This year, we've asked 10 writers to pick some of their favorite TV episodes from 2017 and weigh in on why they were great stand-alone eps and the highlights of our viewing year. Today: Sam Adams on Bojack Horseman's "Time's Arrow."
Four seasons in, Bojack Horseman fans are used to being knocked for an emotional loop. Raphael Bob-Waksberg's animated Netflix series started out unprepossessingly enough as the story of a misanthropic former sitcom star wallowing in residuals payments and self-pity in the Hollywood hills. But it soon became clear that the title character,...
Four seasons in, Bojack Horseman fans are used to being knocked for an emotional loop. Raphael Bob-Waksberg's animated Netflix series started out unprepossessingly enough as the story of a misanthropic former sitcom star wallowing in residuals payments and self-pity in the Hollywood hills. But it soon became clear that the title character,...
- 12/14/2017
- Rollingstone.com
This year, we've asked 10 writers to pick some of their favorite TV episodes from 2017 and weigh in on why they were great stand-alone eps and the highlights of our viewing year. Today: Sam Adams on Bojack Horseman's "Time's Arrow."
Four seasons in, Bojack Horseman fans are used to being knocked for an emotional loop. Raphael Bob-Waksberg's animated Netflix series started out unprepossessingly enough as the story of a misanthropic former sitcom star wallowing in residuals payments and self-pity in the Hollywood hills. But it soon became clear that the title character,...
Four seasons in, Bojack Horseman fans are used to being knocked for an emotional loop. Raphael Bob-Waksberg's animated Netflix series started out unprepossessingly enough as the story of a misanthropic former sitcom star wallowing in residuals payments and self-pity in the Hollywood hills. But it soon became clear that the title character,...
- 12/14/2017
- Rollingstone.com
Maybe you tuned in for the nostalgia factor, basking in the way a half-decade's worth of pop-cultural raw material and fortysomething geek touchstones were deftly turned into an I-Heart-the-'80s mixtape. Maybe you dug the way the first season mined an old-fashioned thrills-spills-chills feeling that left the multiplex eons ago. Maybe you were just curious to see what happened next in this oddball story of psychic kids, government spooks, bad scientists, mirror-image dimensions, monsters and a magnificently stressed-out Winona Ryder. Or maybe, because Stranger Things was 2016's unescapable hit du...
- 11/3/2017
- Rollingstone.com
The first reactions from ‘The Disaster Artist‘ have arrived. The film about the making one of the worst movies of all time recently got a new trailer, and it looks absolutely amazing. Based on the true story about the making of what some consider to be the worst movie ever made, ‘The Room‘, James Franco Writes, Directs, Produces and Stars as Tommy Wiseau.
Over the past few months, the film has screened a few times, most recently at Tiff ’17. The reactions overall seem to praise the film for successfully telling the story on the making of ‘The Room’. In Addition to James Franco, the stellar cast includes Dave Franco, Alison Brie, Seth Rogen, Judd Apatow, Kristen Bell, Kate Upton, Zac Efron, Lizzy Caplan, Bryan Cranston, Adam Scott, Sharon Stone, Zach Braff, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Hannibal Buress.
At the time of ‘The Room‘s release, the film was critically panned, but earned...
Over the past few months, the film has screened a few times, most recently at Tiff ’17. The reactions overall seem to praise the film for successfully telling the story on the making of ‘The Room’. In Addition to James Franco, the stellar cast includes Dave Franco, Alison Brie, Seth Rogen, Judd Apatow, Kristen Bell, Kate Upton, Zac Efron, Lizzy Caplan, Bryan Cranston, Adam Scott, Sharon Stone, Zach Braff, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Hannibal Buress.
At the time of ‘The Room‘s release, the film was critically panned, but earned...
- 9/27/2017
- by Taylor Salan
- Age of the Nerd
Warning: The following piece was written without regard to the presence of “spoilers.”
We see the interior of a quiet apartment. It is lit with the waning diffuseness of a grey afternoon, and there is a woman moving about its hallways with a steadiness of purpose. The camera which affords us this look into her living space is fixated at an angle perpendicular to the front door, gazing at eye level down the main hallway toward a closed door. The woman greets the man who walks in the front door with indifferent familiarity, with silence. She takes his coat, hangs it on a hook somewhere beyond the purview of the frame, and they both continue quietly toward the far door, completing the introduction to an encounter they have engaged in many times before. The camera remains motionless as they close the door, and we never see what happens once it shuts.
We see the interior of a quiet apartment. It is lit with the waning diffuseness of a grey afternoon, and there is a woman moving about its hallways with a steadiness of purpose. The camera which affords us this look into her living space is fixated at an angle perpendicular to the front door, gazing at eye level down the main hallway toward a closed door. The woman greets the man who walks in the front door with indifferent familiarity, with silence. She takes his coat, hangs it on a hook somewhere beyond the purview of the frame, and they both continue quietly toward the far door, completing the introduction to an encounter they have engaged in many times before. The camera remains motionless as they close the door, and we never see what happens once it shuts.
- 9/16/2017
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
Although Emma Stone had to politely decline a teen’s promposal due to work obligations, Kylie Jenner made a Sacramento high school student’s celebrity dream date come true.
The 19-year-old reality star accompanied junior Albert Ochoa to Rio Americano High School prom on Saturday night, bringing along her longtime pal Jordyn Woods for the festivities.
Jenner’s presence caused a stir on social media with several students, including Ochoa’s sister, posting videos of the makeup mogul surrounded by fans at the prom.
“Tell Me Why My Brother Took Kylie Jenner To Prom 2Night !!!!!!!” the sister wrote on Twitter,...
The 19-year-old reality star accompanied junior Albert Ochoa to Rio Americano High School prom on Saturday night, bringing along her longtime pal Jordyn Woods for the festivities.
Jenner’s presence caused a stir on social media with several students, including Ochoa’s sister, posting videos of the makeup mogul surrounded by fans at the prom.
“Tell Me Why My Brother Took Kylie Jenner To Prom 2Night !!!!!!!” the sister wrote on Twitter,...
- 4/9/2017
- by Stephanie Petit
- PEOPLE.com
Students at Rio Americano High School in Sacramento, California, were given the surprise of a lifetime on Saturday.
Kylie Jenner, who never got to go to prom, arrived at the Rio Americano dance at Tsakapoulos Library Galleria with her best friend, Jordyn Woods. We're told the 19-year-old reality star attended as the date of senior Albert Ochoa and stayed for about 30 minutes, after taking photos and mingling with students.
Related: Kylie Jenner's 'Inner Space Cowgirl' Comes Alive at Friends' Birthday Party -- See the Pics!
"We had no idea that she was going to show up! It was a huge surprise," senior Sam Adams told Et. "Everyone went crazy! There was a lot of screaming with everyone trying to get a picture."
"We had to sign waivers [to be filmed] but we had no idea what for. We were just told it was for a documentary by the school," Adams said, adding that Keeping Up With the Kardashians cameras...
Kylie Jenner, who never got to go to prom, arrived at the Rio Americano dance at Tsakapoulos Library Galleria with her best friend, Jordyn Woods. We're told the 19-year-old reality star attended as the date of senior Albert Ochoa and stayed for about 30 minutes, after taking photos and mingling with students.
Related: Kylie Jenner's 'Inner Space Cowgirl' Comes Alive at Friends' Birthday Party -- See the Pics!
"We had no idea that she was going to show up! It was a huge surprise," senior Sam Adams told Et. "Everyone went crazy! There was a lot of screaming with everyone trying to get a picture."
"We had to sign waivers [to be filmed] but we had no idea what for. We were just told it was for a documentary by the school," Adams said, adding that Keeping Up With the Kardashians cameras...
- 4/9/2017
- Entertainment Tonight
Rachel Maddow’s surprise announcement Tuesday night that she would be broadcasting portions of President Donald Trump‘s tax returns created a frenzy on social media.
But by the time The Rachel Maddow Show aired, reaction was mixed. Many liberals were disappointed that Maddow only had two pages of the billionaire businessman’s taxes from 2005 – and no bombshell.
