Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Rating: R
On 4K Ultra HD: December 13, 2022
Running Time: 117 minutes
Cast: Christopher Lambert, Roxanne Hart, Clancy Brown, and Sean Connery
Written by: Gregory Widen, Peter Bellwood, and Larry Ferguson
Directed by: Russell Mulcahy
Produced by: Peter S. Davis, William N. Panzer
Executive Producers: E.C. Monell
Associate Producers: Eva Monley, Harold Moskovitz, John H. Starke
Director of Photography: Gerry Fisher
Production Designer: Allan Cameron
Edited by: Peter Honess
Casting by: Diane Dimeo, Anne Henderson, Michael McLean
Costume Designer: Jim Acheson
Synopsis:
The original Highlander, in electrifying 4K! When Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) is slain in battle in the Scottish Highlands, his kinsfolk don’t mourn the tragedy of his death – they mourn the seeming witchcraft that’s brought him back to life. But MacLeod can’t die, and neither can Juan Ramírez (Sean Connery), who befriends Connor and shows him what it means to be immortal. Time dissolves,...
Rating: R
On 4K Ultra HD: December 13, 2022
Running Time: 117 minutes
Cast: Christopher Lambert, Roxanne Hart, Clancy Brown, and Sean Connery
Written by: Gregory Widen, Peter Bellwood, and Larry Ferguson
Directed by: Russell Mulcahy
Produced by: Peter S. Davis, William N. Panzer
Executive Producers: E.C. Monell
Associate Producers: Eva Monley, Harold Moskovitz, John H. Starke
Director of Photography: Gerry Fisher
Production Designer: Allan Cameron
Edited by: Peter Honess
Casting by: Diane Dimeo, Anne Henderson, Michael McLean
Costume Designer: Jim Acheson
Synopsis:
The original Highlander, in electrifying 4K! When Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) is slain in battle in the Scottish Highlands, his kinsfolk don’t mourn the tragedy of his death – they mourn the seeming witchcraft that’s brought him back to life. But MacLeod can’t die, and neither can Juan Ramírez (Sean Connery), who befriends Connor and shows him what it means to be immortal. Time dissolves,...
- 10/12/2022
- by ComicMix Staff
- Comicmix.com
Exclusive: Ensemble romantic thriller Andorra, also featuring Gillian Anderson secures German distribution.
Celluloid Dreams have unveiled a first round of pre-sales on Fred Schepisi’s romantic thriller Andorra which is due to start shooting in April.
It has been acquired for Austrian and Germany (Weltkino), Switzerland (Praesens-Film), Italy (01 Distribution) and Greece (Seven Films) and ex-Yugoslavia (Discovery) in Europe.
In Asia, Los Angeles-based DDDream has acquired for China and Chennai-based entertainment company Viswas bought rights for Singapore, Malaysia and India.
It has also sold to Australia (Madman Entertainment) the Middle East (Prime), Israel (Shoval Communication), the whole of Latin America (Impacto) and Airlines (CineSky Pictures).
Adapted from a novel by Peter Cameron, Andorra stars Pearce as Alexander Fox, a bookseller who leaves the Us to begin a new life abroad in small, idyllic Andorra.
Alexander’s attempts to reinvent himself take an unexpected turn after a woman’s body is found and he is a prime suspect.
The...
Celluloid Dreams have unveiled a first round of pre-sales on Fred Schepisi’s romantic thriller Andorra which is due to start shooting in April.
It has been acquired for Austrian and Germany (Weltkino), Switzerland (Praesens-Film), Italy (01 Distribution) and Greece (Seven Films) and ex-Yugoslavia (Discovery) in Europe.
In Asia, Los Angeles-based DDDream has acquired for China and Chennai-based entertainment company Viswas bought rights for Singapore, Malaysia and India.
It has also sold to Australia (Madman Entertainment) the Middle East (Prime), Israel (Shoval Communication), the whole of Latin America (Impacto) and Airlines (CineSky Pictures).
Adapted from a novel by Peter Cameron, Andorra stars Pearce as Alexander Fox, a bookseller who leaves the Us to begin a new life abroad in small, idyllic Andorra.
Alexander’s attempts to reinvent himself take an unexpected turn after a woman’s body is found and he is a prime suspect.
The...
- 2/11/2017
- ScreenDaily
Now this is a list that could result in a lot of fascinating dissection and thanks to HitFix it comes to our attention almost three years after it was originally released back in 2012, celebrating the Motion Picture Editors Guild's 75th anniversary. Over at HitFix, Kris Tapley asks, "Is this news to anyone elsec" Um, yes, I find it immensely interesting and a perfect starting point for anyone looking to further explore the art of film editing. In an accompanying article we get the particulars concerning what films were eligible and how films were to be considered: In our Jan-feb 12 issue, we asked Guild members to vote on what they consider to be the Best Edited Films of all time. Any feature-length film from any country in the world was eligible. And by "Best Edited," we explained, we didn't just mean picture; sound, music and mixing were to be considered as well.
