Category: News

Just found this photo on Flickr – I saw a similar warning to this at the Cloverfield screening I went to, but it was more about strobe effects.

Although the handheld, POV camerawork made me feel a little queasy in places, overall it wasn’t too bad.

Did anyone else find it sick inducing?

[Image originally uploaded by quietpopcorn]

I saw Cloverfield last night and remain convinced it is going to be a smash hit.

Not only has it been marketed with a brilliantly executed viral campaign, but it really does deliver the monster movie goods in a chilling and fresh way.

There are quite a few people who will be disappointed by it, for this is not exactly a revolutionary film, even if the technical approach is highly effective. But in the barren month of January, whilst discerning audiences eat up Oscar contenters, Cloverfield looks like being a huge hit with mainstream audiences.

The first major thing that struck me was that the handheld POV approach works very well indeed. Although at times it gets a little dizzying, the effect puts you right inside the terror of the main characters as they struggle to deal with a New York under siege from a huge, incomprehensible beast.

Mystery has been important to a lot of J.J. Abrams work, especially Lost, and this is no different. But what is clever about Cloverfield is how the marketing has served as a perfect appetiser for the final film. The mystery and blind panic of the trailer are present, but expanded into a gripping, nightmarish experience.

In fact, it goes beyond the usual horror movie cliches and – to some degree – takes a leaf out of the first two Alien movies in that fantasy is treated as reality. Whilst the monster is unreal, the fear, terror and sheer incomprehension it unleashes is all too believable.

Some audiences (especially New Yorkers) may find the 9/11 references too much, but in an age when audiences are turning away from high-minded films about the war on terror, how interesting that they will be flocking to a genre movie with such a contemporary subtext.

Cloverfield opens in the US today and in the UK on February 1st

> Director Matt Reeves discusses the film with LAist
> Official Cloverfield website
> That mysterious first trailer
> Find out more about the film at Wikipedia

Here are the BAFTA nominations that were announced this morning:

Best Film
American Gangster
Atonement
The Lives of Others
No Country Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best British Film
Atonement
The Bourne Ultimatum
Scott
Control
Eastern Promises
This Is England

Leading Actor
George Clooney – Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis – There Will Be Blood
James McAvoy – Atonement
Viggo Mortensen – Eastern Promises
Ulrich Muehe – The Lives of Others

Leading Actress
Cate Blanchett – Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie – Away From Her
Marion Cotillard – La Vie En Rose
Keira Knightley – Atonement
Ellen Page – Juno

Supporting Actor
Javier Bardem – No Country for Old Men
Paul Dano – There Will Be Blood
Tommy Lee Jones – No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Charlie Wilson’s War
Tom Wilkinson – Michael Clayton

Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett – I’m Not There
Kelly Macdonald – No Country for Old Men
Samantha Morton – Control
Saoirse Ronan – Atonement
Tilda Swinton – Michael Clayton

Director
Atonement – Joe Wright
The Bourne Ultimatum – Paul Greengrass
The Lives of Others – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
No Country For Old Men – Joel Coen/Ethan Coen
There Will Be Blood – Paul Thomas Anderson

Original Screenplay
American Gangster – Steven Zaillian
Juno – Diablo Cody
The Lives of Others – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Michael Clayton – Tony Gilroy
This is England – Shane Meadows

Adapted Screenplay
Atonement – Christopher Hampton
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – Ronald Harwood
The Kite Runner – David Benioff
No Country for Old Men – Joel Coen/Ethan Coen
There Will Be Blood – Paul Thomas Anderson

Film not in the English language
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
The Kite Runner
The Lives of Others
Lust, Caution
La Vie En Rose

Animated Film
Ratatouille
Shrek the Third
The Simpsons Movie

The Carl Foreman award for special achievement by a british director, writer or producer for their first feature film
Chris Atkins (director/writer) – Taking Liberties
Mia Bays (producer) – Scott Walker: 30 Century Man
Sarah Gavron (director) – Brick Lane
Matt Greenhalgh (writer) – Control
Andrew Piddington (director/writer) – The Killing of John Lennon