Conservatives – including the president’s son Donald Trump Jr. – crowed that the documents showed Trump paid $38 million on $150 million in revenue, seemingly refuting claims that he dodged taxes.
Kal Penn got bored and changed the channel to Real Housewives of Beverley Hills.
But by the time The Rachel Maddow Show aired, reaction was mixed. Many liberals were disappointed that Maddow only had two pages of the billionaire businessman’s taxes from 2005 – and no bombshell.
Conservatives – including the president’s son Donald Trump Jr. – crowed that the documents showed Trump paid $38 million on $150 million in revenue, seemingly refuting claims that he dodged taxes.
Kal Penn got bored and changed the channel to Real Housewives of Beverley Hills.
- 3/15/2017
- by Stephanie Petit
- PEOPLE.com
Fox’s time-travel comedy Making History hops across centuries to show us the highlights of American history, but a word of warning: If you actually learn anything, that’s purely by accident.
Sunday’s series premiere introduces us to Dan (Adam Pally), a lazy goofball who works in maintenance at a Boston-area college. He has a secret life, though: Using a duffel bag he found among his dead father’s belongings, he’s able to time-travel to any era he chooses. He keeps going back to Lexington around the time of the American Revolution, because he’s found a sweet...
Sunday’s series premiere introduces us to Dan (Adam Pally), a lazy goofball who works in maintenance at a Boston-area college. He has a secret life, though: Using a duffel bag he found among his dead father’s belongings, he’s able to time-travel to any era he chooses. He keeps going back to Lexington around the time of the American Revolution, because he’s found a sweet...
- 3/6/2017
- TVLine.com
If Drunk History were a little more drunk and included a lot more gym bags, it might look something like Making History. Fox's newest time travel show is very different from the rest of TV's time travel shows, which often aim to both inform and make history a little sexier. Making History does not make history sexier, but it does make it funnier, like in this exclusive clip which finds Dan (Adam Pally) introducing his friend Chris (Yassir Lester) to his other pals, John Hancock and Sam Adams. When the Sam Adams (Neil Casey) offers to let Chris try his new beer, he obviously says yes and excitedly takes a swig. Unfortunately, he learns the hard way that just because a dude might be a...
- 3/1/2017
- E! Online
Time travel is everywhere you look on TV these days — Timeless, Frequency, Legends of Tomorrow, Time After Time — and yet it’s usually of the life-or-death, save-the-world variety. But what if you just want to use your time machine to meet girls and party, man?
That’s the refreshingly lowbrow premise behind Fox’s Making History (premiering Sunday, March 5 at 8:30/7:30c), starring Adam Pally as a modern-day loser who uses a giant duffel bag to travel through time and rearrange past events for his own selfish benefit. Gleefully poking fun at revered historical figures and armed with a supporting cast of alt-comedy all-stars,...
That’s the refreshingly lowbrow premise behind Fox’s Making History (premiering Sunday, March 5 at 8:30/7:30c), starring Adam Pally as a modern-day loser who uses a giant duffel bag to travel through time and rearrange past events for his own selfish benefit. Gleefully poking fun at revered historical figures and armed with a supporting cast of alt-comedy all-stars,...
- 2/28/2017
- TVLine.com
Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway‘s Best Picture mix-up will go down as the biggest Oscar upset in history. Once viewers were able to pick their jaws up off the floor after the colossal flub, they quickly began drawing comparisons to recent upsets in other spheres — namely the election outcome few saw coming and the Patriots’ improbable, come-from-behind Super Bowl victory.
The consensus on Twitter is that everyone is very much over 11th-hour twists — unless it means there’s still hope for a President Hillary Clinton.
“Are We Absolutely Sure Hillary Didn’T Win,” one Twitter user asked.
“Oscars givin...
The consensus on Twitter is that everyone is very much over 11th-hour twists — unless it means there’s still hope for a President Hillary Clinton.
“Are We Absolutely Sure Hillary Didn’T Win,” one Twitter user asked.
“Oscars givin...
- 2/27/2017
- by Tierney McAfee
- PEOPLE.com
When “The Young Pope” debuted overseas, America kept quiet. Premiering at the Venice Film Festival in September 2016 and then on Italian TV in late October, Jude Law devotees and Paolo Sorrentino aficionados were aware, but little spirit — holy or otherwise — survived the trip across the pond. Even when HBO announced the premiere date and sent out a trailer in early December, it took another month for the series to catch fire and send white smoke billowing from the internet’s chimney.
Read More: ‘The Young Pope’: Paolo Sorrentino Explains That Stellar Opening Sequence, Kangaroos and More
Yet when the signal sounded, the dopest pope of TV was quickly coronated. Memes, fan art, and more funny commentary spread across the web like prayers during lent — quickly and in droves. We’ve discussed them a few times already, but here are a few choice offerings to set the mood:
i’m...
Read More: ‘The Young Pope’: Paolo Sorrentino Explains That Stellar Opening Sequence, Kangaroos and More
Yet when the signal sounded, the dopest pope of TV was quickly coronated. Memes, fan art, and more funny commentary spread across the web like prayers during lent — quickly and in droves. We’ve discussed them a few times already, but here are a few choice offerings to set the mood:
i’m...
- 1/23/2017
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
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Hitler was a big fan of Fritz Lang’s great science fiction film Metropolis. In what year does the film take place?
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Hitler was a big fan of Fritz Lang’s great science fiction film Metropolis. In what year does the film take place?
1984 1997 2026 Correct
Lang fled Germany in 1934 after Hitler’s rise.
Incorrect
Question 2 of 10 2. Question 1 points
Charlton Heston blows up the world in Beneath The Planet of the Apes.
- 11/21/2016
- by TFH
- Trailers from Hell
Roald Dahl Rankings by Sam Adams Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) When it comes to Roald Dahl adaptations, there’s Wes Anderson‘s, and then there’s everyone else’s. Stop-motion animation was a logical step for one of the movies’ great miniaturists, and the animal-kingdom setting softens the harshness of Dahl’s worldview, which on screen often hardens into grotesquerie and cynicism. Like most of Anderson’s movies, “Mr. Fox” hides serious melancholy beneath its lacquered surface, just as Dahl’s whimsy mingles with the macabre. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) Watched with adult eyes, Mel Stuart’s candy-coated adventure looks awfully threadbare in spots,...
- 9/13/2016
- by Sam Adams
- The Wrap
Frank Castle, meet thy enemy?
Netflix’s latest Marvel spinoff, The Punisher, has cast English actor Ben Barnes (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian) in a series-regular role opposite Jon Bernthal’s titular vigilante, TVLine has learned exclusively. Character info is sketchy, but one rumor making the rounds has Barnes — who will next be seen in HBO’s big-budget Westworld — portraying antagonist Bobby Saint, the corrupt crime prodigy played in the 2004 film by James Carpinello.
RelatedSquirrel Girl on TV? Marvel Developing New Warriors Comedy Series
A Netflix rep declined to comment.
Barnes’ stateside TV credits also include playing Sam Adams...
Netflix’s latest Marvel spinoff, The Punisher, has cast English actor Ben Barnes (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian) in a series-regular role opposite Jon Bernthal’s titular vigilante, TVLine has learned exclusively. Character info is sketchy, but one rumor making the rounds has Barnes — who will next be seen in HBO’s big-budget Westworld — portraying antagonist Bobby Saint, the corrupt crime prodigy played in the 2004 film by James Carpinello.
RelatedSquirrel Girl on TV? Marvel Developing New Warriors Comedy Series
A Netflix rep declined to comment.
Barnes’ stateside TV credits also include playing Sam Adams...
- 9/12/2016
- TVLine.com
“Kubo and the Two Strings” is being hailed by critics as a “masterpiece” and “the best animated film of the summer, and perhaps of the year.” Scoring 92 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, critics are noting the beautiful animation and filmmaking techniques as well as the voice work of actors like Charlize Theron, Ralph Fiennes, Rooney Mara and Matthew McConaughey. “As with any well-worn myth, what matters is not the tale but the telling, and it’s there that ‘Kubo’ outshines virtually everything that the major studios have put into multiplexes this year,” wrote TheWrap’s film critic Sam Adams. “Every frame of Laika’s.
