Bruce Herbelin-Earle, Callum Turner, and Jack Mulhern in ‘The Boys in the Boat’ (Photo credit: Laurie Sparham © 2023 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc)
Ah, sports movies. The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat. From The Natural to Any Given Sunday, from Rocky to Miracle, there’s nothing quite like watching an underdog defy the odds and emerge victorious. It can even make a sport as seemingly tame as rowing interesting. Or, at least, that’s what Hollywood A-lister/former People’s Sexiest Man Alive George Clooney tries to do with his latest directorial effort, The Boys in the Boat.
Set in 1936 during The Great Depression, The Boys in the Boat is about University of Washington Crew Coach Al Ulbrickson (Joel Edgerton from The Gift) as he assembles and guides his Junior Varsity 8-man rowing team in what he considers to be “the most difficult team sport in the world.” And the group...
Ah, sports movies. The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat. From The Natural to Any Given Sunday, from Rocky to Miracle, there’s nothing quite like watching an underdog defy the odds and emerge victorious. It can even make a sport as seemingly tame as rowing interesting. Or, at least, that’s what Hollywood A-lister/former People’s Sexiest Man Alive George Clooney tries to do with his latest directorial effort, The Boys in the Boat.
Set in 1936 during The Great Depression, The Boys in the Boat is about University of Washington Crew Coach Al Ulbrickson (Joel Edgerton from The Gift) as he assembles and guides his Junior Varsity 8-man rowing team in what he considers to be “the most difficult team sport in the world.” And the group...
- 12/21/2023
- by James Jay Edwards
- Showbiz Junkies
From left: Bruce Herbelin-Earle, Callum Turner, and Jack Mulherne in The Boys In The BoatPhoto: Laurie Sparham/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures
A story like that of the 1936 University of Washington junior rowing team seems tailor-made to get the big-screen treatment. It’s got everything: thrilling races, affable characters, and, perhaps most important of all,...
A story like that of the 1936 University of Washington junior rowing team seems tailor-made to get the big-screen treatment. It’s got everything: thrilling races, affable characters, and, perhaps most important of all,...
- 12/15/2023
- by Manuel Betancourt
- avclub.com
Hollywood is full of inspiring sports-themed movies, especially those focused on underdogs who rise to the occasion. But films about rowing teams are few and far between — until now. Director George Clooney’s The Boys in the Boat is a gorgeous adaptation of the Depression-era story of a group of poor but scrappy young men who find a slice of glory when they become the USA’s choice to compete in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It is, to use a well worn cliché, a stand-up-and-cheer tale if ever there was one.
But the primary reason to cheer is the kind of unspoken underlying message within, that this is a sport where it is imperative that everyone in the boat rows as one, in unison and together physically and psychologically. This makes The Boys in the Boat not just enormously entertaining, but also important and relevant to our current world that is more divided,...
But the primary reason to cheer is the kind of unspoken underlying message within, that this is a sport where it is imperative that everyone in the boat rows as one, in unison and together physically and psychologically. This makes The Boys in the Boat not just enormously entertaining, but also important and relevant to our current world that is more divided,...
- 12/15/2023
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Director George Clooney on the set of his film The Boys In The Boat An Amazon MGM Studios film Photo credit: Laurie Sparham © 2023 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This summer, the upcoming Paris 2024 Summer Olympics will be held July 26 – August 11.
For the first time in history, the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games will not take place in a stadium. Thousands of athletes will parade in boats along the Seine, the river that flows through Paris, in front of hundreds of thousands of spectators.
A total of 40 sports are in the Olympics, including rowing.
On Christmas Day, George Clooney’s new film, The Boys In The Boat, is set for release – and it’s a terrific film!
Based on the best-selling book by Daniel James Brown, The Boys In The Boat tells the story of the bootstrapping University of Washington junior varsity rowing team that — against all odds — went...
This summer, the upcoming Paris 2024 Summer Olympics will be held July 26 – August 11.
For the first time in history, the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games will not take place in a stadium. Thousands of athletes will parade in boats along the Seine, the river that flows through Paris, in front of hundreds of thousands of spectators.
A total of 40 sports are in the Olympics, including rowing.
On Christmas Day, George Clooney’s new film, The Boys In The Boat, is set for release – and it’s a terrific film!
Based on the best-selling book by Daniel James Brown, The Boys In The Boat tells the story of the bootstrapping University of Washington junior varsity rowing team that — against all odds — went...
- 11/29/2023
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Film cameras strike big time as it seems that Dp chose celluloid to shoot the Oscar 2024 (96th Academy Awards) contenders. The most used camera is the Arricam (Lt and St) which, you have to admit, is an amazing fact. Additionally, there are new cameras on that list. Explore the camera charts below based on the IndieWire Cinematography Survey.
Oscar 2024: Camera Manufacturers Chart Oscar 2024 contenders: Cameras and lenses
IndieWire reached out to the directors of photography whose films are among the most critically acclaimed of the year, in order to explore which cameras and lenses they used (Make sure to read the IndieWire’s article where you can find Dp’s explanation of how they used their gear). As the tradition calls, we took the data to build friendly charts, trying to find a significant tendency and segmentation. Surprisingly, the most used camera is the Arricam. First,...
Oscar 2024: Camera Manufacturers Chart Oscar 2024 contenders: Cameras and lenses
IndieWire reached out to the directors of photography whose films are among the most critically acclaimed of the year, in order to explore which cameras and lenses they used (Make sure to read the IndieWire’s article where you can find Dp’s explanation of how they used their gear). As the tradition calls, we took the data to build friendly charts, trying to find a significant tendency and segmentation. Surprisingly, the most used camera is the Arricam. First,...
- 10/20/2023
- by Yossy Mendelovich
- YMCinema
The AcademyThe Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presents The Academy Awards, which is popularly known as the Oscars.Tnm StaffA collage of actors Suriya and KajolActors Suriya and Kajol are among the invitees to join The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The organisation has extended an invitation to 397 artists and others to join the organisation in 2022. "Membership selection is based on professional qualifications with an ongoing commitment to representation, inclusion and equity. This year's class of invitees includes 71 Oscar nominees, including 15 winners. The Academy is the organisation which presents The Academy Awards, popularly known as Oscars. Other Indians who made it to the list include filmmakers Reema Kagti, Sushmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas. Indian documentary Writing With Fire, made by Sushmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas, was recently nominated in the Best Documentary Feature category at the 94th edition of the Academy Awards. The documentary chronicled the rise of Khabar Lahariya,...
- 6/29/2022
- by BNitin
- The News Minute
Academy Invites 397 New Members, Including Billie Eilish, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jamie Dornan, Dana Walden
Anya Taylor-Joy, Billie Eilish, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Caitríona Balfe, Jamie Dornan and Disney exec Dana Walden are among the 397 artists and executives invited to join the membership of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. If all of this year’s invitees accept membership, it will bring the total number of Academy members to 10,665, with 9,665 eligible to vote for the 95th Oscars set to take place on March 12, 2023.
The 2022 class is 44 women, 37 belong to underrepresented ethnic/racial communities, and 50 are from 53 countries and territories outside the United States. There are 71 Oscar nominees, including 15 winners, among the invitees. Some of the big names invited are recent winners Ariana DeBose (“West Side Story”) and Troy Kotsur (“Coda”), and nominees Jessie Buckley (“The Lost Daughter”), Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee (“The Power of the Dog”). Also invited are a slew of global artists and artisans such as actors Robin de Jesús, Olga Merediz...
The 2022 class is 44 women, 37 belong to underrepresented ethnic/racial communities, and 50 are from 53 countries and territories outside the United States. There are 71 Oscar nominees, including 15 winners, among the invitees. Some of the big names invited are recent winners Ariana DeBose (“West Side Story”) and Troy Kotsur (“Coda”), and nominees Jessie Buckley (“The Lost Daughter”), Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee (“The Power of the Dog”). Also invited are a slew of global artists and artisans such as actors Robin de Jesús, Olga Merediz...
- 6/28/2022
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Producers: George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Ted Hope.
Executive producers: Barbara A. Hall, J.R. Moehringer.
Director: George Clooney.