Music
American Gangster – Marc Streitenfeld
Atonement – Dario Marianelli
The Kite Runner – Alberto Iglesias
There Will Be Blood – Jonny Greenwood
La Vie En Rose – Christopher Gunning

Cinematography
American gangster – Harris Savides
Atonement – Seamus McGarvey
The Bourne Ultimatum – Oliver Wood
No Country For Old Men – Roger Deakins
There Will Be Blood – Robert Elswit

Editing
American Gangster – Pietro Scalia
Atonement – Paul Tothill
The Bourne Ultimatum – Christopher Rouse
Michael Clayton – John Gilroy
No Country For Old Men – Roderick Jaynes

Production Design
Atonement – Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
Elizabeth: The Golden Age – Guy Hendrix Dyas, Richard Roberts
Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix – Stuart Craig, Stephanie McMillan
There Will Be Blood – Jack Fisk, Jim Erickson
La Vie En Rose – Olivier Raoux

Costume Design
Atonement – Jacqueline Durran
Elizabeth: The Golden Age – Alexandra Byrne
Lust, Caution – Pan Lai
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – Colleen Atwood
La Vie En Rose – Marit Allen

Sound
Atonement – Danny Hambrook, Paul Hamblin, Catherine Hodgson
The Bourne Ultimatum – Kirk Francis, Scott Millan, Dave Parke, Karen Baker Landers, Per Hallberg
No Country For Old Men – Peter Kurland, Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff
There Will Be Blood – Christopher Scarabosio, Matthew Wood, John Pritchett, Michael Semanick, Tom Johnson
La Vie En Rose – Laurent Zeilig, Pascal Villard, Jean-Paul Hurier, Marc Doisne

Special Visual Effects
The Bourne Ultimatum – Peter Chiang, Charlie Noble, Mattias Lindahl, Joss Williams
The Golden Compass – Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris, Trevor Woods
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – Tim Burke, John Richardson, Emma Norton, Chris Shaw
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End – John Knoll, Charles Gibson, Hal Hickel, John Frazier
Spider-Man 3 – Scott Stokdyk, Peter Nofz, Kee-Suk Ken Hahn, Spencer Cook

Make-up and Hair
Atonement – Ivana Primorac
Elizabeth: The Golden Age – Jenny Shircore
Hairspray – nominees to be confirmed
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – Ivana Primorac
La Vie En Rose – Jan Archibald, Didier Lavergne

Short Animation
The Pearce Sisters – Jo Allen, Luis Cook
Head Over Heels – Osbert Parker, Fiona Pitkin, Ian Gouldstone
The Crumblegiant – Pearse Moore, John McCloskey

Short Film
Dog Altogether – Diarmid Scrimshaw, Paddy Considine
Hesitation – Julien Berlan, Michelle Eastwood, Virginia Gilbert
The One And Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island – Charlie Henderson, James Griffiths, Tim Key, Tom Basden
Soft – Jane Hooks, Simon Ellis
The Stronger – Dan McCulloch, Lia Williams, Frank McGuinness

The Orange Rising Star Award (voted for by the public)
Shia LaBeouf
Sienna Miller
Ellen Page
Sam Riley
Tang Wei

The awards will be held on 10th February at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London.

It is official – the Golden Globes will not be broadcast on TV because of the WGA strike.

BBC News reports:

The Golden Globes ceremony has been cancelled and replaced with a news conference because of the strike by writers over royalties.

The winners will now be revealed at an hour-long press conference replacing the usual dinner and ceremony.

Actors had said they would not cross picket lines in support of writers. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has been on strike since November over “residuals” – royalties for work distributed online or on DVD.

The dispute has brought to a standstill the production of nearly all TV comedy and drama shows.

Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood Daily describes how the ceremony will now take place without the live cameras:

I’ve just obtained the unofficial NBC schedule for the Golden Globes on January 13th now that the big full frills show has been cancelled because of the Writers Guild picket lines.