- 8/16/2016
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Wrap
In animated feature “Kubo and the Two Strings,” a young boy named Kubo must locate a magical suit of armor worn by his late father in order to defeat a vengeful spirit from the past. The film, directed by Travis Knight, boast a starry voice cast including Charlize Theron, Ralph Fiennes, George Takei, Matthew McConaughey, and Rooney Mara. Thanks to critics’ raves, the family film has been building buzz ahead of its August 19th release.
Here’s what they’re saying:
IndieWire’s David Ehrlich gave the movie an A-grade and called it a “stop-motion masterpiece… Kubo” is “staggeringly beautiful and immensely true, the best animated film of 2016 — one of the year’s best films of any kind, really — is a stop-motion fable about a one-eyed boy in mythical Japan that was made by a team of gifted visionaries in an Oregon warehouse.”
Read More: Review: ‘Kubo And The Two Strings...
Here’s what they’re saying:
IndieWire’s David Ehrlich gave the movie an A-grade and called it a “stop-motion masterpiece… Kubo” is “staggeringly beautiful and immensely true, the best animated film of 2016 — one of the year’s best films of any kind, really — is a stop-motion fable about a one-eyed boy in mythical Japan that was made by a team of gifted visionaries in an Oregon warehouse.”
Read More: Review: ‘Kubo And The Two Strings...
- 8/13/2016
- by Liz Calvario
- Indiewire
Two pints of Sam Adams, but he’s working on three...four...five...six? Who is more well-versed on the bad blood between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr—drunk or sober—than Lin-Manuel Miranda? Come September, TV audiences are about to find out what theater lovers already know: just how historically knowledgeable the Broadway star actually is. The Pulitzer- and Tony-winning “Hamilton” creator and former star is set to breakdown the infamous duel between Burr and the $10 Founding Father while under the influence for Comedy Central’s “Drunk History,” it was announced at San Diego Comic-Con. “Drunk History’s” upcoming 10 episodes will also feature performances from Michael Cera, Kat Dennings, Billie Joe Armstrong, Ed Helms, Josh Charles, 2016 Emmy nominees Thomas Middleditch and Tony Hale, Aubrey Plaza, Liev Schreiber, Busy Philipps, and many more. Read: “ ‘Drunk History’ Pours Itself an Emmy Nomination” Miranda played Hamilton for the last time on July...
- 7/22/2016
- backstage.com
How the Filmmaker Honors Women by Capturing Our World Authentically.
In case you missed it during your trip to Mars: the new, very funny and in some ways, revolutionary Ghostbusters — co-written by Katie Dippold and Paul Feig — stars four exceptional women in lead roles. After much noisy whining and many buckets of tears shed by insecure manbabies, we finally know that the Paul Feig-directed remake is indeed very good, stands on its own as a fresh take on an existing universe and resides harmoniously alongside the original film that came 32 years before it. But that’s not all. We also know that the new Ghostbusters thankfully isn’t just a simplistic gender-swapped comedy that forces male-centric themes onto its story just for the sake of being gentle on the aforementioned manbaby crusaders and skeptics. It is instead unapologetically true to the female experience in portraying its lead characters (played by Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig...
In case you missed it during your trip to Mars: the new, very funny and in some ways, revolutionary Ghostbusters — co-written by Katie Dippold and Paul Feig — stars four exceptional women in lead roles. After much noisy whining and many buckets of tears shed by insecure manbabies, we finally know that the Paul Feig-directed remake is indeed very good, stands on its own as a fresh take on an existing universe and resides harmoniously alongside the original film that came 32 years before it. But that’s not all. We also know that the new Ghostbusters thankfully isn’t just a simplistic gender-swapped comedy that forces male-centric themes onto its story just for the sake of being gentle on the aforementioned manbaby crusaders and skeptics. It is instead unapologetically true to the female experience in portraying its lead characters (played by Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig...
- 7/19/2016
- by Tomris Laffly
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
“Central Intelligence” could have been another mindless action-comedy, but instead, critics are praising the film as “comedy gold,” “smarter than you might expect” and hail Dwayne Johnson‘s performance in particular. “Johnson proves his comic chops are as strong as his ab crunches, and his chemistry with Hart is as explosive as the inevitable pyrotechnics,” writes Sean P. Means from The Salt Lake Tribune. “Hart and Johnson — or, as the film’s advertising calls them, ‘a little Hart and a big Johnson’ — are well matched to their ‘Central Intelligence’ roles,” says TheWrap’s film critic Sam Adams. Also Read: 5 Reasons Why 'Central Intelligence'.
- 6/17/2016
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Wrap
Former TV Aquaman Alan Ritchson will be a far cry away from Atlantis in Syfy’s near-apocalyptic Blood Drive.
RelatedKilljoys, Dark Matter Get Season 2 Premiere Dates at Syfy
The Smallville alum has joined the cast of the upcoming grindhouse cinema-inspired series, which centers around the last good cop in Los Angeles (played by Ritchson) and his dangerous femme fatale partner.
Ritchson’s Arthur Bailey is a former officer who is forced to join the Blood Drive, an underground death race in which the cars run on human blood.
Ready for more of today’s newsy nuggets? Well…
* Game of Thrones‘ Season 6 finale,...
RelatedKilljoys, Dark Matter Get Season 2 Premiere Dates at Syfy
The Smallville alum has joined the cast of the upcoming grindhouse cinema-inspired series, which centers around the last good cop in Los Angeles (played by Ritchson) and his dangerous femme fatale partner.
Ritchson’s Arthur Bailey is a former officer who is forced to join the Blood Drive, an underground death race in which the cars run on human blood.
Ready for more of today’s newsy nuggets? Well…
* Game of Thrones‘ Season 6 finale,...
- 6/8/2016
- TVLine.com
The launch of the Legends & Lies franchise’s Season 2, Legends & Lies: The Patriots delivered 1.44M Sunday at 8 Pm. In the news demo, the season starter scored 202,000. In total viewers, it was the night’s No. 1 ranked cable news program. In the news demo, it was No. 1 in its timeslot among the cable news nets. The season two premiere, which chronicled the start of the American revolution with Paul Revere and Sam Adams, was up 39% in total viewers and a whopping 96% in…...
- 6/8/2016
- Deadline TV
We've just about hit the halfway mark for 2016, and already Deadpool, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Captain America: Civil War and X-Men: Apocalypse have taken cineplexes by storm. August will see the much-hyped Suicide Squad premiere (at which point Jared Leto will presumably quit tormenting his former costars) and November brings Benedict Cumberbatch and Tilda Swinton in the mystical Doctor Strange. Audiences can then look forward to new films featuring Wolverine, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Thor, and the Justice League in 2017, along with a soon-to-be-announced Marvel film from Fox.
- 6/1/2016
- Rollingstone.com
[[tmz:video id="0_x9iuzmun"]] If Justin Bieber's got beef with his fans, he didn't show it as he partied hard in a couple of Boston bars like any other 22-year-old ... who can afford round after round of shots. After his Purpose concert Wednesday, Justin hit up Storyville nightclub and looked totally comfortable being the life of the party. He was up on the bar doing tequila shots, and didn't mind people taking photos. A rep from 6one7 Productions...
- 5/12/2016
- by TMZ Staff
- TMZ
Well, the long-awaited trailer to Paul Feig's all-female Ghostbusters reboot is here, and the Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon-starring clip has plenty of tongues a-wagging. (That's what tongues do, right? They wag.) Predictably, opinion is split between people who were supportive of the idea of an all-female 'Busters reboot from the beginning, and people who were going to be all up in arms about it based solely on the concept. So let's dive into the Twitter quagmire and see what the hive-mind thought, eh? Well, okay. Pass. #Ghostbusters— Liz O'GingerMcIrish (@lizzyf620) March 3, 2016At least...