Screenplay: William Monahan, based on the memoir by J.R. Moehringer.
Camera: Martin Ruhe.
Editor: Tanya M. Swerling.
Music: Dara Taylor.
Cast: Ben Affleck, Tye Sheridan, Lily Rabe, Christopher Lloyd, Max Martini, Rhenzy Feliz, Briana Middleton, Max Casella, Sondra James, Michael Braun, Daniel Ranieri.
…...
Executive producers: Barbara A. Hall, J.R. Moehringer.
Director: George Clooney.
Screenplay: William Monahan, based on the memoir by J.R. Moehringer.
Camera: Martin Ruhe.
Editor: Tanya M. Swerling.
Music: Dara Taylor.
Cast: Ben Affleck, Tye Sheridan, Lily Rabe, Christopher Lloyd, Max Martini, Rhenzy Feliz, Briana Middleton, Max Casella, Sondra James, Michael Braun, Daniel Ranieri.
…...
- 12/21/2021
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
George Clooney’s “The Tender Bar,” set in the working-class neighborhood of Manhasset, Long Island, spans 15 years starting in 1973. In the film, which bows Dec. 17 in theaters, young Jr Maguire, played by Daniel Ranieri, spends his time among family members: his mom (Lily Rabe), grandmother (Sondra James), grandfather (Christopher Lloyd) and uncle Charlie (Ben Affleck), the last of whom owns a bar called The Dickens.
The Dickens was a real Long Island establishment, but for the film, based on J.R. Moehringer’s memoir, the period setting was re-created in a number of Massachusetts towns, including Beverly, Braintree, Lowell and Worcester.
Production designer Kalina Ivanov outfitted a bar that reflects its past — not just in the thick hardback books that line its shelves but in the rest of the decor as well. “We decided it should be created in 1928 and rooted it in the history of the town, when it came...
The Dickens was a real Long Island establishment, but for the film, based on J.R. Moehringer’s memoir, the period setting was re-created in a number of Massachusetts towns, including Beverly, Braintree, Lowell and Worcester.
Production designer Kalina Ivanov outfitted a bar that reflects its past — not just in the thick hardback books that line its shelves but in the rest of the decor as well. “We decided it should be created in 1928 and rooted it in the history of the town, when it came...
- 12/3/2021
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Hollywood star Ewan McGregor is all set to play the late British mountaineering legend George Mallory in the upcoming adventure drama "Everest".
The film is directed by "The Bourne Identity" helmer Doug Liman and written for the screen by "Up In The Air" writer Sheldon Turner, reports hollywoodreporter.com.
Mark Strong and Sam Heughan will essay important roles in the film, while cinematographer Martin Ruhe, Oscar-winning composer T. Bone Burnett and production designer Oliver Scholl are also associated with the project.
"Everest" will be introduced to buyers at the Cannes Virtual Market during the prestigious Cannes film festival, being held this year from July 6 to 17. Shooting for the film begins in January next year, in the UK and Italy, according to Hollywood Reporter.
The film is directed by "The Bourne Identity" helmer Doug Liman and written for the screen by "Up In The Air" writer Sheldon Turner, reports hollywoodreporter.com.
Mark Strong and Sam Heughan will essay important roles in the film, while cinematographer Martin Ruhe, Oscar-winning composer T. Bone Burnett and production designer Oliver Scholl are also associated with the project.
"Everest" will be introduced to buyers at the Cannes Virtual Market during the prestigious Cannes film festival, being held this year from July 6 to 17. Shooting for the film begins in January next year, in the UK and Italy, according to Hollywood Reporter.
- 6/16/2021
- by Glamsham Bureau
- GlamSham
Hanway Films to handle international sales and distribution.
Ewan McGregor, Sam Heughan and Mark Strong are to star in Doug Liman’s adventure thriller Everest, which will begin shooting in the UK and Italy from January 2022.
Hanway Films is handling international sales and distribution of the feature, and will begin sales at the Cannes Pre-Screenings next week. UTA Independent Film Group will oversee the US sale.
The screenplay has been written by Sheldon Turner, whose credits include Up In The Air, and is inspired by Jeffrey Archer novel Paths Of Glory. The feature has been a passion project of Liman...
Ewan McGregor, Sam Heughan and Mark Strong are to star in Doug Liman’s adventure thriller Everest, which will begin shooting in the UK and Italy from January 2022.
Hanway Films is handling international sales and distribution of the feature, and will begin sales at the Cannes Pre-Screenings next week. UTA Independent Film Group will oversee the US sale.
The screenplay has been written by Sheldon Turner, whose credits include Up In The Air, and is inspired by Jeffrey Archer novel Paths Of Glory. The feature has been a passion project of Liman...
- 6/16/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Having recently tackled the world of haute couture in “Halston,” Ewan McGregor is going to break out his climbing gear to scale the heights in “Everest.”
The high-altitude adventure comes courtesy of Doug Liman, the exacting action auteur behind “The Bourne Identity” and “Edge of Tomorrow,” and will star McGregor as George Mallory, an English mountaineer who took part in the first three British expeditions to Mount Everest. This is, of course, not to be confused with 2015’s “Everest,” a re-telling of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, when eight climbers caught in a blizzard died while attempting to descend from the summit.
Here’s the official logline: “1921. Everest remains the very last great unconquered challenge on earth. Many have sacrificed their sanity and often their lives in the attempt to reach its fabled summit. George Mallory (McGregor) is picked by the arrogant Arthur Hinks (Strong) of the Royal Geographic Society to scale the impossible.
The high-altitude adventure comes courtesy of Doug Liman, the exacting action auteur behind “The Bourne Identity” and “Edge of Tomorrow,” and will star McGregor as George Mallory, an English mountaineer who took part in the first three British expeditions to Mount Everest. This is, of course, not to be confused with 2015’s “Everest,” a re-telling of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, when eight climbers caught in a blizzard died while attempting to descend from the summit.
Here’s the official logline: “1921. Everest remains the very last great unconquered challenge on earth. Many have sacrificed their sanity and often their lives in the attempt to reach its fabled summit. George Mallory (McGregor) is picked by the arrogant Arthur Hinks (Strong) of the Royal Geographic Society to scale the impossible.
- 6/16/2021
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Ewan McGregor, Outlander‘s Sam Heughan and Mark Strong have been set to star in Everest, an adventure thriller to be directed by Doug Liman from a script from Oscar-nominated Up in the Air scribe Sheldon Turner. The just announced pic is set to start shooting in the UK and Italy in January 22. HanWay Films will rep international sales and distribution beginning at the upcoming Cannes Virtual Market. UTA Independent Film Group will handle the U.S. sale.
Inspired by Jeffrey Archer’s novel Paths of Glory, the story is set in 1921 and centers on the real-life George Mallory (McGregor) who is picked by Arthur Hinks (Strong) of the Royal Geographic Society to scale the previously unconquerable Mt Everest. Following World War I, the fading British empire is desperate for a victory, but for Mallory and his rival, the eccentric Aussie George Finch (Heughan), the challenge has nothing to do with patriotism,...
Inspired by Jeffrey Archer’s novel Paths of Glory, the story is set in 1921 and centers on the real-life George Mallory (McGregor) who is picked by Arthur Hinks (Strong) of the Royal Geographic Society to scale the previously unconquerable Mt Everest. Following World War I, the fading British empire is desperate for a victory, but for Mallory and his rival, the eccentric Aussie George Finch (Heughan), the challenge has nothing to do with patriotism,...
- 6/16/2021
- by Patrick Hipes and Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Ewan McGregor, Sam Heughan and Mark Strong are set to star in “Everest,” the next film from director Doug Liman (“Edge of Tomorrow”) about a team of climbers in 1921 who attempt to brave the world’s tallest peak, Mount Everest.
The film is being presented to buyers at the Cannes Film Market next week, with UTA Independent Film Group overseeing the U.S. sale and HanWay Films handling international sales and distribution. Production aims to begin in the UK and Italy in January 2022, and the film is produced by Jennifer Klein and Liman.