Instead, NBC and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and Dick Clark Productions are attempting to circumvent the strike by stringing together a series of  “awards news” telecasts that allows them to fill up the block of airtime already allotted for the show and sold to advertisers:

• At 9 PM there will be a press conference covered by NBC News announcing the Golden Globe winners. (9pm-10pm)
• At 8 PM, we are negotiating with Dick Clark Enterprises for a one-hour retrospective/clip show.
• At 7 PM, we will air a Dateline with clips and interviews with nominees. (Currently scheduled to air for two hours on Saturday night.)
• At 10 PM, we will broadcast an “Access Hollywood” style, Golden Globes party show…visiting the various parties in Hollywood

The big question is how this will now affect the Oscars.

David Germain of the AP writes:

With the Screen Actors Guild in lockstep with writers, nominees and other celebrities would have stayed away from Sunday’s Globes. The same prospect now hangs over the Oscars.

“No matter what anybody says, if the WGA goes on strike and SAG is in support, then there’s no Oscar show. It’s as simple as that,” said Harvey Weinstein, whose former company Miramax was a frequent Oscar winner and who now runs the Weinstein Co.

He said it’s more likely the guild ultimately would agree to let its writers work on the Oscars. But Patric Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of America, West, said the union would turn down any request from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its members to work on the Oscars.

Gil Cates, producer of the Oscar broadcast, said the academy will put on its Oscar show Feb. 24 as planned — with or without the writers. “We are going to do it,” Cates said. “I can’t elaborate on how we’re going to do it, because I don’t want anybody to deal with the elaboration in a way that might impact its success.”

We will have to wait and see.

> BBC News Q&A on the WGA Strike
> New York Times report on the cancellation

Although unconfirmed reports have been around for about a month now, it is now official that Gemma Arterton is the new Bond girl.

The Hollywood Reporter say:

British newcomer Gemma Arterton has been cast as the new Bond girl for the latest installment of the James Bond franchise, currently filming in London for Columbia Pictures and MGM, the film’s production companies said.

Arterton will play “Fields” in the Marc Forster-directed movie, which has the working title of “Bond 22” and stars Daniel Craig as Agent 007.

Talk of Arterton’s casting has been swirling around the blogosphere and in British tabloids since mid-December, but have remained unconfirmed by the producers.

On Friday, Eon Prods. in London and Santa Monica-based Danjaq Prods., as well as Arterton’s agent, ICM in London, confirmed the casting.

Details of her character were not available, but a Danjaq rep said “it’s a nice-sized role.”

She can currently be seen in St Trinian’s (in UK cinemas) and will be in Guy Ritchie’s new film RockNRolla which is out later in the year.

I interviewed her recently (mostly about St Trinian’s but also about her career to date too) and you can listen to that here.

Although plot details are vague, apparently it will pick up just after the end of Casino Royale and Bond will be out for revenge against the shadowy organisation that killed Vesper Lynd.

For more information on Bond 22 check out the Wikipedia entry – which is updated fairly regularly.

> Original Hollywood Reporter story on Gemma getting the role
> Gemma Arterton at the IMDb
> Various photos of her on Flickr
> An earlier report from Empire about this story
> Check out this interview I did with Bond composer David Arnold back in March (he discusses Bond 22 a little bit near the end)

This week we examine St Trinian’s and I’m Not There.

Listen to the review by clicking here:

Download and subscribe to the review podcast via iTunes by clicking on the image below:

> Download this review as an MP3 file
> Get local showtimes for your area via Google Movies
> Check out other reviews of these films at Metacritic

Here is the official trailer for the Sex and the City movie which opens in the spring:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y0T3UEMqtM[/youtube]

> Official site for the film
> Find out more about Sex and the City at Wikipedia

The Rolling Stones concert film Shine a Light directed by Martin Scorcese will get a UK release in April.

Here is the official press release:

Twentieth Century Fox will take the ultimate Rolling Stones concert film SHINE A LIGHT from Oscar- winning director Martin Scorsese on national tour around the UK from April, 2008.