- 3/3/2016
- by Alex Heigl, @alex_heigl
- PEOPLE.com
Read More: Berlin Review: With 'Midnight Special,' Jeff Nichols Offers Up a Very Special Sci-Fi Thriller Filmmaker Jeff Nichols is having a very good trip to the Berlin International Film Festival this year. Just hours after his "Midnight Special" debuted at the festival (to mixed reviews that, as Sam Adams at Criticwire notes, still make it sound like an essential watch for fans of both Nichols' brand of restrained cinema and the wonder implicit in early Steven Spielberg films), Nichols has sold his next film to Focus Features. Deadline reports that Nichols' "Loving," based on the historic Loving v. Virginia case, was picked up for a deal worth $9 million for both North America and most international territories, including the UK and Latin America. The film stars Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga as Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial married couple who were jailed for their union in 1958 Viriginia.
- 2/13/2016
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
This year the Art House Convergence has seen a huge jump in attendance. Eleven years ago when Sundance initiated the Art House Convergence a small handful of arthouse theater owners were in attendance. Five years ago when I began coming, there were more exhibitors plus the distributors of art house cinema began to come to chat and discuss their offerings. The congenial mix of the two charmed me. It reminded me of the early days of Sundance in the late 80s when acquisitions execs all knew and liked each other and we were able to cover all the ground without stress.
This year there were so many more people - about 600 total - including vendors of everything an exhibitor must need plus a parallel event of the Film Festival Alliance, a great initiative of Ifp established in 2010 in which festivals get together to discuss mutual interests.
The confluence of the smaller regional festivals and the art house theaters is a natural fit since the festivals are held in the theaters and bring in the community, obviously a desired outcome of art house exhibitors. All that combined makes for a much larger event than ever before and points toward even greater growth for Ahc, something perhaps to be desired but also something which perhaps will not be quite so welcoming for newcomers as the earlier events.
The topics covered in the break out sessions are a large part about the logistics of U.S. art house operations from creating fan bases and membership. Another large part focuses on festival logistics from starting a film festival – and here I want to give a plug to Jon Gann, the founder of DC Shorts Film Festival for his new book, So, You Want to Start a Film Festival: Conversations with Top Festival Creators -- to the panel “Conversation with Sundance Senior Manager Adam Montgomery” in which Montgomery discussed Sundance’s process of accepting submissions, the work flow, planning, technology, usage tips and more.
Some awards by way of recognition to those who established indies as a going concern and are keeping it going through their hard work and devotion were Gary Meyer, founder of Landmark Theaters in 1975, Jan Klingenhofer and Chapin Cutter.
Niches and small business introducing themselves included the former Emerging Pictures executive Barry Rebo with his new startup CineConductor, along with his international partner Ymagis. The service for a $75 per month fee allows theaters to download unlimited DCPs (The Digital Cinema Package is a collection of digital files used to store and convey digital cinema (DC) audio, image, and data streams.) from all distributors – an easy and cheaper way for theaters to show more films at various times during the week.
Barry Rebo of CineConductor says, “We had a terrific Art House Convergence. We arrived with 51 high profile arthouse members and left with close to 65, maybe more once we re-connect with ones now tied up at the actual festival.
Current venues are both evangelizing our value to new venues and lobbying rights holders to deliver their booked film via the CineConductor service rather than hard drives. It not only save the venues money it makes their day-to-day operations ever more efficient.
We also have two high profile international film agencies we are servicing via the portal - UniFrance’s ongoing Young French Cinema 2 and Tiff & TeleFilm Canada’s upcoming See The North series.
More information about CineConductor: Click this link.
Considering we only debuted the system - really a 'soft opening' - at last year’s Ahc and connected the first batch of venues beginning in June of ‘15 getting to 51 quality sites by the end of the first indicates the service is being seen as being both highly cost effective (venues join on a Network Access Fee basis - no charge for equipment and only $75.00 per month for Unlimited Dcp deliveries of Specialty Film & Event Cinema programs offered by their rights holder via CineConductor.
Rights Holders (Rh) - traditional distribution companies; international film advocacy groups; international sales agents; the filmmakers themselves pay nothing today to post on the CineConductor portal. They pay only $50.00 per feature Dcp delivery Includes Kdm if requested) and $10.00 per Dcp trailer set (flat and scope) once they accept an engagement directly from a participating venue. It’s a great deal for both the exhibition and distribution sides of the arthouse field.
For the broader arthouse community - exhibitors, distributors and audiences - our decision to go this way was based on our belief that by offering a flat fee, more valuable content is made available on more screens. More onscreen diversity will drive a more diverse audience. I’m happy to report it’s already working as planned.
What we have created is truly and international platform. My investor/ parent company, Ymagis, is Paris-based and operates all across Europe. See www.ymagis.com "
Another endeavor of note is Benjamin Oberman’s (Film Festival Flix) mountain climbing film “Citadel” around which he can mobilize literally millions of outdoors sports folk through organizations he has formed alliances with in every region of the U.S. This type of specialized distribution is one excellent way into the future! Compared to his development of this last year, he has moved miles ahead.
Another to watch is Bobbi Thompson as she creates pop-up theaters in studio spaces with art exhibition for adults with learning disabilities and other handicaps.
An example of the new types of festivals is that of Gary Meyer, always a pioneer from his launching of Landmark theaters, of animation showcases, of Telluride Film Festival programming to his newest, Eat Drink Films. Based in a San Francisco his site discusses film and food and hosts recently Real Food Media also announced the launch of its third-annual contest with a call for submissions of super-short films on underreported issues, unique change-makers and creative solutions to foster a broad, public conversation about solving our global food system’s most intractable problems – from hunger to diet-related illnesses to environmental crises.
And Ahc has gone international. Last year a few folks from France, Europa Cinemas and the U.S. in Progress in Poland (American Film Festival’s Ula Sniegowska) and in France (Adeline Monzier of Unifrance) were here. This year they are here again and joined by Brigitte Hubmann of Telefilm Canada with film packages available directly to theaters via Barry Rebo’s CineConductor, a model that German films and all other national film entities should emulate. Also attending this year is Europa International, a consortium of 40 European international sales agents from 13 European countries looking to find direct outlets to theaters without the distribution middleman. This will become increasingly important at Netflix swopes down on worldwide digital rights acquisitions. TrustNordisk’s head of sales, Susan Wendt from Denmark represented Europa International here.
Europa International’s panel presented European case studies on ways to attract new audiences in the era of social media with an eye toward directing young people towards “quality” cinema and fostering critical minds while forming partnership strategies included Justin Camileri of Euro Media Forum, Fatima Djoumer of Europa Cinemas, Matts Gillmor of Palladium, Elisa Giovannelli of Cineteca Bologna and Justyna Kociszewska of Kino Lab.
U.S. distributor Neil Friedman’s Menemsha Films is here with the Jonathan Pryce film “Dough” a funny and feel-good trans-cultural mix proving ‘you don’t have to be Jewish’ to love this film. Representing Menemsha at Ahc is former United King acquisitions executive from Israel, Oded Horowitz, who has now moved to California with his partner and their 6 year old twin girls. Diarah N’Daw-Spech of ArtMattan is here among now old friends managing to inject some diversity into a little too homogenous population of film lovers.
This place is full of 'our' people, that is, we-the-now-older generation who got this thing going in the 80s: those I mentioned above plus Paul Cohen, Ira Deutchman, Anne Thompson, Mj Pekos (Dada Films), Larry Greenberg (Momentum/ eOne), Richard Abramowitz (Abramarama), Cary Jones (IFC), Peter Baxter (Slamdance), Peter Becker (Janus) (who was a young one when we began but was there - and our sympathy to him for his father’s passing… whose colleague Jonathan Turrell whose father Saul in those days in print distribution at Janus Films was one of New York’s most colorful figures), Ron Diamond (Animation Show of Shows), Peter Belsito (SydneysBuzz), Mark Fishkin (California Film Institute), Christian Gaines (ArtPrize), Larry Kardish (Board member and former head of NY Film Society, Lincoln Center, now with Chatham Film Club), Greg Laemmle of Laemmle Theaters, Los Angeles’ preeminent indie arthouse started by his grandfather Carl Laemmle, former head of Universal (!), Richard Lorber (Kino Lorber), Scott Mansfield (monterey media), Mike Thomas (Theatre Properties) and Michael Donaldson (Donaldson & Callif).
