We’re still waiting for the role that will prove that Jon Hamm has a future after Mad Men. This middling hostage negotiation drama doesn’t insult our intelligence yet is still not that much more impressive than an average ‘let’s go to a war zone!’ episode of NCIS. Rosamund Pike plays an intrepid diplomat/agent who chooses to go rogue with Hamm’s character because (surprise) the system is so corrupt.
Beirut
Blu-ray + DVD + Digital
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment/Bleeker Street
2018 / Color / 2:40 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date July 3, 2018 / 34.98
Starring: Jon Hamm, Rosamund Pike, Mark Pellegrino, Dean Norris, Shea Whigham, Douglas Hodge, Leila Bekhti, Kate Fleetwood.
Cinematography: Björn Charpentier
Film Editor: Andrew Hafitz
Original Music: John Debney
Written by Tony Gilroy
Produced by Ted Field, Tony Gilroy, Monica Levinson, Shivani Rawat, Mike Weber
Directed by Brad Anderson
Back in 1981 United Artists briefly distributed an amazing French- produced movie by...
Beirut
Blu-ray + DVD + Digital
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment/Bleeker Street
2018 / Color / 2:40 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date July 3, 2018 / 34.98
Starring: Jon Hamm, Rosamund Pike, Mark Pellegrino, Dean Norris, Shea Whigham, Douglas Hodge, Leila Bekhti, Kate Fleetwood.
Cinematography: Björn Charpentier
Film Editor: Andrew Hafitz
Original Music: John Debney
Written by Tony Gilroy
Produced by Ted Field, Tony Gilroy, Monica Levinson, Shivani Rawat, Mike Weber
Directed by Brad Anderson
Back in 1981 United Artists briefly distributed an amazing French- produced movie by...
- 7/3/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Returning to Sundance long after his first appearances there with Next Stop, Wonderland and Happy Accidents, among others, Brad Anderson’s Beirut is a thriller made from a quarter-century-old script by Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton, Duplicity). Jon Hamm stars as a former diplomat, Mason Skiles, who returns to Lebanon a decade after his former posting there, getting involved in a complex hostage situation involving a standoff with his former friend-turned-terrorist Karim (Idir Chender). Editor Andrew Hafitz (The Last Days of Disco, Bully, Keane) explains how his verite background helps inform his approach to cutting and which two directors taught him the most. Filmmaker: How and why did you […]...
- 1/26/2018
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
"For the longest time I couldn't put a name to who I was. I didn't have an image to who was like me. It was torturous," Jane Lynch notes in Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema, the savvy documentary from 2006 by Lesli Klainberg and Lisa Ades.
A few minutes after Jane lets loose, Todd Haynes, the director of Carol and Poison, adds, "I think films do make a difference. They get under people's skin, and they reflect our lives and our experiences back to us."
But if you're gay and don't check off Caucasian on various surveys, you have had a harder time finding yourself on the big screen. There's been Pariah (2011), The Watermelon Woman (1996), Brother to Brother (2004), and a handful of others of varying delight. But if you are a gay, black, Muslim teenager residing in Brooklyn and are in love with another gay, black, Muslim teen, where will you get media support?...
A few minutes after Jane lets loose, Todd Haynes, the director of Carol and Poison, adds, "I think films do make a difference. They get under people's skin, and they reflect our lives and our experiences back to us."
But if you're gay and don't check off Caucasian on various surveys, you have had a harder time finding yourself on the big screen. There's been Pariah (2011), The Watermelon Woman (1996), Brother to Brother (2004), and a handful of others of varying delight. But if you are a gay, black, Muslim teenager residing in Brooklyn and are in love with another gay, black, Muslim teen, where will you get media support?...
- 1/21/2016
- by Brandon Judell
- www.culturecatch.com
Third entry in his talky trilogy boogies with a fine, dysfunctional cast
By Michael Rechtshaffen
Nobody can do navel-gazing quite like Whit Stillman, the witty writer-director of "Metropolitan" and "Barcelona" whose latest, "The Last Days of Disco", completes a quirky, talky trilogy.
The final gasp of disco provides the early '80s backdrop for Stillman's preoccupied preppies who ponder their post-college futures against the insistent beat of "Boogie Oogie Oogie" and "Let's All Chant".
As with his two previous outings, which include a couple of carry-over characters, Stillman and his dialogue-driven approach can be an acquired taste, but the already converted should find his latest -- with its nimbly intertwined stories and echoes of Studio 54 fallout -- to be his most accomplished effort yet in his self-described "Doomed Bourgeois in Love" series.
While the draw will certainly be modest in scope, Gramercy should be able to lure nostalgic, bleary-eyed clubgoers to the Stillman fan base with its wall-to-wall, 22-song promise of nonstop disco action.
Falling chronologically somewhere between "Metropolitan" and "Barcelona", the picture surveys the interactive social and professional lives of a group of young people drawn by the strobe lights of Manhattan during the heady early days of the Me Decade. Among those crowding the dance floor at their beloved disco are the insecure Alice (Chloe Sevigny) and the outspoken Charlotte (Kate Beckinsale), both Hampshire College grads who work together at a book publishing company and become uneasy roommates in a cramped railroad apartment.