“Everest” is not based on a true story of real climbers, but is inspired by the novel “Paths of Glory” by author Jeffrey Archer. The book tells the story of a climber named George Mallory who died attempting to climb Everest; in the novel, it remained a mystery whether or not he ever reached the summit.
The...
The film is being presented to buyers at the Cannes Film Market next week, with UTA Independent Film Group overseeing the U.S. sale and HanWay Films handling international sales and distribution. Production aims to begin in the UK and Italy in January 2022, and the film is produced by Jennifer Klein and Liman.
“Everest” is not based on a true story of real climbers, but is inspired by the novel “Paths of Glory” by author Jeffrey Archer. The book tells the story of a climber named George Mallory who died attempting to climb Everest; in the novel, it remained a mystery whether or not he ever reached the summit.
The...
- 6/16/2021
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
The American Society of Cinematographers (Asc) has weighed in with picks for the best cinematography in film and television over the last year. Like other major guild ceremonies including the Directors Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild, the Asc nominees are looked at closely by Oscar pundits considering the overlap between guild members and the Academy. Over the last decade, the eventual Oscar winner for Best Cinematography has at least been nominated for the Asc prize for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases.
Last year’s ASC winner was Roger Deakins for “1917.” Deakins also won the ASC prize for “Blade Runner 2049.” In both cases, the legendary Dp went on to win the Oscar for Best Cinematography. Wally Pfister for “Inception” and Emmanuel Lubezki for “Gravity,” “Birdman,” and “The Revenant” are other recent examples of Asc winners who also prevailed at the Academy Awards. The Asc...
Last year’s ASC winner was Roger Deakins for “1917.” Deakins also won the ASC prize for “Blade Runner 2049.” In both cases, the legendary Dp went on to win the Oscar for Best Cinematography. Wally Pfister for “Inception” and Emmanuel Lubezki for “Gravity,” “Birdman,” and “The Revenant” are other recent examples of Asc winners who also prevailed at the Academy Awards. The Asc...
- 3/10/2021
- by Zack Sharf and Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
At six of the last eight Oscars, Best Cinematography has gone hand-in-hand with Best Director: Claudio Miranda and Ang Lee for “Life of Pi” (2013); Emmanuel Lubezki and Alfonso Cuaron for “Gravity” (2014); Lubezki and Alejandro G. Inarritu for both “Birdman” (2015) and “The Revenant” (2016); Linus Sandgren and Damien Chazelle for “La La Land” (2017); and Cuaron doing double duty on “Roma” (2019). Will that trend hold true this year? (Scroll down for the most up-to-date 2021 Oscars predictions for Best Cinematography.)
The academy usually regards award-winning cinematography as pretty pictures within an epic technical feat of filmmaking. While great lighting and framing are laudable on their own, having a movie that looks like it was difficult to shoot goes a long way to snagging an Oscar. Recent lensing winners “Avatar” (2009), “Inception” (2010), “Hugo” (2011), “Life of Pi” (2012), “Gravity” (2013), “Blade Runner 2049” (2018) and “1917” (2020) also took home the Oscar for Best Visual Effects.
While the lensers of “Inception...
The academy usually regards award-winning cinematography as pretty pictures within an epic technical feat of filmmaking. While great lighting and framing are laudable on their own, having a movie that looks like it was difficult to shoot goes a long way to snagging an Oscar. Recent lensing winners “Avatar” (2009), “Inception” (2010), “Hugo” (2011), “Life of Pi” (2012), “Gravity” (2013), “Blade Runner 2049” (2018) and “1917” (2020) also took home the Oscar for Best Visual Effects.
While the lensers of “Inception...
- 3/4/2021
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
George Clooney’s “The Midnight Sky” also stars Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Kyle Chandler and Demián Bichir, but Clooney’s right-hand man in the film is a little girl, newcomer Caoilinn Springall. The Netflix drama, which premieres Wednesday, marks the feature film debut of the 8-year-old, who was the last person to audition among “hundreds” of girls, Clooney tells Gold Derby in a joint interview with Springall (watch above).
“She walked in and it felt immediately like Caoilinn was the right one,” the two-time Oscar winner shares. “There are things that are tricky to do as an actor — not just young actors, any actor — which is it’s hard to be afraid, to be scared. So we did some improvising and stuff like that, and Caoilinn did a great job. And I called her up and asked her if she wanted to do it.”
“I remember when George was holding the camera and just went,...
“She walked in and it felt immediately like Caoilinn was the right one,” the two-time Oscar winner shares. “There are things that are tricky to do as an actor — not just young actors, any actor — which is it’s hard to be afraid, to be scared. So we did some improvising and stuff like that, and Caoilinn did a great job. And I called her up and asked her if she wanted to do it.”
“I remember when George was holding the camera and just went,...
- 12/23/2020
- by Joyce Eng
- Gold Derby
“For a film about the apocalypse, it’s really uplifting,” said Cate Blanchett about “The Midnight Sky,” George Clooney‘s new science fiction film set for limited release on December 11, followed by a streaming premiere on Netflix on December 23. Blanchett interviewed Clooney about the film after a special virtual screening on December 8 presented by the American Film Institute.
See‘The Midnight Sky’ trailer: George Clooney poised to bring sci-fi back to Oscars in a big way [Watch]
Clooney produced and directed “The Midnight Sky” in addition to starring as Augustine Lofthouse, a scientist left on Earth in 2049 following a cataclysmic event that has made the planet uninhabitable, but considering the globe’s climate crisis, “it’s not a science fiction that we could destroy ourselves by 2049. That’s not an inconceivable thing at all,” Clooney explained. Then the Covid-19 pandemic struck after the film wrapped and gave the story an even greater resonance.
See‘The Midnight Sky’ trailer: George Clooney poised to bring sci-fi back to Oscars in a big way [Watch]
Clooney produced and directed “The Midnight Sky” in addition to starring as Augustine Lofthouse, a scientist left on Earth in 2049 following a cataclysmic event that has made the planet uninhabitable, but considering the globe’s climate crisis, “it’s not a science fiction that we could destroy ourselves by 2049. That’s not an inconceivable thing at all,” Clooney explained. Then the Covid-19 pandemic struck after the film wrapped and gave the story an even greater resonance.
- 12/20/2020
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
Having seen The Midnight Sky earlier in the week, I can vouch for the film being good. Not only is it bigger in scope than almost anything that George Clooney has attempted before, it’s intimate in nature, too. Clooney’s acting and direction are very much on point here. With the flick hitting select theaters tomorrow, in advance of dropping on Netflix two days before Christmas, the streaming service has released a final trailer. This last sales pitch does a good job of suggesting what’s on display here, while still leaving plenty to be discovered. It’s a good one, so don’t miss out on it. As always, the trailer can be seen at the bottom of this post, so read on… Once again, the movie is a sci-fi tale, as you might expect. Here is the official synopsis from Netflix: “Our humanity always endures. This post-apocalyptic...
- 12/10/2020
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
What kinds of collaborations with directors do today’s top cinematographers prefer? When looking for their next project, is there something specific they are looking for – the script, the director, an element of surprise? How do they decide who to hire as camera operators?
These were just some of the questions answered by four of filmdom’s best lensers during Gold Derby’s Meet the Btl Experts panel, conducted virtually by this writer. Watch our full group interview with Bryce Fortner (“I’m Your Woman”), Shelly Johnson (“Greyhound”), Martin Ruhe (“The Midnight Sky”) and Lorenzo Senatore (“The Outpost”) above.
All four of our panelists also took part in separate individual interviews that delved deeper into their own films. Watch each of these by clicking on their names below.
Shelly Johnson is best-known for such films as “Bill and Ted Face the Music,” “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “The Expendables 2,” “Jurassic Park III” and “The Wolfman.
These were just some of the questions answered by four of filmdom’s best lensers during Gold Derby’s Meet the Btl Experts panel, conducted virtually by this writer. Watch our full group interview with Bryce Fortner (“I’m Your Woman”), Shelly Johnson (“Greyhound”), Martin Ruhe (“The Midnight Sky”) and Lorenzo Senatore (“The Outpost”) above.
All four of our panelists also took part in separate individual interviews that delved deeper into their own films. Watch each of these by clicking on their names below.