After the panel “Why Critics Matter: A Conversation with Anne Thompson and Sam Adams” moderated by Ira Deutchman, a discussion of contemporary film criticism and its importance within the independent exhibition community created a flurry of comments on the Ahc newsletter which you can read along with other year round commentaries of importance by subscribing to Google Groups "Art House Convergence". Sam Adams himself writes,
“In a national survey covering 25 art house theaters and 20,000 patrons, Avenue Isr's Woody Smith said that reviews were the third-most important tool in drawing audiences to theaters, just behind recommendations from friends. (Most-effective, by a wide margin: trailers.) 41 percent of respondents listed print reviews among the most important factors, with online reviews at 35 percent, although the former number drops dramatically when limited to viewers 35 or younger.
Speaking anecdotally to me, many exhibitors told me that Rotten Tomatoes plays a huge role in what films audiences select. In one medium-sized market, the local paper, which no longer employs its own critics, uses the Tomatometer to decide which review to pull from the wire services: If it's "fresh," they run a positive review; if it's "rotten," they run a pan. By pretty much any measure, that's a huge dereliction of duty — not to mention incredibly lazy journalistic practice — but the good news is that same exhibitor sought me out later to tell me he going to start a criticism contest for local students, bringing back dialogue to a community that's lost an outlet for those voices.”
At Ahc with a new panel discussion, one most worthy of notice is Hollie Mahadeo, General Manager of Enzian Theater in Maitland Florida. Her initiative, Starting Young: Hooking Youth on Cinema, discussed cultivating the next generation of filmgoers and film lovers. Amy Averett of Alamo Drafthouse, Mats Gillmor of Palladium and Hollie Mahadeo of Enzian spoke of their successes in this crucial area.
Hollie has spent 17 years building a home for youth in cinema. Art houses do not generally think about kids because the ones working in them are usually young and single and the ones attending them are usually grandparents. As Hollie and her colleagues grew, they married and now have children and so are concerned with how cinema and their own children will interact. Six years ago their audience was all over 40 and so they began programming to get 20-somethings in.
Then they started courting the children with their Peanut Butter Matinees, programming films to appeal to the children and their parents, like “Neverending Story”. These monthly matinees work well for parents with children from five to ten years who would not ordinarily go to cinemas. The room seats 220 but is filled with tables and chairs so some play while others eat and others sit enraptured by the cinema. They have 1,200 screenings in a year and are a $3.5 million organization in all.
The Peanut Butter Matinee has a kid friendly menu, balloons to take away, raffles to take part in and the film, always projected digitally. It has grown to special holiday celebrations for Christmas, Halloween, Easter and the children have also grown. The events are free for children under 12; all others buy $8 tickets.
Amy of Alamo states that it is cheaper to bring kids to the movies than to hire a babysitter.
Enzion has also instituted a Filmmaking Camp, a summer day camp now in its seventh year. It began as a one-week camp for 10 kids but now has a four-week camp, Thirty-two kids go to a two-week session in Camp 1 and another 32 go to a second two-week session. They have temporary staff of two filmmakers who bring in the equipment and one head instructor, a teacher from a local film school and a counselor to help with the scheduling, meals, and other issues. There are volunteer filmmakers from college and a junior counselor program for kids too old to be campers but too young to be filmmakers (yet). The oldest graduate of the camp is now in high school and looking at film schools. The youngest camper is in the fifth grade. At the end of the camp there are at least two world premiers.
Now they also have youth acting Programs. For grades 2 through 12, classes are held after school twice a week.
All in all, the Ahc was full and fun. The cold was bitter and when we left to go down the road to Sundance, about half of us were nursing our first winter colds which made for an even more fun filled Sundance Film Festival…well for me at least, my low energy level was no match of the excitement of the festival this year.
This year there were so many more people - about 600 total - including vendors of everything an exhibitor must need plus a parallel event of the Film Festival Alliance, a great initiative of Ifp established in 2010 in which festivals get together to discuss mutual interests.
The confluence of the smaller regional festivals and the art house theaters is a natural fit since the festivals are held in the theaters and bring in the community, obviously a desired outcome of art house exhibitors. All that combined makes for a much larger event than ever before and points toward even greater growth for Ahc, something perhaps to be desired but also something which perhaps will not be quite so welcoming for newcomers as the earlier events.
The topics covered in the break out sessions are a large part about the logistics of U.S. art house operations from creating fan bases and membership. Another large part focuses on festival logistics from starting a film festival – and here I want to give a plug to Jon Gann, the founder of DC Shorts Film Festival for his new book, So, You Want to Start a Film Festival: Conversations with Top Festival Creators -- to the panel “Conversation with Sundance Senior Manager Adam Montgomery” in which Montgomery discussed Sundance’s process of accepting submissions, the work flow, planning, technology, usage tips and more.
Some awards by way of recognition to those who established indies as a going concern and are keeping it going through their hard work and devotion were Gary Meyer, founder of Landmark Theaters in 1975, Jan Klingenhofer and Chapin Cutter.
Niches and small business introducing themselves included the former Emerging Pictures executive Barry Rebo with his new startup CineConductor, along with his international partner Ymagis. The service for a $75 per month fee allows theaters to download unlimited DCPs (The Digital Cinema Package is a collection of digital files used to store and convey digital cinema (DC) audio, image, and data streams.) from all distributors – an easy and cheaper way for theaters to show more films at various times during the week.
Barry Rebo of CineConductor says, “We had a terrific Art House Convergence. We arrived with 51 high profile arthouse members and left with close to 65, maybe more once we re-connect with ones now tied up at the actual festival.
Current venues are both evangelizing our value to new venues and lobbying rights holders to deliver their booked film via the CineConductor service rather than hard drives. It not only save the venues money it makes their day-to-day operations ever more efficient.
We also have two high profile international film agencies we are servicing via the portal - UniFrance’s ongoing Young French Cinema 2 and Tiff & TeleFilm Canada’s upcoming See The North series.
More information about CineConductor: Click this link.
Considering we only debuted the system - really a 'soft opening' - at last year’s Ahc and connected the first batch of venues beginning in June of ‘15 getting to 51 quality sites by the end of the first indicates the service is being seen as being both highly cost effective (venues join on a Network Access Fee basis - no charge for equipment and only $75.00 per month for Unlimited Dcp deliveries of Specialty Film & Event Cinema programs offered by their rights holder via CineConductor.
Rights Holders (Rh) - traditional distribution companies; international film advocacy groups; international sales agents; the filmmakers themselves pay nothing today to post on the CineConductor portal. They pay only $50.00 per feature Dcp delivery Includes Kdm if requested) and $10.00 per Dcp trailer set (flat and scope) once they accept an engagement directly from a participating venue. It’s a great deal for both the exhibition and distribution sides of the arthouse field.
For the broader arthouse community - exhibitors, distributors and audiences - our decision to go this way was based on our belief that by offering a flat fee, more valuable content is made available on more screens. More onscreen diversity will drive a more diverse audience. I’m happy to report it’s already working as planned.
What we have created is truly and international platform. My investor/ parent company, Ymagis, is Paris-based and operates all across Europe. See www.ymagis.com "
Another endeavor of note is Benjamin Oberman’s (Film Festival Flix) mountain climbing film “Citadel” around which he can mobilize literally millions of outdoors sports folk through organizations he has formed alliances with in every region of the U.S. This type of specialized distribution is one excellent way into the future! Compared to his development of this last year, he has moved miles ahead.
Another to watch is Bobbi Thompson as she creates pop-up theaters in studio spaces with art exhibition for adults with learning disabilities and other handicaps.
An example of the new types of festivals is that of Gary Meyer, always a pioneer from his launching of Landmark theaters, of animation showcases, of Telluride Film Festival programming to his newest, Eat Drink Films. Based in a San Francisco his site discusses film and food and hosts recently Real Food Media also announced the launch of its third-annual contest with a call for submissions of super-short films on underreported issues, unique change-makers and creative solutions to foster a broad, public conversation about solving our global food system’s most intractable problems – from hunger to diet-related illnesses to environmental crises.