Then there's Jimmy (Mackenzie Astin), a struggling ad man who counts on club assistant manager Des (Chris Eigeman) -- a shameless Lothario who dumps girlfriends by telling them he might be gay -- to sneak his clients past discerning doorman Van (Burr Steers); Tom Robert Sean Leonard), a corporate lawyer obsessed with Scrooge McDuck; and Josh (Matt Keeslar), a junior prosecutor in the DA's office who will play a major part in the end of an era.
Although their dilemmas and concerns may be universal, the angst factor is purely New York, and the highly insular world in which they commune has more than once earned Stillman the title of a WASP Woody Allen. A certain degree of patience is required to come to love his fragile, jabbering characters, but the payoff can be satisfying, given the richness of the performances.
In addition to Stillman regular Eigeman, Sevigny and Beckinsale shine as unwitting friends, as does Astin and the entire dysfunctional cast.
Among behind-the-scenes personnel, production designer Ginger Tougas gets the period touches right, while regular Stillman DP John Thomas and editor Andrew Hafitz work nicely against the continuous musical backdrop which seamlessly merges with Mark Suozzo's linking score.
THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO
Gramercy Pictures
A Castle Rock Entertainment presentation
Credits: Director-screenwriter-producer: Whit Stillman; Executive producer: John Sloss; Director of photography: John Thomas; Production designer: Ginger Tougas; Editors: Andrew Hafitz, Jay Pires; Music: Mark Suozzo. Cast: Alice Kinnon: Chloe Sevigny; Charlotte Pingree: Kate Beckinsale; Des McGrath: Chris Eigeman; Jimmy Steinway: Mackenzie Astin; Josh Neff: Matt Keeslar; Dan Powers: Matthew Ross; Holly: Tara Subkoff; Tom: Robert Sean Leonard; Van: Burr Steers; Nina: Jennifer Beals. MPAA rating: R. Color/stereo. Running time -- 112 minutes...
By Michael Rechtshaffen
Nobody can do navel-gazing quite like Whit Stillman, the witty writer-director of "Metropolitan" and "Barcelona" whose latest, "The Last Days of Disco", completes a quirky, talky trilogy.
The final gasp of disco provides the early '80s backdrop for Stillman's preoccupied preppies who ponder their post-college futures against the insistent beat of "Boogie Oogie Oogie" and "Let's All Chant".
As with his two previous outings, which include a couple of carry-over characters, Stillman and his dialogue-driven approach can be an acquired taste, but the already converted should find his latest -- with its nimbly intertwined stories and echoes of Studio 54 fallout -- to be his most accomplished effort yet in his self-described "Doomed Bourgeois in Love" series.
While the draw will certainly be modest in scope, Gramercy should be able to lure nostalgic, bleary-eyed clubgoers to the Stillman fan base with its wall-to-wall, 22-song promise of nonstop disco action.
Falling chronologically somewhere between "Metropolitan" and "Barcelona", the picture surveys the interactive social and professional lives of a group of young people drawn by the strobe lights of Manhattan during the heady early days of the Me Decade. Among those crowding the dance floor at their beloved disco are the insecure Alice (Chloe Sevigny) and the outspoken Charlotte (Kate Beckinsale), both Hampshire College grads who work together at a book publishing company and become uneasy roommates in a cramped railroad apartment.
Then there's Jimmy (Mackenzie Astin), a struggling ad man who counts on club assistant manager Des (Chris Eigeman) -- a shameless Lothario who dumps girlfriends by telling them he might be gay -- to sneak his clients past discerning doorman Van (Burr Steers); Tom Robert Sean Leonard), a corporate lawyer obsessed with Scrooge McDuck; and Josh (Matt Keeslar), a junior prosecutor in the DA's office who will play a major part in the end of an era.
Although their dilemmas and concerns may be universal, the angst factor is purely New York, and the highly insular world in which they commune has more than once earned Stillman the title of a WASP Woody Allen. A certain degree of patience is required to come to love his fragile, jabbering characters, but the payoff can be satisfying, given the richness of the performances.
In addition to Stillman regular Eigeman, Sevigny and Beckinsale shine as unwitting friends, as does Astin and the entire dysfunctional cast.
Among behind-the-scenes personnel, production designer Ginger Tougas gets the period touches right, while regular Stillman DP John Thomas and editor Andrew Hafitz work nicely against the continuous musical backdrop which seamlessly merges with Mark Suozzo's linking score.
THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO
Gramercy Pictures
A Castle Rock Entertainment presentation
Credits: Director-screenwriter-producer: Whit Stillman; Executive producer: John Sloss; Director of photography: John Thomas; Production designer: Ginger Tougas; Editors: Andrew Hafitz, Jay Pires; Music: Mark Suozzo. Cast: Alice Kinnon: Chloe Sevigny; Charlotte Pingree: Kate Beckinsale; Des McGrath: Chris Eigeman; Jimmy Steinway: Mackenzie Astin; Josh Neff: Matt Keeslar; Dan Powers: Matthew Ross; Holly: Tara Subkoff; Tom: Robert Sean Leonard; Van: Burr Steers; Nina: Jennifer Beals. MPAA rating: R. Color/stereo. Running time -- 112 minutes...
- 5/26/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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