MaryAnn’s quick take… More plot holes than plot, this overly convoluted, deeply stupid Fast and Furious wannabe is crammed with clichés and memorable only when it’s laughable. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
Kinda like how John Woo always has doves in his movies, and Steven Spielberg always has lens flare, so shall Colombian director Antonio Negret be known for exploding cars flipping through the air. It’s not a particularly unique visual twitch to embrace, this is true, but he’s not a particularly distinctive sort of filmmaker. His latest, Overdrive, is barely distinguishable from his previous film, 2012’s almost hilariously terrible Transit. Sadly, though, Overdrive is quite distinguishable from the movies it would like to be seen as akin to, the very early Fast and Furious movies (like, the first two...
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
Kinda like how John Woo always has doves in his movies, and Steven Spielberg always has lens flare, so shall Colombian director Antonio Negret be known for exploding cars flipping through the air. It’s not a particularly unique visual twitch to embrace, this is true, but he’s not a particularly distinctive sort of filmmaker. His latest, Overdrive, is barely distinguishable from his previous film, 2012’s almost hilariously terrible Transit. Sadly, though, Overdrive is quite distinguishable from the movies it would like to be seen as akin to, the very early Fast and Furious movies (like, the first two...
- 8/15/2017
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
"The Furniture" is our weekly series on Production Design. You can click on the images to see them in magnified detail.
by Daniel Walber
Much has been written about the making of The Magnificent Ambersons, the conflict between Orson Welles and Rko, Robert Wise’s studio-mandated shorter version, Bernard Herrmann’s refusal of credit, and the loss of much of the original footage. It’s a fascinating story.
However, this column isn’t about that. There remains plenty to celebrate in the version that was released to theaters, 75 years ago today. At the top of that list is the Amberson mansion, a triumph of design that should stand next to Citizen Kane’s Xanadu. It’s like a Victorian ancestor to the great palace of Charles Foster Kane, a previous iteration of wealth’s excesses. But the story of The Magnificent Ambersons is not about a meteoric rise in fortune,...
by Daniel Walber
Much has been written about the making of The Magnificent Ambersons, the conflict between Orson Welles and Rko, Robert Wise’s studio-mandated shorter version, Bernard Herrmann’s refusal of credit, and the loss of much of the original footage. It’s a fascinating story.
However, this column isn’t about that. There remains plenty to celebrate in the version that was released to theaters, 75 years ago today. At the top of that list is the Amberson mansion, a triumph of design that should stand next to Citizen Kane’s Xanadu. It’s like a Victorian ancestor to the great palace of Charles Foster Kane, a previous iteration of wealth’s excesses. But the story of The Magnificent Ambersons is not about a meteoric rise in fortune,...
- 7/10/2017
- by Daniel Walber
- FilmExperience
“Citizen Kane” is the story of a massive media mogul turned politician who amassed all the wealth and power in the world, but at the end of the day only craved a childhood pleasure. Sound like anyone we know? Documentarian Errol Morris interviewed Donald Trump for a segment for the Oscars and asked him about Orson Welles’s 1941 masterpiece, which Trump has previously called his favorite movie. But Trump’s answer makes Morris think Trump may have missed the point. “I asked him explicitly, ‘Do you have any advice for Charles Foster Kane?'” Morris told TheWrap. “He says, ‘Yes,...
- 6/29/2017
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
What’s the real meaning of “Rosebud,” the dying word that Orson Welles speaks in his performance as newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane in his classic film Citizen Kane, which was, in turn, inspired by the life of William Randolph Hearst?
Most viewers leave the movie convinced that Rosebud is Kane’s childhood sled, which he was playing with when he was taken away from his mother.
Welles himself, in a 1941 statement, explained, “In his subconscious, it represented the simplicity, the comfort, above all the lack of responsibility in his home, and also it stood for his mother's love, which Kane...
Most viewers leave the movie convinced that Rosebud is Kane’s childhood sled, which he was playing with when he was taken away from his mother.