Shelly Johnson is best-known for such films as “Bill and Ted Face the Music,” “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “The Expendables 2,” “Jurassic Park III” and “The Wolfman.
- 12/9/2020
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
“The Midnight Sky” cinematographer Martin Ruhe readily admits that this movie (which is akin to “Gravity” meets “The Revenant”) made for one of the most difficult shoots of his career. “When we started the film, we were shooting in Iceland and we were filming on a glacier. We went into real snowstorms, it was so cold.” Ruhe was part of Gold Derby’s Meet the Btl Experts panel, conducted virtually by this writer (watch above).
Ruhe welcomed the opportunity to reunite with George Clooney to make this Netflix release. The pair had worked together on the 2010 film “The American” and the 2019 limited series “Catch 22.” As with the latter, Clooney pulled triple duty on this new Netflix release as star, director and producer. The Oscar-winning actor plays a scientist in the Arctic racing to stop a crew of astronauts from returning home to a mysterious global catastrophe.
See‘The Midnight...
Ruhe welcomed the opportunity to reunite with George Clooney to make this Netflix release. The pair had worked together on the 2010 film “The American” and the 2019 limited series “Catch 22.” As with the latter, Clooney pulled triple duty on this new Netflix release as star, director and producer. The Oscar-winning actor plays a scientist in the Arctic racing to stop a crew of astronauts from returning home to a mysterious global catastrophe.
See‘The Midnight...
- 12/9/2020
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
As an actor, George Clooney serves up self-deprecation and charm; as a filmmaker, the same impulses come across as bitter and ironic convictions. That’s certainly the case in “The Midnight Sky,” a gorgeous take on the apocalypse that doesn’t try to reinvent the formula because, well, you know how these things go. Clooney directs and stars in this ambitious adaptation of Lily Brooks-Dalton’s 2016 novel, and there’s much to appreciate about his by-the-book approach: Despite the blockbuster budget, he’s crafted , laced together with mournful gazes at the icy tundra and the sad revolutions of spacecraft en route to its dying home.
As it slips between these lyrical settings, Clooney conjures both the cosmic awe of “Gravity” and the eerie isolation of “The Thing,” an admirable set of traditions that lend an imitative feel for much of the movie. Yet for the actor-filmmaker, this somber, effects-driven tone...
As it slips between these lyrical settings, Clooney conjures both the cosmic awe of “Gravity” and the eerie isolation of “The Thing,” an admirable set of traditions that lend an imitative feel for much of the movie. Yet for the actor-filmmaker, this somber, effects-driven tone...
- 12/9/2020
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Space and silence are the structural bones of Netflix’s “The Midnight Sky.” Still, the spirit and heart are fixed within its visual decorations and taut narrative that allows director, producer and star George Clooney to examine uncharted and personal territories. Based on the book “Good Morning, Midnight” by Lily Brooks-Dalton, there’s a compelling case to be made that “The Midnight Sky” is his finest hour, both in direction and performance. He assembles an impeccable crafts team, all of which could dominate the below-the-line Oscar categories, even leaping to the front of a few. When a movie has a strong chance of dominating multiple technical races, nominations for best director and picture are usually not too far off. As movie theaters remain absent from the film-watching experience, the alluring drama is as close to “home” as you can feel in 2020.
The film tells Augustine’s post-apocalyptic story (Clooney), a...
The film tells Augustine’s post-apocalyptic story (Clooney), a...
- 12/9/2020
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Four top film cinematographers will reveal the secrets behind their crafts when they join Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Btl Experts” Q&a event with key 2021 Oscar contenders this month. Each person will participate in two video discussions to be published on Wednesday, December 2, at 5:00 p.m. Pt; 8:00 p.m. Et. We’ll have a one-on-one with our executive editor Paul Sheehan and a group chat with Paul and all of the DPs together.
RSVP today by clicking here to book your reservations. We’ll send you a reminder a few before the start of the show so you won’t miss watching.
This “Meet the Btl Experts” panel welcomes the following 2021 guild and Oscar contenders:
“Greyhound” (Apple TV+): Shelly Johnson
Johnson’s career has included such projects as “Bill and Ted Face the Music,” “The Expendables 2,” “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “The Wolfman” and “Jurassic Park III.
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This “Meet the Btl Experts” panel welcomes the following 2021 guild and Oscar contenders:
“Greyhound” (Apple TV+): Shelly Johnson
Johnson’s career has included such projects as “Bill and Ted Face the Music,” “The Expendables 2,” “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “The Wolfman” and “Jurassic Park III.
- 11/25/2020
- by Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Netflix’s sci-fi drama “The Midnight Sky,” set for release next month, will see George Clooney as a scientist in the Arctic trying to protect a little girl, and prevent a group of astronauts from coming back home after a global catastrophe.
“It’s two different worlds; we were basically saying we were going to shoot ‘The Revenant’ and stop, and then shoot ‘Gravity,’” said Clooney about his seventh feature as a director during an online seminar at EnergaCamerimage Film Festival dedicated to “The Midnight Sky,” an adaptation of Lily Brooks-Dalton novel “Good Morning, Midnight.” He was accompanied by the film’s cinematographer Martin Ruhe.
“Usually, when space movies are shot, up is up and down is down, and that’s not exactly how it works. In ‘Gravity,’ the camera was constantly rotating. We wanted to keep the idea of the horizon being different, without making everyone throw up along the way.
“It’s two different worlds; we were basically saying we were going to shoot ‘The Revenant’ and stop, and then shoot ‘Gravity,’” said Clooney about his seventh feature as a director during an online seminar at EnergaCamerimage Film Festival dedicated to “The Midnight Sky,” an adaptation of Lily Brooks-Dalton novel “Good Morning, Midnight.” He was accompanied by the film’s cinematographer Martin Ruhe.
“Usually, when space movies are shot, up is up and down is down, and that’s not exactly how it works. In ‘Gravity,’ the camera was constantly rotating. We wanted to keep the idea of the horizon being different, without making everyone throw up along the way.
- 11/17/2020
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
This morning, Netflix released a First Trailer for The Midnight Sky, George Clooney’s latest directorial project, as well as star vehicle. It’s a science fiction epic with a fairly timely message, too, which never hurts. Coming in a year where we won’t have many big budget films or really much spectacle, there’s a chance that this one could be a really big deal. If nothing else, the flick may be able to do some damage in the technical categories at the Academy Awards, which is no small potatoes. You can see the Trailer below, but first…as always, we have some discussing to do! The movie is a sci-fi tale, as you might expect. Here is the official synopsis from Netflix: “Our humanity always endures. This post-apocalyptic tale follows Augustine (George Clooney), a lonely scientist in the Arctic, as he races to stop Sully (Felicity Jones...
- 10/27/2020
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
Yesterday saw a deluge of precursor results hit the Oscar race, including one of the biggest Guilds chiming in. Obviously, we know already that last night the Directors Guild of America gave their top prize to Sam Mendes for 1917, but Saturday evening also saw the American Society of Cinematographers Awards, the Annie Awards, the Cinema Audio Society Awards, and the USC Scripter Awards, in addition to the Directors Guild of America Awards. Below, we’ll run down the results of the various shows, though obviously we already covered DGA in a previous post. Together, you can begin to piece together more of the awards season, as the races head into the home stretch… First up, the Asc results: Theatrical Release Roger Deakins, Asc, Bsc for “1917” – Winner Phedon Papamichael, Asc, Gsc for “Ford v Ferrari” Rodrigo Prieto, Asc, AMC for “The Irishman” Robert Richardson, Asc for “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” Lawrence Sher,...
- 1/26/2020
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
Cinematographer Roger Deakins won the top prize Saturday night at the 34th annual Asc Awards (at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland) for his bravura camera work on “1917,” the continuous-shot, World War I extravaganza, directed by Sam Mendes.
Deakins beat Phedon Papamichael (“Ford v Ferrari”), Rodrigo Prieto (“The Irishman”), Robert Richardson (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”), and Lawrence Sher (“Joker”). The latter three are Oscar-nominated with Deakins. The fifth nominee, Jarin Blaschke (“The Lighthouse”), earned the Asc Spotlight Award for his gritty, Gothic-looking black-and-white cinematography.