- 2/4/2015
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
A random bit of researching on a Tuesday night led me to something I didn't know existed: The Motion Picture Editors Guild's list of the 75 best-edited films of all time. It was a feature in part celebrating the Guild's 75th anniversary in 2012. Is this news to anyone else? I confess to having missed it entirely. Naturally, I had to dig in. What was immediately striking to me about the list — which was decided upon by the Guild membership and, per instruction, was considered in terms of picture and sound editorial as opposed to just the former — was the most popular decade ranking. Naturally, the 1970s led with 17 mentions, but right on its heels was the 1990s. I wouldn't have expected that but I happen to agree with the assessment. Thelma Schoonmaker's work on "Raging Bull" came out on top, an objectively difficult choice to dispute, really. It was so transformative,...
- 2/4/2015
- by Kristopher Tapley
- Hitfix
A witty romantic drama, Words And Pictures stars the engaging duo of Juliette Binoche and Clive Owen working together on-screen for the first time.
Prep school English teacher Jack Marcus (Owen) laments his students’ obsession with social media and good grades rather than engaging with the power of the written word. A one-time literary star, Jack has not published in years filling his spare time with drink versus the art of language. He meets his match in Dina Delsanto (Binoche) – an abstract painter and new teacher on campus, who was once celebrated for her art. From the start, the two flirt and provoke each other with equal relish.
With a performance review looming and his teaching job on the line, Jack hatches an inspired plan for galvanizing student interest in their studies: he declares a war between Words and Pictures, confident that the former can convey greater meaning than the latter.
Prep school English teacher Jack Marcus (Owen) laments his students’ obsession with social media and good grades rather than engaging with the power of the written word. A one-time literary star, Jack has not published in years filling his spare time with drink versus the art of language. He meets his match in Dina Delsanto (Binoche) – an abstract painter and new teacher on campus, who was once celebrated for her art. From the start, the two flirt and provoke each other with equal relish.
With a performance review looming and his teaching job on the line, Jack hatches an inspired plan for galvanizing student interest in their studies: he declares a war between Words and Pictures, confident that the former can convey greater meaning than the latter.
- 3/31/2014
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The Shadow, the template for most of comic books’ mystery men, captured America’s imagination in radio and pulp magazines for decades. His paperback revival in the 1960s and 1970s (the latter with spectacular covers from Steranko) led to his brilliant portrayal by Denny O’Neil and Michael William Kaluta in the short-lived DC Comics adaptation. Currently, he’s cutting down the weed of crime for Dynamite Entertainment but this overlooked gem of a film is worth a look. Here are the official details:
Who knows what evil lurks in the shadow of men? The Shadow knows! Adapted from the long-running classic radio program and Walter B. Gibson’s popular pulp fiction, legendary crime-fighting superhero The Shadow comes to life in the 1994 film adaptation The Shadow, starring Alec Baldwin (30 Rock) from visionary filmmaker Russell Mulcahy (Resident Evil: Extinction, Highlander). Brimming with non-stop action and suspense, this wildly entertaining cinematic adventure...
Who knows what evil lurks in the shadow of men? The Shadow knows! Adapted from the long-running classic radio program and Walter B. Gibson’s popular pulp fiction, legendary crime-fighting superhero The Shadow comes to life in the 1994 film adaptation The Shadow, starring Alec Baldwin (30 Rock) from visionary filmmaker Russell Mulcahy (Resident Evil: Extinction, Highlander). Brimming with non-stop action and suspense, this wildly entertaining cinematic adventure...
- 12/10/2013
- by Robert Greenberger
- Comicmix.com
This review was written for the theatrical release of "The Golden Compass".With the glory of "The Lord of the Rings" cycle now fading, New Line looks to "The Golden Compass", the first of a projected series of films derived from Philip Pullman's widely read trilogy, "His Dark Materials", to get the studio back in the fantasy game.
This film just might do the trick. Because Pullman's emphasis is more on youthful heroes, beguiling magic and fantastical landscapes and less on the wars and machismo of "Rings", "Golden Compass" is a "soft" epic, a film touching on childhood fantasies with sturdy, unwavering characters driven to evil or good. More "Harry Potter", in other words, than "Beowulf".
Boxoffice looks substantial. Adapted and directed by Chris Weitz, "Golden Compass" possesses its own movie wizardry, ranging from terrific stunts and CG critters to otherworldly sets and all sorts of 2-D and 3-D visual effects. It's an imagination overload, yet the film maintains a steady course through the FX mire with a strong story line and viable characters at every turn.
"Golden Compass" takes place in an alternate reality Britain and Europe, where the time period appears to be late Charles Dickens and early Jules Verne. In a 19th century that features dirigibles, other exotic means of transport and mystical creatures, everyone is governed by an Orwellian overlord known as the Magisterium. A brave little orphan girl, Lyra (a bit of young acting magic that goes by the charming name of Dakota Blue Richards), grows up in an inexplicably pampered and carefree existence in Oxford.