And Ahc has gone international. Last year a few folks from France, Europa Cinemas and the U.S. in Progress in Poland (American Film Festival’s Ula Sniegowska) and in France (Adeline Monzier of Unifrance) were here. This year they are here again and joined by Brigitte Hubmann of Telefilm Canada with film packages available directly to theaters via Barry Rebo’s CineConductor, a model that German films and all other national film entities should emulate. Also attending this year is Europa International, a consortium of 40 European international sales agents from 13 European countries looking to find direct outlets to theaters without the distribution middleman. This will become increasingly important at Netflix swopes down on worldwide digital rights acquisitions. TrustNordisk’s head of sales, Susan Wendt from Denmark represented Europa International here.
Europa International’s panel presented European case studies on ways to attract new audiences in the era of social media with an eye toward directing young people towards “quality” cinema and fostering critical minds while forming partnership strategies included Justin Camileri of Euro Media Forum, Fatima Djoumer of Europa Cinemas, Matts Gillmor of Palladium, Elisa Giovannelli of Cineteca Bologna and Justyna Kociszewska of Kino Lab.
U.S. distributor Neil Friedman’s Menemsha Films is here with the Jonathan Pryce film “Dough” a funny and feel-good trans-cultural mix proving ‘you don’t have to be Jewish’ to love this film. Representing Menemsha at Ahc is former United King acquisitions executive from Israel, Oded Horowitz, who has now moved to California with his partner and their 6 year old twin girls. Diarah N’Daw-Spech of ArtMattan is here among now old friends managing to inject some diversity into a little too homogenous population of film lovers.
This place is full of 'our' people, that is, we-the-now-older generation who got this thing going in the 80s: those I mentioned above plus Paul Cohen, Ira Deutchman, Anne Thompson, Mj Pekos (Dada Films), Larry Greenberg (Momentum/ eOne), Richard Abramowitz (Abramarama), Cary Jones (IFC), Peter Baxter (Slamdance), Peter Becker (Janus) (who was a young one when we began but was there - and our sympathy to him for his father’s passing… whose colleague Jonathan Turrell whose father Saul in those days in print distribution at Janus Films was one of New York’s most colorful figures), Ron Diamond (Animation Show of Shows), Peter Belsito (SydneysBuzz), Mark Fishkin (California Film Institute), Christian Gaines (ArtPrize), Larry Kardish (Board member and former head of NY Film Society, Lincoln Center, now with Chatham Film Club), Greg Laemmle of Laemmle Theaters, Los Angeles’ preeminent indie arthouse started by his grandfather Carl Laemmle, former head of Universal (!), Richard Lorber (Kino Lorber), Scott Mansfield (monterey media), Mike Thomas (Theatre Properties) and Michael Donaldson (Donaldson & Callif).
After the panel “Why Critics Matter: A Conversation with Anne Thompson and Sam Adams” moderated by Ira Deutchman, a discussion of contemporary film criticism and its importance within the independent exhibition community created a flurry of comments on the Ahc newsletter which you can read along with other year round commentaries of importance by subscribing to Google Groups "Art House Convergence". Sam Adams himself writes,
“In a national survey covering 25 art house theaters and 20,000 patrons, Avenue Isr's Woody Smith said that reviews were the third-most important tool in drawing audiences to theaters, just behind recommendations from friends. (Most-effective, by a wide margin: trailers.) 41 percent of respondents listed print reviews among the most important factors, with online reviews at 35 percent, although the former number drops dramatically when limited to viewers 35 or younger.
Speaking anecdotally to me, many exhibitors told me that Rotten Tomatoes plays a huge role in what films audiences select. In one medium-sized market, the local paper, which no longer employs its own critics, uses the Tomatometer to decide which review to pull from the wire services: If it's "fresh," they run a positive review; if it's "rotten," they run a pan. By pretty much any measure, that's a huge dereliction of duty — not to mention incredibly lazy journalistic practice — but the good news is that same exhibitor sought me out later to tell me he going to start a criticism contest for local students, bringing back dialogue to a community that's lost an outlet for those voices.”
At Ahc with a new panel discussion, one most worthy of notice is Hollie Mahadeo, General Manager of Enzian Theater in Maitland Florida. Her initiative, Starting Young: Hooking Youth on Cinema, discussed cultivating the next generation of filmgoers and film lovers. Amy Averett of Alamo Drafthouse, Mats Gillmor of Palladium and Hollie Mahadeo of Enzian spoke of their successes in this crucial area.
Hollie has spent 17 years building a home for youth in cinema. Art houses do not generally think about kids because the ones working in them are usually young and single and the ones attending them are usually grandparents. As Hollie and her colleagues grew, they married and now have children and so are concerned with how cinema and their own children will interact. Six years ago their audience was all over 40 and so they began programming to get 20-somethings in.
Then they started courting the children with their Peanut Butter Matinees, programming films to appeal to the children and their parents, like “Neverending Story”. These monthly matinees work well for parents with children from five to ten years who would not ordinarily go to cinemas. The room seats 220 but is filled with tables and chairs so some play while others eat and others sit enraptured by the cinema. They have 1,200 screenings in a year and are a $3.5 million organization in all.
The Peanut Butter Matinee has a kid friendly menu, balloons to take away, raffles to take part in and the film, always projected digitally. It has grown to special holiday celebrations for Christmas, Halloween, Easter and the children have also grown. The events are free for children under 12; all others buy $8 tickets.
Amy of Alamo states that it is cheaper to bring kids to the movies than to hire a babysitter.
Enzion has also instituted a Filmmaking Camp, a summer day camp now in its seventh year. It began as a one-week camp for 10 kids but now has a four-week camp, Thirty-two kids go to a two-week session in Camp 1 and another 32 go to a second two-week session. They have temporary staff of two filmmakers who bring in the equipment and one head instructor, a teacher from a local film school and a counselor to help with the scheduling, meals, and other issues. There are volunteer filmmakers from college and a junior counselor program for kids too old to be campers but too young to be filmmakers (yet). The oldest graduate of the camp is now in high school and looking at film schools. The youngest camper is in the fifth grade. At the end of the camp there are at least two world premiers.
Now they also have youth acting Programs. For grades 2 through 12, classes are held after school twice a week.
All in all, the Ahc was full and fun. The cold was bitter and when we left to go down the road to Sundance, about half of us were nursing our first winter colds which made for an even more fun filled Sundance Film Festival…well for me at least, my low energy level was no match of the excitement of the festival this year.
- 2/2/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
I attended my second Art House Convergence in a row, just before Sundance, as the brainy kids in the room, from theater owners and film festival programmers to indie distributors, assemble for panels, screenings and partying before heading to the more intense Sundance. Columbia U film czar and indie veteran Ira Deutchman, co-founder of Emerging Pictures, grilled me and Criticwire's Sam Adams on where film criticism is heading in our increasingly noisy film culture. Ira Deutchman: How are film critics born? Sam Adams: You convince or con or trick someone into printing you for the first time. Once you get paid for it, you’re a professional. Basically, what you have is your skill and your reputation and now your social media following and everything else. But it’s something else. You build an audience, you build a body of knowledge, and hopefully have the tools to talk...
- 1/28/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
As noted a couple of weeks ago, the embargo on reviews of Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight, starring Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demian Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, James Parks, Dana Gourrier, Zoe Bell, Lee Horsley, Gene Jones, Keith Jefferson, Craig Stark, Belinda Owino and Channing Tatum, was to have been lifted on December 21, but as Sam Adams reported at Criticwire, the enthusiasm was already seeping through the cracks. Today, the dam broke. We're collecting reviews, we've got the trailer and video from the premiere, where Qt reminded us once again why he's one of cinema's great showmen. » - David Hudson...
- 12/16/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
As noted a couple of weeks ago, the embargo on reviews of Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight, starring Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demian Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, James Parks, Dana Gourrier, Zoe Bell, Lee Horsley, Gene Jones, Keith Jefferson, Craig Stark, Belinda Owino and Channing Tatum, was to have been lifted on December 21, but as Sam Adams reported at Criticwire, the enthusiasm was already seeping through the cracks. Today, the dam broke. We're collecting reviews, we've got the trailer and video from the premiere, where Qt reminded us once again why he's one of cinema's great showmen. » - David Hudson...