Additionally, Fejmi Daut and Samir Ljuma took the Asc Documentary category for “Honeyland.”
Given the Best Picture momentum and universal acclaim for the technical feat, Deakins moves a step closer to his second Oscar. He finally landed his first with “Blade Runner 2049″ after 14 Academy Award nominations. Deakins leads the Asc with five wins.
“1917” is not only the tour de force of the season,...
Deakins beat Phedon Papamichael (“Ford v Ferrari”), Rodrigo Prieto (“The Irishman”), Robert Richardson (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”), and Lawrence Sher (“Joker”). The latter three are Oscar-nominated with Deakins. The fifth nominee, Jarin Blaschke (“The Lighthouse”), earned the Asc Spotlight Award for his gritty, Gothic-looking black-and-white cinematography.
Additionally, Fejmi Daut and Samir Ljuma took the Asc Documentary category for “Honeyland.”
Given the Best Picture momentum and universal acclaim for the technical feat, Deakins moves a step closer to his second Oscar. He finally landed his first with “Blade Runner 2049″ after 14 Academy Award nominations. Deakins leads the Asc with five wins.
“1917” is not only the tour de force of the season,...
- 1/26/2020
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Four of the five nominees at Saturday’s 34th American Society of Cinematographers ceremony matched up with the Oscar list for Best Cinematography: Rodrigo Prieto for “The Irishman,” Lawrence Sher for “Joker,” Roger Deakins for “1917” and Robert Richardson for “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” The guild’s fifth nominee was Phedon Papamichael for “Ford v Ferrari,” while the Oscar’s fifth choice is Jarin Blaschke for “The Lighthouse.” Scroll down to see who won all of the film and TV categories at the 2020 Asc Awards, which took place January 25 at the Hollywood & Highland Center in a ceremony hosted by Ben Mankiewicz.
SEEJanuary 25 is busiest day on 2020 Oscars calendar: DGA Awards plus cinematographers, sound mixers and Annies
Blaschke did pop up in the Spotlight Award category, which honors movies that screen at festivals, internationally, or in limited release. He was joined there by Natasha Braier for “Honey Boy” and Jasper Wolf for “Monos.
SEEJanuary 25 is busiest day on 2020 Oscars calendar: DGA Awards plus cinematographers, sound mixers and Annies
Blaschke did pop up in the Spotlight Award category, which honors movies that screen at festivals, internationally, or in limited release. He was joined there by Natasha Braier for “Honey Boy” and Jasper Wolf for “Monos.
- 1/26/2020
- by Marcus James Dixon
- Gold Derby
The features “Honeyland,” “Antopocene: The Human Epoch” and “Obscuro Barroco” were each recognized Monday with nominations for the brand-new documentary award from the American Society of Cinematographers’ Outstanding Achievement Awards.
The Asc also announced nominees in various TV categories for the 34th annual ceremony, which will be held at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles on Jan. 25, 2020.
The Asc, which celebrated its 100th year in 2019, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the art of cinematography.
Also Read: Eddie Murphy to Receive Career Achievement Award from Critics Choice Association
New to this year’s ceremony is the Asc Documentary Award, which was added to recognize exceptional cinematography in non-fiction filmmaking.
First-time nominees this year are Fejmi Daut, Nicholas de Pencier, Evangelia Kranioti, Samir Ljuma, C. Kim Miles, Polly Morgan, Peter Robertson, Chris Seeger and Craig Wrobleski. This year’s honorees include Frederick Elmes, Donald A. Morgan,...
The Asc also announced nominees in various TV categories for the 34th annual ceremony, which will be held at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles on Jan. 25, 2020.
The Asc, which celebrated its 100th year in 2019, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the art of cinematography.
Also Read: Eddie Murphy to Receive Career Achievement Award from Critics Choice Association
New to this year’s ceremony is the Asc Documentary Award, which was added to recognize exceptional cinematography in non-fiction filmmaking.
First-time nominees this year are Fejmi Daut, Nicholas de Pencier, Evangelia Kranioti, Samir Ljuma, C. Kim Miles, Polly Morgan, Peter Robertson, Chris Seeger and Craig Wrobleski. This year’s honorees include Frederick Elmes, Donald A. Morgan,...
- 11/25/2019
- by Margeaux Sippell
- The Wrap
Asc Awards Nominees: ‘Honeyland’, ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ Make The Cut In Docu And TV Categories
American Society of Cinematographers (Asc) revealed the nominees in documentary and television categories for the 34th Annual Asc Outstanding Achievement Awards which will take place January 25, 2020, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles.
Nominees in the newly created documentary category include Honeyland, Anthropocene: The Human Epoch and Obscuro Barroco. On the TV side, nominees include awards season favorites The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and The Handmaid’s Tale in the Non-Commercial Television category while FX’s Legion received two noms in the Commercial Television category. Meanwhile, the AMC series The Terror: Infamy and CBS All Access’ new take on The Twilight Zone were among those in the Motion Picture, Miniseries, or Pilot Made for Television category.
Earlier this year, the Asc announced the new documentary category to recognize exceptional cinematography in nonfiction filmmaking. The category was open to all features and episodes 30 minutes or longer that are released in theaters, at film festivals,...
Nominees in the newly created documentary category include Honeyland, Anthropocene: The Human Epoch and Obscuro Barroco. On the TV side, nominees include awards season favorites The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and The Handmaid’s Tale in the Non-Commercial Television category while FX’s Legion received two noms in the Commercial Television category. Meanwhile, the AMC series The Terror: Infamy and CBS All Access’ new take on The Twilight Zone were among those in the Motion Picture, Miniseries, or Pilot Made for Television category.
Earlier this year, the Asc announced the new documentary category to recognize exceptional cinematography in nonfiction filmmaking. The category was open to all features and episodes 30 minutes or longer that are released in theaters, at film festivals,...
- 11/25/2019
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
FX’s science-fiction series “Legion” scored a leading two nominations for the American Society of Cinematographers Awards.
“Legion” received nods in the commercial television category, along with “Project Blue Book,” “Vikings” and “Gotham.”
Non-commercial TV series recognition went to “Das Boot,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Carnival Row,” “Titans” and “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Winners will be announced at the organization’s gala on Jan. 25 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood and Highland.
See the full list of nominees below:
Documentary
Fejmi Daut and Samir Ljuma – Honeyland
Nicholas de Pencier – Anthropocene: The Human Epoch
Evangelia Kranioti – Obscuro Barroco
Episode of a Series for Non-Commercial Television
David Luther – Das Boot, “Gegen die Zeit” (episode 6) (Sky)
M. David Mullen, Asc – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, “Simone” (Amazon)
Chris Seager, Bsc – Carnival Row, “Grieve No More” (Amazon)
Brendan Steacy, Csc – Titans, “Dick Grayson” (DC Universe)
Colin Watkinson, Asc, Bsc – The Handmaid’s Tale, “Night” (Hulu)
Episode...
“Legion” received nods in the commercial television category, along with “Project Blue Book,” “Vikings” and “Gotham.”
Non-commercial TV series recognition went to “Das Boot,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Carnival Row,” “Titans” and “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Winners will be announced at the organization’s gala on Jan. 25 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood and Highland.
See the full list of nominees below:
Documentary
Fejmi Daut and Samir Ljuma – Honeyland
Nicholas de Pencier – Anthropocene: The Human Epoch
Evangelia Kranioti – Obscuro Barroco
Episode of a Series for Non-Commercial Television
David Luther – Das Boot, “Gegen die Zeit” (episode 6) (Sky)
M. David Mullen, Asc – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, “Simone” (Amazon)
Chris Seager, Bsc – Carnival Row, “Grieve No More” (Amazon)
Brendan Steacy, Csc – Titans, “Dick Grayson” (DC Universe)
Colin Watkinson, Asc, Bsc – The Handmaid’s Tale, “Night” (Hulu)
Episode...