Everyone in this world is conjoined by an animal spirit, a soul mate or alter ego called a "daemon," that entwines itself into that person's life. This is a major element in the storytelling, yet it makes for a cluttered mise-en-scene and must have been a bitch for the CG artists to produce, as virtually every character in the film is shadowed by a CG critter. (The film has more than 1,100 effects shots.) Lyra's daemon is named Pantalaimon (voiced by Freddie Highmore). Because Lyra is young, Pan can shape-shift into several animals as befit her unsettled moods.
Mysterious forces hover over this child. In rapid-fire events that can only happen when a movie is based on a detailed novel, her adventurer-scientist uncle Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig) turns up and almost immediately vanishes for the Arctic Circle to investigate a mysterious substance known as Dust. Her best chum, Roger (Ben Walker), is snatched away by the kidnapping Gogglers.
A college master unexpectedly presents her the gift of a metaphysical, truth-telling device called a Golden Compass. An ethereal yet possibly malevolent beauty, Mrs. Coulter (an icy Nicole Kidman), visits the college and just like that takes Lyra under her wing. Once Mrs. Coulter proves a distinctly unsuitable guardian, Lyra must escape with her life at stake.
The film is then off to the races as Lyra dashes for the Arctic while forming implausible alliances against the Magisterium with a series of human and nonhuman characters. Here the film's greatest weaknesses surface. Characters pop up as if cued by a railroad timetable. As Gogglers close in on Lyra, abruptly a seafaring clan known as Gyptians comes to her rescue. On the Gyptians' ship, a gorgeous witch, Serafina (Eva Green), materializes out of thin air, offering her help (which will really come in handy in the third act).
The Gyptians dock in the frozen north, and Lyra -- bizarrely unsupervised for someone the entire world is searching for -- immediately makes acquaintance with two more helpmates: a Texas "aeronaut" known as Lee Scoresby (Sam Elliott) and an armored Polar Bear named Iorek Byrnison (voiced by Ian McKellen).
Several grand fights, one key revelation, a rescue of Lyra's playmate plus an old-fashioned "To Be Continued" ending make for a rousing finish. Witches sweep out of the night sky, bad guys when shot vanish in balls of flame and the glories of free will get celebrated by championing a child who never does what she is told. What kid won't go for all this?
The blend of live action, CG and visual effects is superb, making what must have been a technological nightmare look easy as pie.
THE GOLDEN COMPASS
New Line
New Line in association with Ingenious Film Partnerspresents a Scholastic/A Depth of Field production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Chris Weitz
Based on the novel by: Philip Pullman
Producers: Deborah Forte, Bill Carraro
Executive producers: Bob Shaye, Michael Lynne, Toby Emmerich, Mark Ordesky, Ileen Maisel, Andrew Miano, Paul Weitz
Director of photography: Henry Braham
Production designer: Dennis Gassner
Music: Alexandre Desplat
Senior visual effects supervisor: Michael Fink
Costume designer: Ruth Myers
Editors: Peter Honess, Anne V. Coates, Kevinn Tent
Cast:
Mrs. Coulter: Nicole Kidman
Lord Asriel: Daniel Craig
Lyra: Dakota Blue Richards
Roger: Ben Walker
Pantalaimon's Voice: Freddie Highmore
Iorek Byrnison's Voice: Ian McKellen
Serafina: Eva Green
John Faa: Jim Carter
Farder Coram: Tom Courtenay
Ragnar Sturlusson's Voice: Ian McShane
Lee Scoresby: Sam Elliott
Magisterial Emissary: Derek Jacobi
Running time -- 114 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
This film just might do the trick. Because Pullman's emphasis is more on youthful heroes, beguiling magic and fantastical landscapes and less on the wars and machismo of "Rings", "Golden Compass" is a "soft" epic, a film touching on childhood fantasies with sturdy, unwavering characters driven to evil or good. More "Harry Potter", in other words, than "Beowulf".
Boxoffice looks substantial. Adapted and directed by Chris Weitz, "Golden Compass" possesses its own movie wizardry, ranging from terrific stunts and CG critters to otherworldly sets and all sorts of 2-D and 3-D visual effects. It's an imagination overload, yet the film maintains a steady course through the FX mire with a strong story line and viable characters at every turn.
"Golden Compass" takes place in an alternate reality Britain and Europe, where the time period appears to be late Charles Dickens and early Jules Verne. In a 19th century that features dirigibles, other exotic means of transport and mystical creatures, everyone is governed by an Orwellian overlord known as the Magisterium. A brave little orphan girl, Lyra (a bit of young acting magic that goes by the charming name of Dakota Blue Richards), grows up in an inexplicably pampered and carefree existence in Oxford.
Everyone in this world is conjoined by an animal spirit, a soul mate or alter ego called a "daemon," that entwines itself into that person's life. This is a major element in the storytelling, yet it makes for a cluttered mise-en-scene and must have been a bitch for the CG artists to produce, as virtually every character in the film is shadowed by a CG critter. (The film has more than 1,100 effects shots.) Lyra's daemon is named Pantalaimon (voiced by Freddie Highmore). Because Lyra is young, Pan can shape-shift into several animals as befit her unsettled moods.
