 Two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster will be honored by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association with their prestigious Cecil B. Demille Award. Announced today by Simon Baker and Kristen Stewart, Foster is the first woman to be awarded with the organization’s highest honor since Barbara Streisand in 2000. Not only is she being rewarded in a year where women are making their marks, she is the youngest recipient since Charlton Heston in 1967. Read more on Jodie Foster to Receive Cecil B. Demille Award from HFPA…
Categories: News Tags: American atheists, American film directors, Amy Poehler, Barbara Streisand, capable director, Carnage, Cecil B. DeMille, Charlton Heston, Cinema of the United States, Clint Eastwood, Emmy Winner Tina Fey, Entertainment, Entertainment/Culture, Film, Golden GLobe Awards, Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Home for the Holidays, Human Interest, Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, kristen stewart, Little Man Tate, Martin Scorsese, Mel Gibson, Money Monster, Morgan Freeman, Movie Release, Nell, Roman Polanski, Simon Baker, The Brave One, the Golden Globe Awards, The Silence of the Lambs, Tina Fey
 The last movie Poman Polanski filmed was an English language adaptation of a Broadway play originally written in French. Well now Polanski is set to go the opposite route and film a French language adaptation of the Tony nominated play Venus in Fur. For those unfamiliar with the show, it’s an erotic black comedy about “the writer/director of a new play who is enduring the audition process of finding an actress for the role in his upcoming work. But a new talent comes in at the last minute and is seemingly the opposite of everything he’s looking for…but of course, this is just the beginning.” Polanski is adapting the script with playwright David Ives and will film this before taking on D., about the historical Dreyfus scandal. Also, The Hollywood Reporter has learned that the film will star Louis Garrel and Emmanuelle Seigner, Polanski’s wife.
Read more on Polanski set to direct French adaptation of ‘Venus in Fur’, wife to star…
 Greetings again from the New York Film Festival!
Today brought a trio of very interesting films (2 Main Slate selections and a Midnight Movies sidebar), and even if they were of varying degrees of quality, they still all had something to offer an audience. The slate consisted of Brian DePalma’s “Passion,” Barry Levinson’s “The Bay,” and the documentary by Marina Zenovich “Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out,” a follow-up/sequel to her prior documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008). DePalma was also scheduled for a press conference following the screening but didn’t make it to the Walter Reade Theater. Through the magic of Skype, however, we got to talk with Zenovich about her documentary. Overall, today was a better day in terms of my thoughts on the movies, but the fest is still early. The rest of the week is jam packed as well, but for now, let’s get in to what I saw most recently at NYFF!
Read more on NYFF: Uneven “Passion,” Solid “Bay,” and “Roman” Documentary…
Categories: Article Tags: Barry Levinson, Brian de Palma, Brian DePalma, Entertainment/Culture, Films, joey's articles, Marina Zenovich, New York Film Festival, New York Film Festival diaries, Noomi Rapace, Passion, Rachel McAdams, Roman Polanski, Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, The Bay, the New York Film Festival
 Has an entire decade passed since Martin Scorsese’s massive and flawed, and massively flawed Gangs of New York (2002) thundered onto screens for the first time? It seems like yesterday that I was reading the film’s release date being delayed a full year in light of 9/11, which also permitted Scorsese to film further scenes and edit the film down to a reasonable length, all to the anger of Weinstein.
A dream project of Scorsese’s, he was invited to make the film for Miramax, which meant working with Harvey Weinstein, perhaps the only man in the industry with a temper as volatile as the director. Of course, Weinstein had an agenda, bringing an important director such as Scorsese to Miramax made his company all the more impressive, and Weinstein believed for the film, Scorsese would finally win that long elusive Academy Award. Why? Because he said so. Read more on Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York” – Ten Years Later…
Categories: Article Tags: Chicago, Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs of New York, Goodfellas, Leonardo di Caprio, Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese, Miramax Films, Oscar, Oscars, Raging Bull, Rob Marshall, Roman Polanski, Saving Private Ryan, Shakespeare in Love, The Aviator, The Departed, the Golden Globe Awards, The Pianist
 2002 ACCA Winners
Best Picture – Chicago
Runner Up – Adaptation
Best Director – (TIE) Peter Jackson for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers & Roman Polanski for The Pianist
Runner Up – Martin Scorsese for Gangs of New York
Read more on 2002 ACCA & Davis Award Winners!…
Categories: Community, Editor Tags: Andy Serkis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chicago, Daniel Day-Lewis, Davis Awards, Davis Awards 2002, ed harris, Far from Heaven, Gangs of New York, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep, nicole kidman, Peter Jackson, Roman Polanski, the hours, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Pianist
 A violent act on a playground between two middle school boys is all that’s needed to launch into Carnage, the cinematic adaptation of a Tony Award winning play about two sets of parents who are brought together to work through a situation their children have forced them into.