- 11/25/2019
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Right from the start, George Clooney and producing partner Grant Heslov demanded period authenticity for the hellish World War II aerial combat missions in their miniseries remake of Joseph Heller’s black comedy, “Catch 22.” That put the onus on production designer David Gropman and cinematographer Martin Ruhe to tackle the exterior and interior aerial combat missions, and to put us up close and tight inside the B-25s with Christopher Abbott’s Yossarian and his fellow bombardiers.
“We all agreed that the aerial work had to be realistic and [intense],” said Ruhe. “That’s why we shot as much as possible with real planes in the air.” However, they could only afford two functioning B-25s because of the cost of transporting them from the U.S. to Sardinia, where they shot on an abandoned runway near the Olbia Airport. The cinematographer shot with Alexa Minis mounted to all of the...
“We all agreed that the aerial work had to be realistic and [intense],” said Ruhe. “That’s why we shot as much as possible with real planes in the air.” However, they could only afford two functioning B-25s because of the cost of transporting them from the U.S. to Sardinia, where they shot on an abandoned runway near the Olbia Airport. The cinematographer shot with Alexa Minis mounted to all of the...
- 6/14/2019
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
“Catch-22” is Hulu’s epic new adaptation of the classic Joseph Heller novel about Captain John Yossarian, a young Us Army bombardier (Christopher Abbott) stationed in Italy during World War II, who is desperate to fulfil his seemingly interminable flight mission quota, so he can be discharged and finally return home.
The show opens on Yossarian wandering a busy military tarmac wearing nothing but a pair of boots. He looks defeated and unhinged as he eventually screams hysterically while his army buddies look on in the distance. We are then transported back to the beginning to explain how he went from cocky wide-eyed innocence to broken, jaded and traumatized, suffering setback after setback until he snaps. This is a devastating but often very funny satire about sanity, mortality and the futility of war, as young and eager bombardiers are sent up into the sky in cramped warplanes to drop bombs on the enemy,...
The show opens on Yossarian wandering a busy military tarmac wearing nothing but a pair of boots. He looks defeated and unhinged as he eventually screams hysterically while his army buddies look on in the distance. We are then transported back to the beginning to explain how he went from cocky wide-eyed innocence to broken, jaded and traumatized, suffering setback after setback until he snaps. This is a devastating but often very funny satire about sanity, mortality and the futility of war, as young and eager bombardiers are sent up into the sky in cramped warplanes to drop bombs on the enemy,...
- 6/13/2019
- by Rob Licuria
- Gold Derby
Joseph Heller’s 1961 novel Catch-22 is one of the greatest anti-war satires ever written.
Clooney and Heslov executive-produced this new version, with each directing a pair of episodes (Ellen Kuras handled the other two) from scripts by Luke Davies and David Michôd. Their depiction of World War II’s Mediterranean theater, as seen through the eyes of American bombardier John Yossarian (Christopher Abbott from Girls), is handsome and appropriately shocking. As Yossarian risks his life on one pointless bombing run after another, the direction, the cinematography (by Martin Ruhe) and...
Clooney and Heslov executive-produced this new version, with each directing a pair of episodes (Ellen Kuras handled the other two) from scripts by Luke Davies and David Michôd. Their depiction of World War II’s Mediterranean theater, as seen through the eyes of American bombardier John Yossarian (Christopher Abbott from Girls), is handsome and appropriately shocking. As Yossarian risks his life on one pointless bombing run after another, the direction, the cinematography (by Martin Ruhe) and...
- 5/15/2019
- by Alan Sepinwall
- Rollingstone.com
In Justin Marks’ espionage thriller, mild-mannered Howard (J.K. Simmons) learns there is an alternate version of the world — and in it he has a double, Howard Prime (also Simmons). In the premiere, the two men are alone together for the first time, feeling each other out, testing each other’s memories and getting to know the differences in themselves, their relationships and their lives — all while Howard Prime is still holding back some key information.
“The idea behind the scene was to establish a strong precedent when it came to the kinds of scenes the audience would be able to see in a show like this,” Marks says.
Morten Tyldum
Director
“Initially, going into it, I had planned to have fewer and longer shots, but that can be challenging for an actor. If you have a pretty long sequence, you have to shoot it with one side, and then you...
“The idea behind the scene was to establish a strong precedent when it came to the kinds of scenes the audience would be able to see in a show like this,” Marks says.
Morten Tyldum
Director
“Initially, going into it, I had planned to have fewer and longer shots, but that can be challenging for an actor. If you have a pretty long sequence, you have to shoot it with one side, and then you...
- 6/11/2018
- by Danielle Turchiano
- Variety Film + TV
Cinematographer Luc Montpellier is no stranger to complicated television dramas. “Counterpart,” though, posed a new challenge for the camera department vet, as the Starz series featured parallel worlds that each had their own looks and rules, as well as inhabitants that were doubles of each other and therefore required the same actors to play opposite themselves in a scene. Because of how complicated the story already was, Montpellier says that the show’s production tried to “keep it as simple as possible.”
How did you decide on which color schemes to use to differentiate between the worlds?
On the other side … things are a lot more clinical and slightly cooler — and more medical and sterile. As opposed to our side, which is a lot warmer and familiar. It became earth versus cooler tones in a very subtle way when it came to wardrobe, lights, everything.
How hard is that to light without getting repetitive?...
How did you decide on which color schemes to use to differentiate between the worlds?
On the other side … things are a lot more clinical and slightly cooler — and more medical and sterile. As opposed to our side, which is a lot warmer and familiar. It became earth versus cooler tones in a very subtle way when it came to wardrobe, lights, everything.
How hard is that to light without getting repetitive?...
- 6/4/2018
- by Whitney Friedlander
- Variety Film + TV
Later on this week, Ewan McGregor officially becomes the latest actor to turn filmmaker when his directorial debut American Pastoral hits theaters. In the lead up to its debut at the Toronto Film Festival, the buzz suggested that McGregor had a potentially Academy Award friendly movie on his hands. In fact, even I predicted the flick in a place or two. That likely won’t come to pass, but it’s interesting to note the talent that he gathered for this outing, both in front of and behind the camera. This suggests that this won’t be a one and done type situation. As such, it’s time to officially consider McGregor to be a multi-hyphenate, not just an actor. He’s in the club. The film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Philip Roth. Set in 1968, it follows the Levov family through a melodramatic crisis.
- 10/17/2016
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
Adapting a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is a nearly impossible task for a seasoned director, let alone a first-timer, but Ewan McGregor accepts this challenge with American Pastoral. Actors-turned-directors always seem to assemble a team of highly talented collaborators, and for this film, it’s no different, as the likes of Jennifer Connelly, Dakota Fanning, David Strathairn, Uzo Aduba and Molly Parker join McGregor in a formidable cast along with Alexandre Desplat providing the score.
There’s also a beautiful and compelling story at play here: our narrator learns about (and shares with us) the trials of an old high school friend known as “The Swede” who seemed ready to conquer the world before being affected by the turbulent era of the 1960s, essentially throwing his life into disarray. As a capsule of the social and political revolution of this time period, the chaotic dissolution of innocence in white male America,...
There’s also a beautiful and compelling story at play here: our narrator learns about (and shares with us) the trials of an old high school friend known as “The Swede” who seemed ready to conquer the world before being affected by the turbulent era of the 1960s, essentially throwing his life into disarray. As a capsule of the social and political revolution of this time period, the chaotic dissolution of innocence in white male America,...
- 9/10/2016
- by Darren Ruecker
- We Got This Covered
Manuel here. American Pastoral, adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Philip Roth has a trio of leading performers that I find myself often rooting for—despite early buzzy career moves, each have become underrated and/or undervalued players: Jennifer Connelly, Dakota Fanning, and Ewan McGregor who's doing double duty here. American Pastoral marks his directorial debut.
I initially wanted to share the beautiful new poster for it which is haunting and simple; a perfect example of a one sheet that establishes quickly the mood of the piece. Roth's title and the film's tagline "A radically ordinary story" surely help. This is the American Dream engulfed in flames which means the nuclear family at the core of McGregor's film (Connelly playing his wife, Fanning his daughter) will be anything but ordinary.
And then I found the trailer had dropped and 30 seconds in I was already sold (which would've made a...