Mysterious forces hover over this child. In rapid-fire events that can only happen when a movie is based on a detailed novel, her adventurer-scientist uncle Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig) turns up and almost immediately vanishes for the Arctic Circle to investigate a mysterious substance known as Dust. Her best chum, Roger (Ben Walker), is snatched away by the kidnapping Gogglers.
A college master unexpectedly presents her the gift of a metaphysical, truth-telling device called a Golden Compass. An ethereal yet possibly malevolent beauty, Mrs. Coulter (an icy Nicole Kidman), visits the college and just like that takes Lyra under her wing. Once Mrs. Coulter proves a distinctly unsuitable guardian, Lyra must escape with her life at stake.
The film is then off to the races as Lyra dashes for the Arctic while forming implausible alliances against the Magisterium with a series of human and nonhuman characters. Here the film's greatest weaknesses surface. Characters pop up as if cued by a railroad timetable. As Gogglers close in on Lyra, abruptly a seafaring clan known as Gyptians comes to her rescue. On the Gyptians' ship, a gorgeous witch, Serafina (Eva Green), materializes out of thin air, offering her help (which will really come in handy in the third act).
The Gyptians dock in the frozen north, and Lyra -- bizarrely unsupervised for someone the entire world is searching for -- immediately makes acquaintance with two more helpmates: a Texas "aeronaut" known as Lee Scoresby (Sam Elliott) and an armored Polar Bear named Iorek Byrnison (voiced by Ian McKellen).
Several grand fights, one key revelation, a rescue of Lyra's playmate plus an old-fashioned "To Be Continued" ending make for a rousing finish. Witches sweep out of the night sky, bad guys when shot vanish in balls of flame and the glories of free will get celebrated by championing a child who never does what she is told. What kid won't go for all this?
The blend of live action, CG and visual effects is superb, making what must have been a technological nightmare look easy as pie.
THE GOLDEN COMPASS
New Line
New Line in association with Ingenious Film Partnerspresents a Scholastic/A Depth of Field production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Chris Weitz
Based on the novel by: Philip Pullman
Producers: Deborah Forte, Bill Carraro
Executive producers: Bob Shaye, Michael Lynne, Toby Emmerich, Mark Ordesky, Ileen Maisel, Andrew Miano, Paul Weitz
Director of photography: Henry Braham
Production designer: Dennis Gassner
Music: Alexandre Desplat
Senior visual effects supervisor: Michael Fink
Costume designer: Ruth Myers
Editors: Peter Honess, Anne V. Coates, Kevinn Tent
Cast:
Mrs. Coulter: Nicole Kidman
Lord Asriel: Daniel Craig
Lyra: Dakota Blue Richards
Roger: Ben Walker
Pantalaimon's Voice: Freddie Highmore
Iorek Byrnison's Voice: Ian McKellen
Serafina: Eva Green
John Faa: Jim Carter
Farder Coram: Tom Courtenay
Ragnar Sturlusson's Voice: Ian McShane
Lee Scoresby: Sam Elliott
Magisterial Emissary: Derek Jacobi
Running time -- 114 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 11/30/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
With the glory of The Lord of the Rings cycle now fading, New Line looks to The Golden Compass, the first of a projected series of films derived from Philip Pullman's widely read trilogy, His Dark Materials, to get the studio back in the fantasy game.
This film just might do the trick. Because Pullman's emphasis is more on youthful heroes, beguiling magic and fantastical landscapes and less on the wars and machismo of Rings, Golden Compass is a "soft" epic, a film touching on childhood fantasies with sturdy, unwavering characters driven to evil or good. More Harry Potter, in other words, than Beowulf.
Boxoffice looks substantial. Adapted and directed by Chris Weitz, Golden Compass possesses its own movie wizardry, ranging from terrific stunts and CG critters to otherworldly sets and all sorts of 2-D and 3-D visual effects. It's an imagination overload, yet the film maintains a steady course through the FX mire with a strong story line and viable characters at every turn.
Golden Compass takes place in an alternate reality Britain and Europe, where the time period appears to be late Charles Dickens and early Jules Verne. In a 19th century that features dirigibles, other exotic means of transport and mystical creatures, everyone is governed by an Orwellian overlord known as the Magisterium. A brave little orphan girl, Lyra (a bit of young acting magic that goes by the charming name of Dakota Blue Richards), grows up in an inexplicably pampered and carefree existence in Oxford.
Everyone in this world is conjoined by an animal spirit, a soul mate or alter ego called a "daemon," that entwines itself into that person's life. This is a major element in the storytelling, yet it makes for a cluttered mise-en-scene and must have been a bitch for the CG artists to produce, as virtually every character in the film is shadowed by a CG critter. (The film has more than 1,100 effects shots.) Lyra's daemon is named Pantalaimon (voiced by Freddie Highmore). Because Lyra is young, Pan can shape-shift into several animals as befit her unsettled moods.
Mysterious forces hover over this child. In rapid-fire events that can only happen when a movie is based on a detailed novel, her adventurer-scientist uncle Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig) turns up and almost immediately vanishes for the Arctic Circle to investigate a mysterious substance known as Dust. Her best chum, Roger (Ben Walker), is snatched away by the kidnapping Gogglers.