- 12/16/2015
- Keyframe
"The New York Film Critics Circle named Carol the best movie of 2015, with Todd Haynes, Phyllis Nagy and Ed Lachman receiving awards for best director, screenplay, and cinematographer," reports Sam Adams at Criticwire. "No other film won more than a single award." Best Actress goes to Saoirse Ronan for her performance in Brooklyn, Best Actor to Michael Keaton for Spotlight; Best Supporting Actress to Kristen Stewart and Clouds of Sils Maria and Best Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance for Bridge of Spies. Best Non-fiction Film: Frederick Wiseman's In Jackson Heights. Best Foreign Language Film: Timbuktu. Best Animated Feature: Inside Out. Best First Film: László Nemes for Son of Saul. » - David Hudson...
- 12/2/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
"The New York Film Critics Circle named Carol the best movie of 2015, with Todd Haynes, Phyllis Nagy and Ed Lachman receiving awards for best director, screenplay, and cinematographer," reports Sam Adams at Criticwire. "No other film won more than a single award." Best Actress goes to Saoirse Ronan for her performance in Brooklyn, Best Actor to Michael Keaton for Spotlight; Best Supporting Actress to Kristen Stewart and Clouds of Sils Maria and Best Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance for Bridge of Spies. Best Non-fiction Film: Frederick Wiseman's In Jackson Heights. Best Foreign Language Film: Timbuktu. Best Animated Feature: Inside Out. Best First Film: László Nemes for Son of Saul. » - David Hudson...
- 12/2/2015
- Keyframe
The best-reviewed TV series of the year so far is "Fargo" (FX), which has drawn raves from nearly everyone for its violent, off-kilter tale of a Fargo, N.D. crime family (led by the excellent Jean Smart), the Kansas City mob, a state trooper (Patrick Wilson), and a young beautician (Kirsten Dunst) who get mixed up in a triple murder in small-town Minnesota in 1979. Emphasis on the "nearly": in my review of the new season, I called creator Noah Hawley's strained vision "an aesthetic pileup on an icy road." (Criticwire's Sam Adams isn't a fan, either.) Otherwise, loyalists can take heart in the consensus that "Fargo" is even better form now than it was last season, when it became the spring's breakout sensation before nabbing the Emmy for Outstanding Miniseries. Season 2 premieres tonight at 10 p.m. on FX. Read excerpts from the glowing reviews below: Liz Shannon Miller,...
- 10/12/2015
- by Matt Brennan
- Thompson on Hollywood
"It's difficult to even think about No Home Movie in the context of Chantal Akerman's death," writes Sam Adams at Criticwire in the wake of today's devastating news. Yes. And yet. It screens tomorrow and Thursday at the New York Film Festival, and Glenn Kenny puts forward a powerful argument for thinking about it especially now. While it is, as Jordan Cronk's called it here in Keyframe, "a powerfully personal portrait of unbreakable bonds," it is also, Glenn Kenny points out, "a virtual treatise on filmmaking choices—especially filmmaking choices that are explicitly related to human mortality." We have more reviews, the trailer and clips. » - David Hudson...
- 10/6/2015
- Keyframe
"It's difficult to even think about No Home Movie in the context of Chantal Akerman's death," writes Sam Adams at Criticwire in the wake of today's devastating news. Yes. And yet. It screens tomorrow and Thursday at the New York Film Festival, and Glenn Kenny puts forward a powerful argument for thinking about it especially now. While it is, as Jordan Cronk's called it here in Keyframe, "a powerfully personal portrait of unbreakable bonds," it is also, Glenn Kenny points out, "a virtual treatise on filmmaking choices—especially filmmaking choices that are explicitly related to human mortality." We have more reviews, the trailer and clips. » - David Hudson...
- 10/6/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
Earlier this week, IndieWire's Sam Adams interviewed me, Mo Ryan, and Tim Goodman about the increasingly strange and outdated practice of reviewing new shows based just on the pilot episode. At one point, Sam asked what was the wrongest I ever was about a show's quality based on the pilot episode. I didn't have a great answer for that one, since I have a pretty good Spidey sense about when pilots aren't to be trusted (case in point: "Studio 60"), but I did think of an answer to a related question: What show was I most wrong in predicting its commercial success based on the pilot? The answer to that one's easy, and timely, because the show in question is airing a series finale special Sunday night at 9: "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." It's not that I was predicting its outright failure or anything. I actually found the pilot interesting...
- 9/25/2015
- by Alan Sepinwall
- Hitfix
Every year the movies seem to be dying. The writing is on the wall with attendance numbers and box office receipts and the Golden Age of TV. Will people still go to the movies if they can now watch high quality, HD programming from their own home?
Theater chains themselves have been reluctant to give in to Netflix and VOD, but at the risk of being made obsolete entirely, two chains are doing an experiment suggesting they may be willing to play ball. THR reported this week that Paramount, AMC Theaters, and Cineplex have struck a deal regarding two of their upcoming films, the new Paranormal Activity movie, and Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, both October releases. Traditionally, movies are not available on VOD or digital release until three to four months after their initial run in theaters is over, which can be anywhere from a month to six weeks for genre movies.
Theater chains themselves have been reluctant to give in to Netflix and VOD, but at the risk of being made obsolete entirely, two chains are doing an experiment suggesting they may be willing to play ball. THR reported this week that Paramount, AMC Theaters, and Cineplex have struck a deal regarding two of their upcoming films, the new Paranormal Activity movie, and Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, both October releases. Traditionally, movies are not available on VOD or digital release until three to four months after their initial run in theaters is over, which can be anywhere from a month to six weeks for genre movies.
- 7/10/2015
- by Brian Welk
- SoundOnSight
This week Amy Nicholson posted an essay titled “Stop Laughing At Old Movies, You $@%&ing Hipsters,” followed by a response / continuation from Sam Adams, titled “When You Laugh at Old Movies the Joke Is on You.” Both writers take a similar stance, criticizing individuals who watch old films and laugh at moments never intended as comedy (rear projection, artificial set pieces, etc).
I too have seen plenty of this behaviour, yet I fail to see it as problematic, nor do I feel the need to exert my own “superiority” (to employ a word they both use) over these types of viewers. Having spent much of my adult life reading about film, writing about film, and watching anything I have access to, I think it is safe to say I am a proud cinephile. And so are Nicholson and Adams; this is evident in their writing. Yet for some reason they...
I too have seen plenty of this behaviour, yet I fail to see it as problematic, nor do I feel the need to exert my own “superiority” (to employ a word they both use) over these types of viewers. Having spent much of my adult life reading about film, writing about film, and watching anything I have access to, I think it is safe to say I am a proud cinephile. And so are Nicholson and Adams; this is evident in their writing. Yet for some reason they...
- 4/30/2015
- by Griffin Bell
- SoundOnSight
We are back with our Game of Thrones podcast and joining us to discuss “The Wars to Come” is special guest, IndieWire editor Sam Adams. After four extraordinary seasons, we’ve come to expect great things from HBO’s flagship series, and while the season opener wasn’t the most exciting instalment, it still leaves us with plenty to discuss.
Playlist:
Sunset Rubdown – “Trumpets”
Give us a rating on Itunes! It would be greatly appreciated and it helps us reach a wider audience.
Listen on iTunes Follow Ricky on Twitter Follow Kate on Twitter Like us on Facebook
The post Game of Thrones Podcast #31: “The Wars to Come” appeared first on Sound On Sight.
Playlist:
Sunset Rubdown – “Trumpets”
Give us a rating on Itunes! It would be greatly appreciated and it helps us reach a wider audience.
Listen on iTunes Follow Ricky on Twitter Follow Kate on Twitter Like us on Facebook
The post Game of Thrones Podcast #31: “The Wars to Come” appeared first on Sound On Sight.
- 4/14/2015
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Welcome to the April 1, 2015 edition of Outrage Watch, HitFix's (almost) daily rundown of all the things folks are peeved about in entertainment. Today's top story: Tom Hanks' rapping son is issuing threats to Howard Stern. Safe to say Haze isn't delighted with Stern's mocking of him on his SiriusXM radio show. In a Twitter rant captured by Gossip Cop before said rant hit the trash bucket, the offspring of Hanks and wife Rita Wilson wrote in part: "Let me come up on your show b*tch… Come catch this fade… have me live on the air and we can go pound for pound see who looks like the fool you dried up old c*nt catch this fade… easy to talk sh*t in a closed off room p*ssy, have me up there in the studio with you let’s give the ppl what they want...I promise...