Welles himself, in a 1941 statement, explained, “In his subconscious, it represented the simplicity, the comfort, above all the lack of responsibility in his home, and also it stood for his mother's love, which Kane...
- 4/7/2017
- by Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Regularly, in articles and essays, in posts and tweets, Virginia Woolf's quote, “...on or about December 1910 human character changed,” gets bandied about as the coming of the modern age. It is claimed, by such a writer as Edward Mendelson, that her statement was a serious joke. And according to him, her pronouncement was a hundred years premature. “Human character changed on or about December 2010, when everyone, it seemed, started carrying a smartphone,” he wrote in a recent New York Review of Books article. That is a serious joke, too. Each is probably not right; besides, trying to pinpoint something as elastic and elusive as human character is better left to the hacks. Few persons living or dead would attest to these dates when asked about human character, which most people probably think falls under the rubric we call life. Someone much more divested than Woolf or Mendelson, Thich Nacht Than,...
- 3/7/2017
- MUBI
Jason Isaacs as Dr. Volmer in A Cure for WellnessIt starts with a whispered melody. It will send frissons of familiarity, of a kind of upsetting longing for clarity. You know that song the odd English girl is singing, but you can't place it. Neither can Lockhart (Dane DeHaan, who they might have called Lockjaw, as he can barely seem to spit his words out), which is what draws him into the guts of a mystery. And it draws the film into a slithering spiral, compels us to observe an autopsy of modern horror. What half-remembered giallo fugue is Gore Verbinski spooning up for us like medicine, pinioned to our chairs like one of the zombie patients in the film’s sinister clinic? A puzzle picture, a conspiracy thriller, a kind of baroque classical nightmare, A Cure For Wellness is too sturdy, busy and sure of itself to be much of a horror film.
- 2/22/2017
- MUBI
“That’s all he ever wanted out of life… was love. That’s the tragedy of Charles Foster Kane. You see, he just didn’t have any to give.”
Citizen Kane was supposed to screen at St. Louis’ fabulous Hi-Pointe Theater this weekend as part of their Classic Film Series but becasue of the weather, it’s been pushed back a week. It’s now Saturday, January 20th at 10:30am at the Hi-Pointe located at 1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, Mo 63117. The film will be introduced by Harry Hamm, movie reviewer for Kmox. Admission is only $5
Is Citizen Kane the greatest film ever made? On a technical level, it may as well be. It’s at least the most groundbreaking film ever made. On a storytelling level, it’s an amazing achievement itself in that Orson Welles used such avant-garde techniques yet maintained an engrossing story. It’s a film...
Citizen Kane was supposed to screen at St. Louis’ fabulous Hi-Pointe Theater this weekend as part of their Classic Film Series but becasue of the weather, it’s been pushed back a week. It’s now Saturday, January 20th at 10:30am at the Hi-Pointe located at 1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, Mo 63117. The film will be introduced by Harry Hamm, movie reviewer for Kmox. Admission is only $5
Is Citizen Kane the greatest film ever made? On a technical level, it may as well be. It’s at least the most groundbreaking film ever made. On a storytelling level, it’s an amazing achievement itself in that Orson Welles used such avant-garde techniques yet maintained an engrossing story. It’s a film...
- 1/14/2017
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
“That’s all he ever wanted out of life… was love. That’s the tragedy of Charles Foster Kane. You see, he just didn’t have any to give.”
Citizen Kane screens at St. Louis’ fabulous Hi-Pointe Theater this weekend as part of their Classic Film Series. It’s Saturday, January 14th at 10:30am at the Hi-Pointe located at 1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, Mo 63117. The film will be introduced by Harry Hamm, movie reviewer for Kmox. Admission is only $5
Is Citizen Kane the greatest film ever made? On a technical level, it may as well be. It’s at least the most groundbreaking film ever made. On a storytelling level, it’s an amazing achievement itself in that Orson Welles used such avant-garde techniques yet maintained an engrossing story. It’s a film full of contradictions and works perfectly because of them. Its over-the-top yet subtle, experimental yet accessible,...