A college master unexpectedly presents her the gift of a metaphysical, truth-telling device called a Golden Compass. An ethereal yet possibly malevolent beauty, Mrs. Coulter (an icy Nicole Kidman), visits the college and just like that takes Lyra under her wing. Once Mrs. Coulter proves a distinctly unsuitable guardian, Lyra must escape with her life at stake.
The film is then off to the races as Lyra dashes for the Arctic while forming implausible alliances against the Magisterium with a series of human and nonhuman characters. Here the film's greatest weaknesses surface. Characters pop up as if cued by a railroad timetable. As Gogglers close in on Lyra, abruptly a seafaring clan known as Gyptians comes to her rescue. On the Gyptians' ship, a gorgeous witch, Serafina (Eva Green), materializes out of thin air, offering her help (which will really come in handy in the third act).
The Gyptians dock in the frozen north, and Lyra -- bizarrely unsupervised for someone the entire world is searching for -- immediately makes acquaintance with two more helpmates: a Texas "aeronaut" known as Lee Scoresby (Sam Elliott) and an armored Polar Bear named Iorek Byrnison (voiced by Ian McKellen).
Several grand fights, one key revelation, a rescue of Lyra's playmate plus an old-fashioned "To Be Continued" ending make for a rousing finish. Witches sweep out of the night sky, bad guys when shot vanish in balls of flame and the glories of free will get celebrated by championing a child who never does what she is told. What kid won't go for all this?
The blend of live action, CG and visual effects is superb, making what must have been a technological nightmare look easy as pie.
THE GOLDEN COMPASS
New Line
New Line in association with Ingenious Film Partnerspresents a Scholastic/A Depth of Field production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Chris Weitz
Based on the novel by: Philip Pullman
Producers: Deborah Forte, Bill Carraro
Executive producers: Bob Shaye, Michael Lynne, Toby Emmerich, Mark Ordesky, Ileen Maisel, Andrew Miano, Paul Weitz
Director of photography: Henry Braham
Production designer: Dennis Gassner
Music: Alexandre Desplat
Senior visual effects supervisor: Michael Fink
Costume designer: Ruth Myers
Editors: Peter Honess, Anne V. Coates, Kevinn Tent
Cast:
Mrs. Coulter: Nicole Kidman
Lord Asriel: Daniel Craig
Lyra: Dakota Blue Richards
Roger: Ben Walker
Pantalaimon's Voice: Freddie Highmore
Iorek Byrnison's Voice: Ian McKellen
Serafina: Eva Green
John Faa: Jim Carter
Farder Coram: Tom Courtenay
Ragnar Sturlusson's Voice: Ian McShane
Lee Scoresby: Sam Elliott
Magisterial Emissary: Derek Jacobi
Running time -- 114 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
This film just might do the trick. Because Pullman's emphasis is more on youthful heroes, beguiling magic and fantastical landscapes and less on the wars and machismo of Rings, Golden Compass is a "soft" epic, a film touching on childhood fantasies with sturdy, unwavering characters driven to evil or good. More Harry Potter, in other words, than Beowulf.
Boxoffice looks substantial. Adapted and directed by Chris Weitz, Golden Compass possesses its own movie wizardry, ranging from terrific stunts and CG critters to otherworldly sets and all sorts of 2-D and 3-D visual effects. It's an imagination overload, yet the film maintains a steady course through the FX mire with a strong story line and viable characters at every turn.
Golden Compass takes place in an alternate reality Britain and Europe, where the time period appears to be late Charles Dickens and early Jules Verne. In a 19th century that features dirigibles, other exotic means of transport and mystical creatures, everyone is governed by an Orwellian overlord known as the Magisterium. A brave little orphan girl, Lyra (a bit of young acting magic that goes by the charming name of Dakota Blue Richards), grows up in an inexplicably pampered and carefree existence in Oxford.
Everyone in this world is conjoined by an animal spirit, a soul mate or alter ego called a "daemon," that entwines itself into that person's life. This is a major element in the storytelling, yet it makes for a cluttered mise-en-scene and must have been a bitch for the CG artists to produce, as virtually every character in the film is shadowed by a CG critter. (The film has more than 1,100 effects shots.) Lyra's daemon is named Pantalaimon (voiced by Freddie Highmore). Because Lyra is young, Pan can shape-shift into several animals as befit her unsettled moods.
Mysterious forces hover over this child. In rapid-fire events that can only happen when a movie is based on a detailed novel, her adventurer-scientist uncle Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig) turns up and almost immediately vanishes for the Arctic Circle to investigate a mysterious substance known as Dust. Her best chum, Roger (Ben Walker), is snatched away by the kidnapping Gogglers.
A college master unexpectedly presents her the gift of a metaphysical, truth-telling device called a Golden Compass. An ethereal yet possibly malevolent beauty, Mrs. Coulter (an icy Nicole Kidman), visits the college and just like that takes Lyra under her wing. Once Mrs. Coulter proves a distinctly unsuitable guardian, Lyra must escape with her life at stake.