I initially wanted to share the beautiful new poster for it which is haunting and simple; a perfect example of a one sheet that establishes quickly the mood of the piece. Roth's title and the film's tagline "A radically ordinary story" surely help. This is the American Dream engulfed in flames which means the nuclear family at the core of McGregor's film (Connelly playing his wife, Fanning his daughter) will be anything but ordinary.
And then I found the trailer had dropped and 30 seconds in I was already sold (which would've made a...
- 6/27/2016
- by Manuel Betancourt
- FilmExperience
It seems impossible, or maybe just stupid: adapt what is perhaps the most acclaimed novel by perhaps our greatest living novelist as your directorial debut, which you’ll also star in as a character with whom, based on the many and very critical descriptions from said most-acclaimed-novel-by-greatest-living-novelist, you don’t even have the greatest resemblance. Here we are, then, with Ewan McGregor‘s American Pastoral, an adaptation of Philip Roth‘s Pulitzer-winning, meta-fictional masterpiece of grieving, complex generational rifts, and glove-making — not exactly a Sundance-premiering dramedy.
I very much hope not to look like a fool in four months’ time when I say, now, that the first preview points towards something with character — perhaps rather good, even. Early days, yes (hence the disclaimer), yet this is a fine sampling of period-evoking design, shots and palette that evoke some sense of visual purpose — hello, The American and Control Dp Martin Ruhe — and,...
I very much hope not to look like a fool in four months’ time when I say, now, that the first preview points towards something with character — perhaps rather good, even. Early days, yes (hence the disclaimer), yet this is a fine sampling of period-evoking design, shots and palette that evoke some sense of visual purpose — hello, The American and Control Dp Martin Ruhe — and,...
- 6/23/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
This beautifully photographed film is a slow burner about two sisters who come into traumatic conflict with two renegade Union soldiers
Daniel Barber is the British film-maker who directed the urban thriller Harry Brown in 2009, with Michael Caine as a pensioner who takes on local thugs. His latest film (from 2014, getting a belated UK release) is a siege drama set towards the bitter end of the American civil war, written for the screen by the smart first-timer Julia Hart. Brit Marling and Hailee Steinfeld play two sisters in the south, Augusta and Louise, whose menfolk have all been killed; they live with their slave, Mad – a very good performance from Muna Otaru. These women are to come into traumatic conflict with two renegade Union soldiers, Moses (Sam Worthington) and Henry (Kyle Soller), crazed and bored with the horror of war. This is an intriguing slow burner of a film, whose pace sometimes decelerates to an almost Bergmanesque adagio: it’s beautifully photographed by the German cinematographer Martin Ruhe. However, I felt it didn’t come fully to dramatic life, and nothing in it quite lived up to its fascinating and shocking opening. Its two most charismatic performers, Otaru and Steinfeld, are the ones with the least to do. A serious and absorbing piece of work, nonetheless.
Continue reading...
Daniel Barber is the British film-maker who directed the urban thriller Harry Brown in 2009, with Michael Caine as a pensioner who takes on local thugs. His latest film (from 2014, getting a belated UK release) is a siege drama set towards the bitter end of the American civil war, written for the screen by the smart first-timer Julia Hart. Brit Marling and Hailee Steinfeld play two sisters in the south, Augusta and Louise, whose menfolk have all been killed; they live with their slave, Mad – a very good performance from Muna Otaru. These women are to come into traumatic conflict with two renegade Union soldiers, Moses (Sam Worthington) and Henry (Kyle Soller), crazed and bored with the horror of war. This is an intriguing slow burner of a film, whose pace sometimes decelerates to an almost Bergmanesque adagio: it’s beautifully photographed by the German cinematographer Martin Ruhe. However, I felt it didn’t come fully to dramatic life, and nothing in it quite lived up to its fascinating and shocking opening. Its two most charismatic performers, Otaru and Steinfeld, are the ones with the least to do. A serious and absorbing piece of work, nonetheless.
Continue reading...
- 6/16/2016
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
This review was originally published during our coverage of Lff 2014.
The Keeping Room is ‘past-apocalyptic’ cinema. We like to imagine the end of the world coming with nuclear war, asteroid collision or alien invasion. Here, however, we see it as history, a terrifying world as cruel as The Road or Mad Max, where mankind can only crawl among the ashes, a world that’s already happened.
This particular apocalypse is the American Civil War, and its desperate survivors are three Southern women: sisters Augusta and Louise (Brit Marling and Hailee Steinfeld) and their former slave, Mad (Muna Otaru). With the sister’s parents dead, the women are left to scratch an existence in an empty, isolated farmhouse. Their world is one largely devoid of human life, as nearly every man has become gristle for the Confederate war machine and the women have fled in terror.
Under these extreme circumstances, social contracts have broken down.
The Keeping Room is ‘past-apocalyptic’ cinema. We like to imagine the end of the world coming with nuclear war, asteroid collision or alien invasion. Here, however, we see it as history, a terrifying world as cruel as The Road or Mad Max, where mankind can only crawl among the ashes, a world that’s already happened.
This particular apocalypse is the American Civil War, and its desperate survivors are three Southern women: sisters Augusta and Louise (Brit Marling and Hailee Steinfeld) and their former slave, Mad (Muna Otaru). With the sister’s parents dead, the women are left to scratch an existence in an empty, isolated farmhouse. Their world is one largely devoid of human life, as nearly every man has become gristle for the Confederate war machine and the women have fled in terror.
Under these extreme circumstances, social contracts have broken down.
- 9/25/2015
- by David James
- We Got This Covered
Ruminations: Barber’s Sophomore Effort Brings the War Home
Director Daniel Barber returns with sophomore effort The Keeping Room, his first film since the Death Wish derivative Harry Brown (2009) starring Michael Caine. Based on Julia Hart’s screenplay, Barber takes us back to the waning days of the Civil War for this homestead invasion thriller which poses intriguing intersections of class, race, and the struggle for domination and survival. But though the presentation is compelling, particularly through its visual strengths and effective editing (often glossing over weaker moments in the script prolonging its formulaic third act), it often seems as if the film isn’t exploring its own potential, meekly elegiac in tone as it teases notions of female agency amidst an apathetic and violent backdrop.
Augusta (Brit Marling) and her younger sister Louise (Hailee Steinfeld) have been left without the comfort of men on their South Carolina homestead as the Civil War rages on.
Director Daniel Barber returns with sophomore effort The Keeping Room, his first film since the Death Wish derivative Harry Brown (2009) starring Michael Caine. Based on Julia Hart’s screenplay, Barber takes us back to the waning days of the Civil War for this homestead invasion thriller which poses intriguing intersections of class, race, and the struggle for domination and survival. But though the presentation is compelling, particularly through its visual strengths and effective editing (often glossing over weaker moments in the script prolonging its formulaic third act), it often seems as if the film isn’t exploring its own potential, meekly elegiac in tone as it teases notions of female agency amidst an apathetic and violent backdrop.
Augusta (Brit Marling) and her younger sister Louise (Hailee Steinfeld) have been left without the comfort of men on their South Carolina homestead as the Civil War rages on.
- 9/24/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
True Grit star Hailee Steinfeld will be making her third foray into the Western genre later this year in The Keeping Room, alongside Another Earth and The East star Brit Marling.
The Keeping Room, whose first trailer has now been released, marks the debut of screenwriter Julia Hart, with Harry Brown director Daniel Barber helming the feature. Steinfeld and Marling are joined onscreen by Muna Otaru, Kyle Soller, Ned Dennehy, and Sam Worthington.
The film’s synopsis is as follows:
Left without men in the dying days of the American Civil War, three Southern women – two sisters and one African-American slave – must fight to defend their home and themselves from two rogue soldiers who have broken off from the fast-approaching Union Army.
The Keeping Room originally ended up on The Black List, a collection of sought-after unproduced screenplays, in 2012. The film’s original cast was comprised of Steinfeld, Olivia Wilde,...
The Keeping Room, whose first trailer has now been released, marks the debut of screenwriter Julia Hart, with Harry Brown director Daniel Barber helming the feature. Steinfeld and Marling are joined onscreen by Muna Otaru, Kyle Soller, Ned Dennehy, and Sam Worthington.