Citizen Kane screens at St. Louis’ fabulous Hi-Pointe Theater this weekend as part of their Classic Film Series. It’s Saturday, January 14th at 10:30am at the Hi-Pointe located at 1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, Mo 63117. The film will be introduced by Harry Hamm, movie reviewer for Kmox. Admission is only $5
Is Citizen Kane the greatest film ever made? On a technical level, it may as well be. It’s at least the most groundbreaking film ever made. On a storytelling level, it’s an amazing achievement itself in that Orson Welles used such avant-garde techniques yet maintained an engrossing story. It’s a film full of contradictions and works perfectly because of them. Its over-the-top yet subtle, experimental yet accessible,...
- 1/9/2017
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
"It isn't enough to tell us what a man did, you've got to tell us who he was." Everyone knows this film. We don't cover home entertainment releases, but occasionally we will make an exception. Such as, for example, the "#1 movie of all-time" - Orson Welles' Citizen Kane, which was first released in 1941. To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the film, Warner Home Video is re-releasing Citizen Kane on Blu-ray this fall. To mark the occasion, they've debuted a new trailer. If only this was getting a theatrical re-release to go along with the Blu-ray, but perhaps now is not the right time. Orson Welles plays newspaper baron Charles Foster Kane, and the film examines his life and his loss of ideals as he gains more power and money. Watch below. Here's the new 75th anniversary re-release trailer for Orson Welles' Citizen Kane, found on YouTube: Original description:...
- 11/13/2016
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
There will be no shortage of thinkpieces and hot takes over the next many years about how the latest film or television show is representative of Trump’s America, but one only needs to go back 75 years for perhaps the most comparable character to the President-elect. Showing scant self-awareness, our modern-day Charles Foster Kane actually considers Citizen Kane, certainly the most influential film in cinema, his favorite of all-time.
Having its 75th anniversary this year, to celebrate the occasion, a new Blu-ray edition will be released, and a new trailer has been unveiled. While the set doesn’t look to include any new extras compared to the lavish edition five years ago, if you didn’t pick that one up and are looking for one at a cheaper price point, this looks to be essential. Also, if you’re in the Los Angeles area tomorrow, AFI Fest will hold a screening of the film,...
Having its 75th anniversary this year, to celebrate the occasion, a new Blu-ray edition will be released, and a new trailer has been unveiled. While the set doesn’t look to include any new extras compared to the lavish edition five years ago, if you didn’t pick that one up and are looking for one at a cheaper price point, this looks to be essential. Also, if you’re in the Los Angeles area tomorrow, AFI Fest will hold a screening of the film,...
- 11/12/2016
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane” celebrates its 75th anniversary this year with a new Blu-ray and DVD edition being released on Tuesday, November 15. A stunning trailer for the restored version of the film was shared this week, courtesy of USA Today, and you can check it out below.
Considered one of the greatest films of all time, “Citizen Kane” follows the life of publishing tycoon, Charles Foster Kane (Welles) and a news reporter assigned to decipher his dying words. The story shows the tragedies and triumphs of Kane’s life, from a happy childhood in snowy Colorado cut short, to a towering ascendance in the newspaper industry, to a dysfunctional marriage and more.
The critically acclaimed film was released on September 5, 1941 and was nominated for a total of nine Academy Awards, winning Best Original Screenplay.
Read More: AFI Fest 2016: What Cameras Were Used to Shoot This Year’s Films
The...
Considered one of the greatest films of all time, “Citizen Kane” follows the life of publishing tycoon, Charles Foster Kane (Welles) and a news reporter assigned to decipher his dying words. The story shows the tragedies and triumphs of Kane’s life, from a happy childhood in snowy Colorado cut short, to a towering ascendance in the newspaper industry, to a dysfunctional marriage and more.