The film is then off to the races as Lyra dashes for the Arctic while forming implausible alliances against the Magisterium with a series of human and nonhuman characters. Here the film's greatest weaknesses surface. Characters pop up as if cued by a railroad timetable. As Gogglers close in on Lyra, abruptly a seafaring clan known as Gyptians comes to her rescue. On the Gyptians' ship, a gorgeous witch, Serafina (Eva Green), materializes out of thin air, offering her help (which will really come in handy in the third act).
The Gyptians dock in the frozen north, and Lyra -- bizarrely unsupervised for someone the entire world is searching for -- immediately makes acquaintance with two more helpmates: a Texas "aeronaut" known as Lee Scoresby (Sam Elliott) and an armored Polar Bear named Iorek Byrnison (voiced by Ian McKellen).
Several grand fights, one key revelation, a rescue of Lyra's playmate plus an old-fashioned "To Be Continued" ending make for a rousing finish. Witches sweep out of the night sky, bad guys when shot vanish in balls of flame and the glories of free will get celebrated by championing a child who never does what she is told. What kid won't go for all this?
The blend of live action, CG and visual effects is superb, making what must have been a technological nightmare look easy as pie.
THE GOLDEN COMPASS
New Line
New Line in association with Ingenious Film Partnerspresents a Scholastic/A Depth of Field production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Chris Weitz
Based on the novel by: Philip Pullman
Producers: Deborah Forte, Bill Carraro
Executive producers: Bob Shaye, Michael Lynne, Toby Emmerich, Mark Ordesky, Ileen Maisel, Andrew Miano, Paul Weitz
Director of photography: Henry Braham
Production designer: Dennis Gassner
Music: Alexandre Desplat
Senior visual effects supervisor: Michael Fink
Costume designer: Ruth Myers
Editors: Peter Honess, Anne V. Coates, Kevinn Tent
Cast:
Mrs. Coulter: Nicole Kidman
Lord Asriel: Daniel Craig
Lyra: Dakota Blue Richards
Roger: Ben Walker
Pantalaimon's Voice: Freddie Highmore
Iorek Byrnison's Voice: Ian McKellen
Serafina: Eva Green
John Faa: Jim Carter
Farder Coram: Tom Courtenay
Ragnar Sturlusson's Voice: Ian McShane
Lee Scoresby: Sam Elliott
Magisterial Emissary: Derek Jacobi
Running time -- 114 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 11/30/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Looks like Lara Croft has no reason to sweat it.
Joining that seemingly limitless lineup of failed live action adaptations of video game/comic book/TV animated action hero vehicles, "Aeon Flux", sharing its name with the '90s MTV series created by Peter Chung, is simultaneously silly, ostentatious and terribly boring.
A misguided sophomore effort by "Girlfight" director Karyn Kusama, along with about a million f/x people, this lifeless sci-fi caper has the lovely, Oscar-winning Charlize Theron donning the futuristic body suits, but it proves to be an uncomfortable fit.
While Paramount wisely prevented critics from getting a sneak peek, the targeted young male, MTV-viewing demo will unlikely be hanging around beyond "Aeon"'s moderate first frame after word gets out, foreshadowing a treacherous second week plunge.
Set in the year 2415, a time when "Barbarella" apparently still proves to be a considerable stylistic influence, the film concerns the efforts of Theron's rebel operative title character to avenge the death of her family at the hands of government agents.
But when she receives her latest assignment from the impressively backlit The Handler (a waste of Frances McDormand) to assassinate Trevor Goodchild (Marton Csokas), the ruler of the walled city of Bregna that contains Earth's remaining survivors, she uncovers a deep dark secret about her past as well as Bregna's nasty blueprint for the future.
Or some clunky thing...
Director Kusama, whose indie first film received considerable critical attention, seemed like an odd choice to be handed a reasonably big-budgeted special effects thriller, and there's little that she brings to the finished project that would suggest otherwise.
Of course, the creatively vacant Phil Hay & Matt Manfredi ("Crazy/Beautiful") script, which coincidentally has several thematic elements in common with last summer's "The Island", doesn't help matters, especially with its roster of vapid characters speaking wispy sentence fragments subbing for dialogue.
That doesn't give Theron a lot to work with, so she lets her post-"Monster" freshly buffed body do most of the talking, accentuated by Beatrix Aruna Pasztor's outre frocks.
Supporting cast members, including Oscar nominees Sophie Okonedo as Aeon's four-handed pal Sithandra and Pete Postlethwaite as the Yoda-esque The Keeper, see their considerable talents go criminally underutilized here, while behind the scenes, even the efforts of three different editors fail to keep the lax "Flux" flowing.