The film’s synopsis is as follows:
Left without men in the dying days of the American Civil War, three Southern women – two sisters and one African-American slave – must fight to defend their home and themselves from two rogue soldiers who have broken off from the fast-approaching Union Army.
The Keeping Room originally ended up on The Black List, a collection of sought-after unproduced screenplays, in 2012. The film’s original cast was comprised of Steinfeld, Olivia Wilde,...
- 8/14/2015
- by Deepayan Sengupta
- SoundOnSight
All hail Liam Neeson. If anyone should be allowed to rest on his laurels, it’s this veteran actor, who has earned accolades for prestige dramas and made a near-seamless transition over to leading-man action hero at this late stage in his career. But in the unexpectedly excellent Run All Night, the star isn’t content to play another Taken-style hero with “a very particular set of skills.” Instead, he subverts that image, playing former mob assassin Jimmy as a boozy bad seed, put out to pasture by his associates and scorned by all, especially his estranged son, Michael (Joel Kinnaman).
Jimmy is not a good guy, and Neeson never tries to redeem him in our eyes. Here, the actor seems older, sadder, more defeated – his shoulders droop like those of a man sinking into the Earth under the weight of his sins, and his run is ungainly enough...
Jimmy is not a good guy, and Neeson never tries to redeem him in our eyes. Here, the actor seems older, sadder, more defeated – his shoulders droop like those of a man sinking into the Earth under the weight of his sins, and his run is ungainly enough...
- 6/16/2015
- by Isaac Feldberg
- We Got This Covered
About Last Night : Collet-Serra’s Latest Neeson Rating
You may not have realized it, but while the Taken trilogy was warping its course through a series of cinematic banalities, ripened action star Liam Neeson set off on a course of similarly themed vehicles with director Jaume Collet-Serra, resulting in this, their third collaboration, Run All Night. A familiar cocktail of second generation blue collar honor struggling to overcome the stagnant moral nadir of organized crime sleaze gets streamlined into a by-the-numbers action flick that only manages to feel as stale is it is unbelievable, like nuggets of Scorsese whirled through a Luc Besson meat grinder. At this point, we kinda know what to expect from the Liam Neeson school of action film stardom, and wading through screenwriter Brad Ingelsby’s disappointing treatment of hard-won street redemption, you won’t find anything remotely surprising.
Grizzled loner Jimmy Conlon (Neeson) seems...
You may not have realized it, but while the Taken trilogy was warping its course through a series of cinematic banalities, ripened action star Liam Neeson set off on a course of similarly themed vehicles with director Jaume Collet-Serra, resulting in this, their third collaboration, Run All Night. A familiar cocktail of second generation blue collar honor struggling to overcome the stagnant moral nadir of organized crime sleaze gets streamlined into a by-the-numbers action flick that only manages to feel as stale is it is unbelievable, like nuggets of Scorsese whirled through a Luc Besson meat grinder. At this point, we kinda know what to expect from the Liam Neeson school of action film stardom, and wading through screenwriter Brad Ingelsby’s disappointing treatment of hard-won street redemption, you won’t find anything remotely surprising.
Grizzled loner Jimmy Conlon (Neeson) seems...
- 3/13/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Run All Night
Written by Brad Ingelsby
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
USA, 2015
Middle-aged men with a particular skillset have found their patron saint in Liam Neeson. Luckily, a distinctive visual style and some added character detailing keep Run All Night running smoother than most of its sluggish brethren. There’s certainly nothing new here, but this slick little film dispenses its thrills and kills with surprising effectiveness.
Reconciling family with professional loyalty can get pretty confusing for a hit-man. Jimmy Conlon (Neeson) might have gotten out of the game years ago, but it takes a constant influx of booze to silence the cries of his victims. His guilt tsunami is further stoked by an ill-advised decision to choose the company of his lifelong friend and boss, Shawn (Ed Harris), over raising his own son Mike (Joel Kinnaman). Not surprisingly, Mike hates his absentee father, even forbidding him from meeting his wife and young children.
Written by Brad Ingelsby
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
USA, 2015
Middle-aged men with a particular skillset have found their patron saint in Liam Neeson. Luckily, a distinctive visual style and some added character detailing keep Run All Night running smoother than most of its sluggish brethren. There’s certainly nothing new here, but this slick little film dispenses its thrills and kills with surprising effectiveness.
Reconciling family with professional loyalty can get pretty confusing for a hit-man. Jimmy Conlon (Neeson) might have gotten out of the game years ago, but it takes a constant influx of booze to silence the cries of his victims. His guilt tsunami is further stoked by an ill-advised decision to choose the company of his lifelong friend and boss, Shawn (Ed Harris), over raising his own son Mike (Joel Kinnaman). Not surprisingly, Mike hates his absentee father, even forbidding him from meeting his wife and young children.
- 3/12/2015
- by J.R. Kinnard
- SoundOnSight
Man, you’d think that gangsters would have learned not to mess with Liam Neeson’s kids by now, right?
Run All Night finds the actor walking an increasingly well-trodden path: playing a middle-aged man with “a very particular set of skills,” a beaten-up leather jacket, a Beretta and a son in mortal peril. This week’s Bryan Mills happens to be named Jimmy Conlon, a former hitman for an Irish-American mob in New York.
We first meet Jimmy as a pitiable boozehound, derisively mocked by the denizens of his local pub for farting in his sleep. He was once feared as the blunt instrument of mob boss and childhood friend Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris), but the subsequent years haven’t been so kind. Guilt for the death he wrought weighs heavily on his shoulders, mixed with a dash of low-level misery at his surviving family hating his guts. Things...
Run All Night finds the actor walking an increasingly well-trodden path: playing a middle-aged man with “a very particular set of skills,” a beaten-up leather jacket, a Beretta and a son in mortal peril. This week’s Bryan Mills happens to be named Jimmy Conlon, a former hitman for an Irish-American mob in New York.
We first meet Jimmy as a pitiable boozehound, derisively mocked by the denizens of his local pub for farting in his sleep. He was once feared as the blunt instrument of mob boss and childhood friend Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris), but the subsequent years haven’t been so kind. Guilt for the death he wrought weighs heavily on his shoulders, mixed with a dash of low-level misery at his surviving family hating his guts. Things...
- 3/10/2015
- by David James
- We Got This Covered
Liam Neeson is having a great weekend. His latest film, Taken 3, is number one at the Us box office this weekend with an estimated $40.4M – worldwide $81.4M.
Now the Oscar nominated actor reteams with Non-stop director Jaume Collet-Serra in this first trailer to the action thriller Run All Night.
The upcoming movie also stars Joel Kinnaman, Vincent D’Onofrio, Bruce McGill, Genesis Rodriguez, Boyd Holbrook, Holt McCallany, with Common and Oscar nominee Ed Harris.
Brooklyn mobster and prolific hit man Jimmy Conlon (Neeson), once known as The Gravedigger, has seen better days. Longtime best friend of mob boss Shawn Maguire (Harris), Jimmy, now 55, is haunted by the sins of his past—as well as a dogged police detective (D’Onofrio) who’s been one step behind Jimmy for 30 years. Lately, it seems Jimmy’s only solace can be found at the bottom of a whiskey glass.
But when Jimmy’s estranged son,...
Now the Oscar nominated actor reteams with Non-stop director Jaume Collet-Serra in this first trailer to the action thriller Run All Night.
The upcoming movie also stars Joel Kinnaman, Vincent D’Onofrio, Bruce McGill, Genesis Rodriguez, Boyd Holbrook, Holt McCallany, with Common and Oscar nominee Ed Harris.
Brooklyn mobster and prolific hit man Jimmy Conlon (Neeson), once known as The Gravedigger, has seen better days. Longtime best friend of mob boss Shawn Maguire (Harris), Jimmy, now 55, is haunted by the sins of his past—as well as a dogged police detective (D’Onofrio) who’s been one step behind Jimmy for 30 years. Lately, it seems Jimmy’s only solace can be found at the bottom of a whiskey glass.
But when Jimmy’s estranged son,...
- 1/11/2015
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
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