Directed by Oscar-winner Roman Polanski, Carnage is essentially a filmed play with four characters engaging in a rollercoaster ride of discussions about their children, their lives, their respective marriages, and a whole treasure trove of other related and unrelated topics. The film retains a feverish, almost manic, pitch and your ability to like this rests with how much vitriol, dialogue, and smarminess you can stomach from these four interesting, but slightly troubled, individuals.
 Read more on Carnage (**½)…
Polanski handles comedy well in his newest "Carnage"…
Roman Polanski has created some of the most heart-wrenching and prolific films of the past four decades. In his newest film, Carnage, Polanski examines two couples as they discuss an altercation between their two children all in real time. Alan (Christoph Waltz) and Nancy (Kate Winslet), married with their son, have a hard time communicating between Alan’s pharmaceutical business and Nancy’s constant abrupt illnesses. Penelope (Jodie Foster) and Michael (John C. Reilly) are prim and proper and the owner’s of the home where our story takes place, and between Penelope’s badgering about perfection and Michael’s lackadaisical attitude towards life, tensions are building. The film handles the tension with sure-fire wittiness and ease not withstanding the terrific exchangeable words between our principals, Carnage is a delight for all movie-goers.
Read more on Carnage (***)…
Categories: Editor, Film Reviews Tags: alexandre desplat, Carnage, Christoph Waltz, Comedy, Editor Film Review, Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, Kate Winslet, Oscar hopeful, Roman Polanski
With the recent announcements of Keira Knightley from David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method being campaigned in the Lead Actress category and every actor from Roman Polanski’s Carnage being campaigned in the Supporting categories by Sony Pictures Classics, the Awards Circuit’s Oscar Tracker has been updated.
What do these announcement’s mean awards-wise? Knightley is going to have an uphill climb indeed for her category with seven or eight leading ladies already duking it out. The cast of Carnage might have an easier time especially stars Christoph Waltz and Jodie Foster who have received good early buzz for their performances. If Max Von Sydow is not the performance we think he is for Stephen Daldry’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close or if George Clooney’s The Ides of March buzz dies altogether, Waltz may have a very easy get for himself in the Supporting Actor category. John C. Reilly hasn’t been much of an awards talker thus far and I don’t expect anything to change on that regards.
Read more on Massive Oscar Tracker Update!…
Categories: Editor, News Tags: benedict cumberbatch, Carnage, Christoph Waltz, david cronenberg, extremely loud and incredibly close, Jeff Nichols, Jessica Chastain, Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, Kate Winslet, Keira Knightley, Lead Actress, Oscar Tracker, Roman Polanski, Supporting Actress, Take Shelter, Tate Taylor, Terrence Malick, The Help, The Ides of March, The Tree of Life, tinker tailor soldier spy
 A new trailer for Roman Polanski’s Carnage has hit the web. The reviews that have been shared have been positive but no one really seems to be calling it one of the frontrunners. Relationship dramas have had a hard time getting in with Oscar the past few years (Revolutionary Road, Closer). Acting categories, you never know? If Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly decide to go supporting, maybe they have a fighting chance. Same goes for Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet, probably a better chance for them. Trailer is after the jump. Read more on Trailer: “Carnage”…
Read more on Trailer: “Carnage”…
There's still room at the table for the masters!
One can easily imagine Paul Thomas Anderson, the Brothers Coen, Kathryn Bigelow, David Fincher, Darren Aronofsky or Alexander Payne sitting in theatres in the seventies and eighties and watching the work of the masters of their generation, Woody Allen, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, William Friedkin, Terence Malick, or Francis Ford Coppola. The aforementioned artists revolutionized American cinema, paving the way for new fresh ideas and younger directors to emerge in the business and work their magic. Just a few years earlier, Coppola, Allen, Scorsese, Spielberg, and Friedkin were students themselves in cinemas, enjoying the works of john Ford, William Wyler, Chaplin, Elia Kazan or David Lean. The previous generation always impacts the generation to follow, but the impact of the directors of the seventies has been staggering. During TIFF this year George Clooney referenced the work of Alan J. Pakula and Sidney Lumet as having been hugely influential on his career, both as an actor and a director. Many films of the last few years have felt like seventies pictures, in their daring and storytelling, in the manner they allow the actors to evolve the story, giving us substance over style. Read more on Directors of the 70′s: Still Showing ‘Em How It’s Done…
Categories: Article Tags: Clint Eastwood, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Hugo, Killer Joe, Martin Scorsese, Midnight in Paris, Roman Polanski, Steven Spielberg, Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life, Twixt, war horse, William Friedkin, Woody Allen
|
Two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster will be honored by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association with their prestigious Cecil B. Demille Award. Announced today by Simon Baker and Kristen Stewart, Foster is the first woman to be awarded with the organization’s highest honor since Barbara Streisand in 2000. Not only is she being rewarded in a year where women are making their marks, she is the youngest recipient since Charlton Heston in 1967. Read more on Jodie Foster to Receive Cecil B. Demille Award from HFPA…