"Aeon Flux"
Paramount
Paramount Pictures and Lakeshore Entertainment present a Valhalla Motion Pictures and MTV Films production
Credits: Director: Karyn Kusama; Screenwriters: Phil Hay & Matt Manfredi; Based upon characters created by: Peter Chung; Producers: Gale Anne Hurd, David Gale, Gary Lucchesi, Greg Goodman, Martha Griffin; Executive producers: Tom Rosenberg, Van Toffler; Director of photography: Stuart Dryburgh; Production designer: Andrew McAlpine; Editors: Peter Honess, Plummy Tucker, Jeff Gullo; Costume designer: Beatrix Aruna Pasztor; Music by: Graeme Revell. Cast: Aeon Flux: Charlize Theron; Trevor Goodchild: Marton Csokas; Oren Goodchild: Jonny Lee Miller; Sithandra: Sophie Okonedo; The Keeper: Pete Postlethwaite; Una Flux: Amelia Warner; The Handler: Frances McDormand.
MPAA rating PG-13, running time 88 minutes.
Joining that seemingly limitless lineup of failed live action adaptations of video game/comic book/TV animated action hero vehicles, "Aeon Flux", sharing its name with the '90s MTV series created by Peter Chung, is simultaneously silly, ostentatious and terribly boring.
A misguided sophomore effort by "Girlfight" director Karyn Kusama, along with about a million f/x people, this lifeless sci-fi caper has the lovely, Oscar-winning Charlize Theron donning the futuristic body suits, but it proves to be an uncomfortable fit.
While Paramount wisely prevented critics from getting a sneak peek, the targeted young male, MTV-viewing demo will unlikely be hanging around beyond "Aeon"'s moderate first frame after word gets out, foreshadowing a treacherous second week plunge.
Set in the year 2415, a time when "Barbarella" apparently still proves to be a considerable stylistic influence, the film concerns the efforts of Theron's rebel operative title character to avenge the death of her family at the hands of government agents.
But when she receives her latest assignment from the impressively backlit The Handler (a waste of Frances McDormand) to assassinate Trevor Goodchild (Marton Csokas), the ruler of the walled city of Bregna that contains Earth's remaining survivors, she uncovers a deep dark secret about her past as well as Bregna's nasty blueprint for the future.
Or some clunky thing...
Director Kusama, whose indie first film received considerable critical attention, seemed like an odd choice to be handed a reasonably big-budgeted special effects thriller, and there's little that she brings to the finished project that would suggest otherwise.
Of course, the creatively vacant Phil Hay & Matt Manfredi ("Crazy/Beautiful") script, which coincidentally has several thematic elements in common with last summer's "The Island", doesn't help matters, especially with its roster of vapid characters speaking wispy sentence fragments subbing for dialogue.
That doesn't give Theron a lot to work with, so she lets her post-"Monster" freshly buffed body do most of the talking, accentuated by Beatrix Aruna Pasztor's outre frocks.
Supporting cast members, including Oscar nominees Sophie Okonedo as Aeon's four-handed pal Sithandra and Pete Postlethwaite as the Yoda-esque The Keeper, see their considerable talents go criminally underutilized here, while behind the scenes, even the efforts of three different editors fail to keep the lax "Flux" flowing.
"Aeon Flux"
Paramount
Paramount Pictures and Lakeshore Entertainment present a Valhalla Motion Pictures and MTV Films production
Credits: Director: Karyn Kusama; Screenwriters: Phil Hay & Matt Manfredi; Based upon characters created by: Peter Chung; Producers: Gale Anne Hurd, David Gale, Gary Lucchesi, Greg Goodman, Martha Griffin; Executive producers: Tom Rosenberg, Van Toffler; Director of photography: Stuart Dryburgh; Production designer: Andrew McAlpine; Editors: Peter Honess, Plummy Tucker, Jeff Gullo; Costume designer: Beatrix Aruna Pasztor; Music by: Graeme Revell. Cast: Aeon Flux: Charlize Theron; Trevor Goodchild: Marton Csokas; Oren Goodchild: Jonny Lee Miller; Sithandra: Sophie Okonedo; The Keeper: Pete Postlethwaite; Una Flux: Amelia Warner; The Handler: Frances McDormand.
MPAA rating PG-13, running time 88 minutes.
- 12/20/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
No one ever saw the Shadow, the radio Mystery Man who first lurked on the scene some 60 years ago, except in their imagination. Now, his alternately sinister and heroic form is fleshed out in high-deco style with Universal's ''The Shadow.'' Stylishly directed by Russell Mulcahy, this witty entertainment will appeal to sci-fi and thriller buffs, but the marketing challenge will be to ''uncloud the vision'' of younger viewers.
''The Shadow'' begins at the pinnacle of hocus-pocus: in Tibet, as evil warlord Ying Ko (Alec Baldwin) is taken captive by a mystic who orders him to ''be redeemed.'' Ying Ko is transformed into Lamont Cranston, a dapper gent, and sent to New York to battle crime and evil. Fortunately for Cranston, the mystic has taught him secret powers of the mind and cloaked him in a new guise -- the Shadow. A dapper man-about-town during the day, Cranston transforms into an ethereal, brim-hatted crime fighter at night.
Even by Big Apple standards, Cranston/the Shadow confronts a lot of rot, not helped any by the supernatural arrival of the last of Genghis Khan's bloodline, Shiwan Khan (John Lone), who senses through the darker side of Cranston/the Shadow a kindred spirit, a potential partner in the conquest and destruction of New York.
