length brown locks through which Jamie Blackley runs his fingers as he slouches at a 45-degree angle on a banquette in the dimly lit bar of the Carlyle hotel on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. What’s harder to notice is underneath his thin, striped T-shirt: a fist-sized tattoo of the late Joy Division singer Ian Curtis leaning on a microphone.
That bit of ink can certainly tell us more about this 24-year-old newcomer, who has a supporting role in Woody Allen’s latest film, Irrational Man, than any of the reviews, which have largely ignored him.
Continue reading...
- 7/22/2015
- by Tom Roston
- The Guardian - Film News
Discovering: New Order: Sky Arts, 6.30pm
Documentary following the rise of British rock band New Order after the collapse of Joy Division.
After the suicide of Joy Division's frontman Ian Curtis, the remaining members emerged as New Order. This brought about the release of 'Blue Mondays', which saw the new band placed firmly in the British rock scene.
Cordon: BBC Four, 9pm
Tonight we are treated to a double bill of the Flemish drama series.
Lex (Tom Dewispelaere) is called out to a security breach in the quarantine and ends up being quarantined himself. Meanwhile, Dr Cannaerts (Johan van Assche) smuggles an untested vaccine into Niida.
Transporter: The Series: Channel 5, 9pm
Frank Martin's latest job is far from straightforward when he comes across an old colleague.
Frank (Chris Vance) is hired to transport some illegal substances by Russian gangster Sergei Zarov, however Frank must keep...
Documentary following the rise of British rock band New Order after the collapse of Joy Division.
After the suicide of Joy Division's frontman Ian Curtis, the remaining members emerged as New Order. This brought about the release of 'Blue Mondays', which saw the new band placed firmly in the British rock scene.
Cordon: BBC Four, 9pm
Tonight we are treated to a double bill of the Flemish drama series.
Lex (Tom Dewispelaere) is called out to a security breach in the quarantine and ends up being quarantined himself. Meanwhile, Dr Cannaerts (Johan van Assche) smuggles an untested vaccine into Niida.
Transporter: The Series: Channel 5, 9pm
Frank Martin's latest job is far from straightforward when he comes across an old colleague.
Frank (Chris Vance) is hired to transport some illegal substances by Russian gangster Sergei Zarov, however Frank must keep...
- 7/18/2015
- Digital Spy
In the recent film Love and Mercy, a studio musician recording during the Pet Sounds sessions explains to Brian Wilson (Paul Dano) that he’s broken a fundamental rule of music, in that it sounds wrong if you have one person playing in one key and another instrument playing in another. “It sounds right in my head,” he replies.
Back in September, Scott Tobias wrote in The Dissolve something of a manifesto about biopics, “Five simple rules for making biopics about geniuses”: (1) Don’t try and tell a person’s entire life story, (2) show us, don’t just tell us why they’re a genius, (3) don’t tell a genius’s story just because he or she was a great person, (4) find a compelling visual style that matches their genius, (5) and “find the saint in the asshole, find the asshole in the saint.”
Music biopics however are a genre unto themselves,...
Back in September, Scott Tobias wrote in The Dissolve something of a manifesto about biopics, “Five simple rules for making biopics about geniuses”: (1) Don’t try and tell a person’s entire life story, (2) show us, don’t just tell us why they’re a genius, (3) don’t tell a genius’s story just because he or she was a great person, (4) find a compelling visual style that matches their genius, (5) and “find the saint in the asshole, find the asshole in the saint.”
Music biopics however are a genre unto themselves,...
- 6/17/2015
- by Brian Welk
- SoundOnSight
Kristen Stewart 'On the Road' dancing, with Garrett Hedlund on the right Down memory lane: Garrett Hedlund and Kristen Stewart 'On the Road' images At the time best known as The Twilight Saga's conflicted human Bella Swan, Kristen Stewart was cast as the exuberant Marylou in Walter Salles' film adaptation of Jack Kerouac's iconic 1950s novel On the Road. Salles had been impressed with Stewart's pre-Twilight work in Sean Penn's Into the Wild. Based on LuAnne Henderson, Kerouac's close buddy Neal Cassady's first wife, Marylou is described as a "beautiful little sharp chick." Apparently, one who also likes to move seductively to the sound of music – as can be attested by the Kristen Stewart picture above, which first came out online in early 2011. Besides Stewart, On the Road also features Garrett Hedlund – at the time best known for Tron: Legacy – as Dean Moriarty,...