- 4/1/2015
- by Chris Eggertsen
- Hitfix
In the latest episode of Screen Talk, Criticwire editor Sam Adams fills in for Anne Thompson in a discussion with co-host Eric Kohn about the highlights of the True/False film festival, as well as whether or not film critics can be objective, and how to deal with those pesky "Ghostbusters" headlines. Plus: The best new movies in theaters this week. Read More: Welcome to Indiewire's 'Very Good TV Podcast' Screen Talk is available on iTunes. You can subscribe here or via RSS. Share your feedback with Thompson and Kohn on Twitter or sound off in the comments. Browse previous installments here, review the show on iTunes and be sure to let us know if you'd like to hear the hosts address specific issues in upcoming editions of Screen Talk.
- 3/13/2015
- by Indiewire
- Indiewire
A group of unlikely acquaintances unite to take down a common enemy in History’s Revolutionary War drama Sons of Liberty, and — to paraphrase a famous quotation from the era — it’s a time that tries even the most patient TV viewer’s soul.
The opening installment of the cable channel’s scripted miniseries, which premiered Sunday and continues through Tuesday, covers one of the most exciting epochs in American history: the years right before the colonies turned against British rule and decided to go to war for independence.
It was a time of great unrest, violence and intrigue… so...
The opening installment of the cable channel’s scripted miniseries, which premiered Sunday and continues through Tuesday, covers one of the most exciting epochs in American history: the years right before the colonies turned against British rule and decided to go to war for independence.
It was a time of great unrest, violence and intrigue… so...
- 1/26/2015
- TVLine.com
The ad campaign for Sons of Liberty makes it look like The Avengers in powered wigs. Jason O'Mara is… George Washington! Michael Raymond-James is… Paul Revere! Dean Norris is… Ben Franklin! They face the viewer, heads slightly inclined, glowering joyously: a secret society of early American heroes, fanning out across the Colonies, taking the fight to the Crown. At first this three-part History Channel series, which debuts tonight, seems like it'll live up to its ad campaign, to its detriment, and dumb history down into spectacle and action for action's sake. It gets better and slightly deeper as it goes along, but never to such an extent that you wouldn't rather be re-watching HBO's John Adams, or maybe 1776. In the prologue, set in 1765, future founding patriot Sam Adams (Ben Barnes) escapes tax assessors who're irked that he's letting his pals take a payment raincheck and leads them on a foot...
- 1/25/2015
- by Matt Zoller Seitz
- Vulture
The name Sam Adams may be familiar to most Americans nowadays as the name of a beer, but he was, of course, in real life one of the patriots instrumental in leading the American Revolution. He is one of the main characters followed in Sons of Liberty, the new scripted miniseries on History about the years leading up to that monumental event. The three-night, six-hour Sons of Liberty (named after the moniker the group of young freedom fighters gave themselves) chronicles the years 1765-1775. While the Revolution itself has been covered in many a film and TV series, these earlier … Continue reading →
The post Ben Barnes: Sons of Liberty a “rough-and-tumble” version of early American history appeared first on Channel Guide Magazine.
The post Ben Barnes: Sons of Liberty a “rough-and-tumble” version of early American history appeared first on Channel Guide Magazine.
- 1/25/2015
- by Jeff Pfeiffer
- ChannelGuideMag
American history heroes like John Adams, Paul Revere, John Hancock, and others will come to life in History Channel's latest miniseries Sons of Liberty, which follows these patriots on their quest to make history and win American independence. Ahead of the premiere on Sunday, star Ben Barnes will be on hand Saturday for a Q&A on EW's Facebook page. The Chronicles of Narnia star plays "instigator" Sam Adams in the Revolutionary War-drama. In this version, Adams is a natural born leader with a penchant for "mischief." The Facebook Q&A starts Saturday, Jan. 24 at 3 p.m. Et, with...
- 1/24/2015
- by Megan Daley
- EW.com - PopWatch
The new season of King Of The Nerds is here from TBS, which gave us the chance to catch up with show creator and host, Curtis Armstrong who talks about the challenges in getting “good nerds” and how the whole idea came from a film that was a bit less than a movie blockbuster. Plus this weekend, Ben Barnes portrays Sam Adams in the three night mini series Sons Of Liberty and tells us what surprising facts he learned from the script.
http://serve.castfire.com/audio/2425134/comicmix_2015-01-23-152234.64.mp3
On Monday, we head backstage to the set of USA Network’s Suits with series star, Patrick Adams. Be sure to follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.
http://serve.castfire.com/audio/2425134/comicmix_2015-01-23-152234.64.mp3
On Monday, we head backstage to the set of USA Network’s Suits with series star, Patrick Adams. Be sure to follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.
- 1/23/2015
- by Mike Raub
- Comicmix.com
It’s about this time of year – when the Oscar nominations are out and all eyes are on the most intellectual and well crafted of films – that Twitter goes a little insane.
There are only so many jokes you can make about the Oscar nominees. Thankfully, January often offers up some lighter fare for our humour needs. This year, the film slate has given us David Koepp’s Johnny Depp comedy, Mortdecai. Also starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, Olivia Munn, Paul Bettany, and Jeff Goldblum, the movie is a welcome oasis in the midst of a very political awards race.
Juxtaposing the lighthearted, madcap nature of Mortdecai against the more serious dramas in the Oscar race – particularly American Sniper and Selma – the best tweets about the Johnny Depp movie aren’t coming from theMortdecai’s official Twitter account, @PartTimeRogue. Instead, the bulk of Mortdecai tweets are from comedians, film critics,...
There are only so many jokes you can make about the Oscar nominees. Thankfully, January often offers up some lighter fare for our humour needs. This year, the film slate has given us David Koepp’s Johnny Depp comedy, Mortdecai. Also starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, Olivia Munn, Paul Bettany, and Jeff Goldblum, the movie is a welcome oasis in the midst of a very political awards race.
Juxtaposing the lighthearted, madcap nature of Mortdecai against the more serious dramas in the Oscar race – particularly American Sniper and Selma – the best tweets about the Johnny Depp movie aren’t coming from theMortdecai’s official Twitter account, @PartTimeRogue. Instead, the bulk of Mortdecai tweets are from comedians, film critics,...
- 1/23/2015
- by Sasha James
- Cineplex
Crews removed a time capsule dating back to 1795 on Thursday from the granite cornerstone of the Massachusetts Statehouse, where historians believe it was originally placed by Revolutionary War luminaries Samuel Adams and Paul Revere among others. The small time capsule is believed to contain items such as old coins, documents, newspapers and a metal plate that was owned by Revere. Secretary of State William Galvin speculated that some of the items could have deteriorated over time. Officials plan to X-ray the capsule on Sunday at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts to get some idea of the contents and possibly details on their condition,...
- 12/12/2014
- by Associated Press
- PEOPLE.com
The History channel isn’t above dropping some very famous names as it drums up buzz for Sons of Liberty, its three-night Revolutionary War-era miniseries.
Airing January 25, 26 and 27 at 9/8c, the mini follows a group of radical young men — Sam Adams, John Adams, Paul Revere, John Hancock and Dr. Joseph Warren included — as they secretly conspire to change the course of history and make America a nation.
The key art posters revealed below tout the Adamses, Revere and Hancock — played by Ben Barnes (The Chronicles of Narnia), Henry Thomas (E.T.), Michael Raymond-James (Once Upon a Time) and Rafe Spall (Prometheus...
Airing January 25, 26 and 27 at 9/8c, the mini follows a group of radical young men — Sam Adams, John Adams, Paul Revere, John Hancock and Dr. Joseph Warren included — as they secretly conspire to change the course of history and make America a nation.
The key art posters revealed below tout the Adamses, Revere and Hancock — played by Ben Barnes (The Chronicles of Narnia), Henry Thomas (E.T.), Michael Raymond-James (Once Upon a Time) and Rafe Spall (Prometheus...
- 12/2/2014
- TVLine.com
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