In Autumn 2006, after months of planning, Martin Scorsese captured the Rolling Stones on stage for the new film SHINE A LIGHT.  Cinemagoers will have the chance to experience a Stones concert as never before – as the fifth member of the band, from the front row and from behind the scenes.

No stranger to rock concert films (The Last Waltz), Scorsese filmed the Stones over a two-day period at the Beacon Theater in New York City.  With performances from Jack White of the White Stripes, Christina Aguilera and Buddy Guyand integrated with rarely seen archival footage, SHINE A LIGHT is a unique cinema experience.

For this intimate concert Scorsese assembled an award-winning camera team to capture the raw energy of the world’s greatest rock ‘n roll band including Oscar-winning cinematographer Robert Richardson (The Aviator, JFK) who supervised the camera team in the auditorium, which included several highly acclaimed Directors Of Photography: Stuart Dryburgh (The Piano, The Painted Veil), Robert Elswit (Magnolia, Good Night and Good Luck), Ellen Kuras (Summer Of Sam, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), John Toll (The Last Samurai, Braveheart), Emmanuel Lubezki (Children Of Men, Sleepy Hollow) and Andrew Lesnie (Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, King Kong). The film was edited by David Tedeschi, who worked with Scorsese on the acclaimed Bob Dylan documentary, No Direction Home: Bob Dylan.

Financed by Steve Bing’s Shangri-La Entertainment and long-time Stones Tour Promoter Michael Cohl’s Concert Promotions International, producers are Victoria Pearman, Michael Cohl, Zane Weiner and Steve Bing.  Executive Producers are Stones members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood, with Jane Rose as co-executive producer.

Shine a Light will be released in UK cinemas nationwide by Twentieth Century Fox in April, 2008

> IMDb entry for Shine a Light
> Official website for the film

Just a day after Ingmar Bergman passing, news comes through that another cinematic legend is gone.

The great Michelangelo Antonioni has died in Rome aged 94.

Aleesandro Rizzo of the AP reports:

Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni, whose depiction of alienation made him a symbol of art-house cinema with movies such as “Blow-Up” and “L’Avventura,” has died, officials and news reports said Tuesday. He was 94.

The ANSA news agency said that Antonioni died at his home on Monday evening.

“With Antonioni dies not only one of the greatest directors but also a master of modernity,” Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni said in a statement.

Antonioni depicted alienation in the modern world through sparse dialogue and long takes. Along with Federico Fellini, he helped turn post-war Italian film away from the Neorealism movement and toward a personal cinema of imagination.

In 1995, Hollywood honored his career work — about 25 films and several screenplays — with a special Oscar for lifetime achievement. By then Antonioni was a physically frail but mentally sharp 82, unable to speak but a few words because of a stroke but still translating his vision into film. The Oscar was stolen from Antonioni’s home in 1996, together with several other film prizes.

His slow-moving camera never became synonymous with box-office success, but some of his movies such “Blow-Up,” “Red Desert” and “The Passenger” reached enduring fame.

His exploration of such intellectual themes as alienation and existential malaise led Halliwell’s Film Guide to say that “L’Avventura,” Antonioni’s first critical success, made him “a hero of the highbrows.”

If you haven’t seen L’Avventura, Red Desert, Blow Up and The Passenger I would highly recommend them. Another film of interest – but relatively overlooked – is his beautiful segment to Beyond The Clouds, the 1995 film he made in collaboration with Wim Wenders.

It turns out he died on the same day as Bergman – making July 30th 2007 an especially sad day for cinema.

> The full AP report of his death
> IMDb entry for Micheangelo Antonioni
> A profile of Antonioni by James Brown at Senses of Cinema
> Andrew Pulver at The Guardian on some of Antonioni’s best scenes

Ingmar Bergman has died, aged 89.

One of the all time greats of cinema he directed such masterpieces as The Seventh Seal, Winter Light, Persona, Cries and Whispers and Fanny and Alexander.

The AP report:

Master filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, one of the greatest artists in cinema history, died Monday at his home on an island off the coast of Sweden. He was 89.