- 5/9/2015
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
"Life" stars the always ace Dane DeHaan as James Dean opposite Robert Pattinson, in yet another dramatic turn, as Life magazine photographer Dennis Stock. A budding, and subtly homoerotic, friendship unfolds as the film chronicles the story behind Stock's 1955 photo spread, circa "East of Eden," that put emerging heartthrob Dean on the map—just seven months before his unexpected death at 24. Written by Aussie scribe Luke Davies--who co-adapted his novel "Candy" into the 2006 drug drama starring Heath Ledger--"Life" isn't music video turned filmmaker Corbijn's first tread in biopic territory. His 2007 "Control" plunged into the final days in the life of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis, starring Sam Riley. Corbijn knows how to direct attractive adonises onscreen. But is "Life" worth all the ballyhoo? Based on early Berlinale reviews, rounded up below, critics are tussling over this one. Variety: "More than a standard...
- 2/9/2015
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Thompson on Hollywood
Mike Cecchini Chris Cummins Nick Harley Jim Knipfel Vinny Murphy Tony Sokol Oct 26, 2019
Trick or treat...or rock n' roll? Why choose? If you need some of the best Halloween rock songs, we're your ghouls.
If you're looking for the "Monster Mash" you may look elsewhere. Halloween is handily the most rock n' roll friendly holiday, as the music that initially frightened parents and authority figures can always take particular inspiration from the vibes that are generally put forth on this most unholy of nights.
We've compiled 31 appropriate (or inappropriate) tunes for the holiday, focusing either specifically on horror movies, the supernatural, or that just have a spooky hook somewhere in there.
We've tried to arrange this like a double LP (four sides) of music for your listening pleasure. Crank 'em up, and make your own suggestions in the comments! You can also enjoy this as a Spotify playlist!
Burt Bacharach...
Trick or treat...or rock n' roll? Why choose? If you need some of the best Halloween rock songs, we're your ghouls.
If you're looking for the "Monster Mash" you may look elsewhere. Halloween is handily the most rock n' roll friendly holiday, as the music that initially frightened parents and authority figures can always take particular inspiration from the vibes that are generally put forth on this most unholy of nights.
We've compiled 31 appropriate (or inappropriate) tunes for the holiday, focusing either specifically on horror movies, the supernatural, or that just have a spooky hook somewhere in there.
We've tried to arrange this like a double LP (four sides) of music for your listening pleasure. Crank 'em up, and make your own suggestions in the comments! You can also enjoy this as a Spotify playlist!
Burt Bacharach...
- 10/31/2014
- Den of Geek
The long-awaited Jimi Hendrix biopic All By My Side opens in cinemas today (October 24).
Andre '3000' Benjamin plays the iconic musician in the movie, which depicts Jimi's humble beginnings to becoming possibly the world's greatest guitarist.
This has inspired us to compile our own list of the greatest portrayals of musicians in rock 'n' roll biopics, often going above and beyond mere physical transformation:
1. Andy Serkis as Ian Dury
Andy Serkis was BAFTA nominated for his critically-acclaimed role - played to perfection - as charismatic '70s punk rock singer and songwriter Ian Dury in Mat Whitecross's 2010 biopic Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll.
To portray Dury's physical condition - he contracted polio as a child - Serkis lost two stone and built up the muscle mass on the right-hand side of his body so the other side was weaker.
He added: "I had a body wax. It's the most...
Andre '3000' Benjamin plays the iconic musician in the movie, which depicts Jimi's humble beginnings to becoming possibly the world's greatest guitarist.
This has inspired us to compile our own list of the greatest portrayals of musicians in rock 'n' roll biopics, often going above and beyond mere physical transformation:
1. Andy Serkis as Ian Dury
Andy Serkis was BAFTA nominated for his critically-acclaimed role - played to perfection - as charismatic '70s punk rock singer and songwriter Ian Dury in Mat Whitecross's 2010 biopic Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll.
To portray Dury's physical condition - he contracted polio as a child - Serkis lost two stone and built up the muscle mass on the right-hand side of his body so the other side was weaker.
He added: "I had a body wax. It's the most...
- 10/24/2014
- Digital Spy
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