Plotwise, ''The Shadow'' is a big spinner, involving development of the atomic bomb and all sorts of municipal madness all squared into another dimension. At times, it spins out of orbit, but it's generally engaging and nicely diced by screenwriter David Koepp's light-handed wit. In general, this ''Shadow'' is more to look at than to listen to. Its chief virtues are on the surface: Joseph Nemec III's ornate art-deco production design as well as the film's wide-ranging special effects are ''The Shadow' '' best features. Director Mulcahy's fast-moving dynamic, aided by cinematographer Stephen H. Burum's rhythmic shots, editor Peter Honess' zesty punctuation and composer Jerry Goldsmith's titanic score, brings necessary bulk to ''The Shadow' '' surface dimension.
As the Shadow, Baldwin is an apt blend of the suave and the sinister, while Lone is outstanding as the megalomaniac force of evil. The supporting players are bright spots, most notably Jonathan Winters as a crotchety police commissioner, Tim Curry as an obsequious turncoat and Peter Boyle as a roisterous cabbie.
THE SHADOW
Universal
A Bregman/Baer Prod.
A Film by Russell Mulcahy
Producers Martin Bregman, Willi Baer, Michael S. Bregman
Director Russell Mulcahy
Screenwriter David Koepp
Based on Advance Magazine Publisher's character ''The Shadow''
Executive producers Louis A. Stroller, Rolf Deyhle
Director of photography Stephen H. Burum
Production designer Joseph Nemec III
Editor Peter Honess
Co-executive producer Stan Weston
Music supervisor Jellybean Benitez
Music Jerry Goldsmith
Costume designer Bob Ringwood
Casting Mary Colquhoun
Sound mixer Keith Wester
Color/Stereo
Lamont Cranston/the Shadow Alec Baldwin
Shiwan Kahn John Lone
Margo LanePenelope Ann Miller
Moe Shrevnitz Peter Boyle
Reinhardt Lane Ian McKellen
Farley Claymore Tim Curry
Barth Jonathan Winters
Dr. Tam Sab Shimono
Running time -- 112 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
''The Shadow'' begins at the pinnacle of hocus-pocus: in Tibet, as evil warlord Ying Ko (Alec Baldwin) is taken captive by a mystic who orders him to ''be redeemed.'' Ying Ko is transformed into Lamont Cranston, a dapper gent, and sent to New York to battle crime and evil. Fortunately for Cranston, the mystic has taught him secret powers of the mind and cloaked him in a new guise -- the Shadow. A dapper man-about-town during the day, Cranston transforms into an ethereal, brim-hatted crime fighter at night.
Even by Big Apple standards, Cranston/the Shadow confronts a lot of rot, not helped any by the supernatural arrival of the last of Genghis Khan's bloodline, Shiwan Khan (John Lone), who senses through the darker side of Cranston/the Shadow a kindred spirit, a potential partner in the conquest and destruction of New York.
Plotwise, ''The Shadow'' is a big spinner, involving development of the atomic bomb and all sorts of municipal madness all squared into another dimension. At times, it spins out of orbit, but it's generally engaging and nicely diced by screenwriter David Koepp's light-handed wit. In general, this ''Shadow'' is more to look at than to listen to. Its chief virtues are on the surface: Joseph Nemec III's ornate art-deco production design as well as the film's wide-ranging special effects are ''The Shadow' '' best features. Director Mulcahy's fast-moving dynamic, aided by cinematographer Stephen H. Burum's rhythmic shots, editor Peter Honess' zesty punctuation and composer Jerry Goldsmith's titanic score, brings necessary bulk to ''The Shadow' '' surface dimension.
As the Shadow, Baldwin is an apt blend of the suave and the sinister, while Lone is outstanding as the megalomaniac force of evil. The supporting players are bright spots, most notably Jonathan Winters as a crotchety police commissioner, Tim Curry as an obsequious turncoat and Peter Boyle as a roisterous cabbie.
THE SHADOW
Universal
A Bregman/Baer Prod.
A Film by Russell Mulcahy
Producers Martin Bregman, Willi Baer, Michael S. Bregman
Director Russell Mulcahy
Screenwriter David Koepp
Based on Advance Magazine Publisher's character ''The Shadow''
Executive producers Louis A. Stroller, Rolf Deyhle
Director of photography Stephen H. Burum
Production designer Joseph Nemec III
Editor Peter Honess
Co-executive producer Stan Weston
Music supervisor Jellybean Benitez
Music Jerry Goldsmith
Costume designer Bob Ringwood
Casting Mary Colquhoun
Sound mixer Keith Wester
Color/Stereo
Lamont Cranston/the Shadow Alec Baldwin
Shiwan Kahn John Lone
Margo LanePenelope Ann Miller
Moe Shrevnitz Peter Boyle
Reinhardt Lane Ian McKellen
Farley Claymore Tim Curry
Barth Jonathan Winters
Dr. Tam Sab Shimono
Running time -- 112 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
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