Bergman’s dozens of works combined deep seriousness, indelible imagery and unexpected flashes of humor in finely written, inventively shot explorations of difficult subjects such as plague and madness.

His vision encompassed the extremes of his beloved Sweden: the claustrophobic gloom of unending winter nights, its glowing summer evenings and the bleak magnificence of the Baltic islet of Faro, where the reclusive artist spent his last years.

Once described by Woody Allen as ‘probably the greatest film artist … since the invention of the motion picture camera,’ Bergman first gained international attention with 1955’s ‘Smiles of a Summer Night,’ a romantic comedy that inspired the Stephen Sondheim musical ‘A Little Night Music.’

His last work, of about 60, was ‘Saraband,’ a made-for-television movie that aired on Swedish public television in December 2003, the year he retired.

Forget the ‘depressing’ tag that was often lazily applied to his films and remember instead his memorable explorations of the human soul and the indelible stories and images he contributed to world cinema.

> AP story in full by Louise Nordstrom in Stockholm
> Bergman entry on the IMDb
> Wikipedia entry for Ingmar Bergman
> Guardian obituary

Karen Allen is reprising her role as Marian Ravenwood, the feisty female lead from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The news was announced at Comic Con that she’s back for the forth Indy movie:

Actress Karen Allen is joining the cast of the upcoming “Indiana Jones” movie, reprising her role as spirited Marion Ravenwood, it was announced today during Comic-Con International in San Diego.

The new movie is in production under the direction of Steven Spielberg, who is pictured here with Allen during a break in shooting in Hawaii.

The upcoming “Indiana Jones” adventure is a Lucasfilm Ltd. production and is being distributed by Paramount Pictures.

Frank Marshall returns as producer, with Kathleen Kennedy joining George Lucas as executive producer.

Looking back on it, Allen’s character in the first Indy movies was one of the best mainstream roles for a woman in the early 1980s.

Plus, she brought a a zest and presence to film that was missed in The Temple of Doom and The Last Crusade.

Sadly her career didn’t really take off in the way it should have done after Raiders.

She was good in Starman but for most of the 80s and 90s struggled to find major lead roles, which was a shame as her timing and natural charm was a big part of why the first Indy film was such a hit.

Production continues on Indy 4 and it is still scheduled for a worldwide release on May 22, 2008.

> Official Indiana Jones site
> IMDb entry for Karen Allen

(Photo by David Jones – Courtesy of IndianaJones.com)

Really sad news to report – the German actor Ulrich Mühe has died aged 54.

BBC News reports:

German actor Ulrich Muehe, the star of Oscar-winning film The Lives of Others, has died at the age of 54.
A well-known TV and theatre actor in his homeland, he had been receiving treatment for stomach cancer.

Muehe’s performance as a Stasi agent who secretly protects a dissident playwright won him a best actor prize at the European Film Awards in 2006.

His other films included 1997’s Funny Games, in which he appeared with his wife, actress Susanne Lothar.

Muehe died at his home in Walbeck in the state of Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday.

On the same day a German newspaper published an interview with the actor in which he confirmed his illness.

The Lives of Others is one of the best films to come out in the last few years and Muhe gives a remarkable performance.

If you missed it at cinemas it is out on DVD in the UK on September 17th.

> More on the story at BBC News
> Ulrich Muhe at the IMDb
> Official UK site for The Lives of Others
> Reviews for The Lives of Others at Metacritic

Leonardo DiCaprio has launched his own MySpace page as a way of promoting his new documentary about global warming The 11th Hour.

Check out his video message here:

I’ve written recently about film makers writing on their own websites and I’m surprised that more actors like DiCaprio haven’t done it before know.

Obviously there are a lot of official sites with the usual bios and puffy messages, but maybe actors and stars have seen how easy it can be to get your message across to fans and the public via sites like MySpace.

If done well, it can be a very effective tool in communicating thoughts and ideas without going through the usual media machinery.

> Leonardo DiCaprio’s MySpace site
> DiCaprio at the IMDb
> Variety interview DiCaprio about The 11th Hour at Cannes
> Listen to Leonardo discuss The Departed with us last October