The critically acclaimed film was released on September 5, 1941 and was nominated for a total of nine Academy Awards, winning Best Original Screenplay.
Read More: AFI Fest 2016: What Cameras Were Used to Shoot This Year’s Films
The...
- 11/11/2016
- by Liz Calvario
- Indiewire
Cinema Retro has received the following press release:
Burbank, Calif., November 3, 2016 – To mark the 75th anniversary of Orson Welles’ cinematic masterpiece “Citizen Kane,”Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (Wbhe) will release a new Blu-ray™ and DVD on November 15, and the American Film Institute (AFI) will mount a special screening of the restored master at AFI Fest presented by Audi, the Institute's annual film festival in Hollywood, on November 13. The screening will take place at the Egyptian Theatre at 1:30 p.m., followed by an AFI Master Class, featuring close personal Welles friend Peter Bogdanovich and a celebrity and academic panel to be announced.
The film’s central character is powerful publisher Charles Foster Kane, who aspires to be president of the United States. Newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst claimed “Citizen Kane” was a thinly veiled and slanderous account of his own life and sought to use his formidable muscle to halt...
Burbank, Calif., November 3, 2016 – To mark the 75th anniversary of Orson Welles’ cinematic masterpiece “Citizen Kane,”Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (Wbhe) will release a new Blu-ray™ and DVD on November 15, and the American Film Institute (AFI) will mount a special screening of the restored master at AFI Fest presented by Audi, the Institute's annual film festival in Hollywood, on November 13. The screening will take place at the Egyptian Theatre at 1:30 p.m., followed by an AFI Master Class, featuring close personal Welles friend Peter Bogdanovich and a celebrity and academic panel to be announced.
The film’s central character is powerful publisher Charles Foster Kane, who aspires to be president of the United States. Newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst claimed “Citizen Kane” was a thinly veiled and slanderous account of his own life and sought to use his formidable muscle to halt...
- 11/7/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
This year is the 75th anniversary of the most acclaimed movie of all time. Generally regarded as the cinema’s greatest masterwork, it has topped more critic’s Best Films lists than any other movie. Cinelinx takes a look at the much praised Citizen Kane to see if it really deserves all the accolades it has received.
First some background: The behind-the-scenes story of Citizen Kane (1941) is just as interesting as the film itself. Young filmmaker Orson Welles had been the wunderkind of stage and radio throughout the 1930s—best known at that point for his infamous radio performance of War of the Worlds, which panicked thousands of people who really believed we were being invaded by Martians—and was given a free hand by Rko Pictures to have total creative control over his first film. This was unheard of at the time. Along with co-writer Herman Mankiewicz, director Welles...
First some background: The behind-the-scenes story of Citizen Kane (1941) is just as interesting as the film itself. Young filmmaker Orson Welles had been the wunderkind of stage and radio throughout the 1930s—best known at that point for his infamous radio performance of War of the Worlds, which panicked thousands of people who really believed we were being invaded by Martians—and was given a free hand by Rko Pictures to have total creative control over his first film. This was unheard of at the time. Along with co-writer Herman Mankiewicz, director Welles...
- 9/11/2016
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (Rob Young)
- Cinelinx
This retelling of the classic tale, from the director of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, is unafraid to make wholesale changes, and all the better for it
They finally got the roof fixed.
In every previous adaptation of General Lew Wallace’s wildly successful 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, the instigating event stems from Judah Ben-Hur, the Jewish nobleman, accidentally knocking some stray tiles on to the heads of Roman bigshots as they enter Jerusalem. In 1907 (the 15-minute version), 1926 (Fred Niblo’s luxe and still very watchable silent), 1959 (the enormous Charlton Heston classic), 2003 (an animated version featuring Heston’s voice) and 2010 (a TV miniseries) tiles rained from above, shattering the friendship between Judah and his boyhood chum, the striving Roman tribune Messala. It’s not a stretch to call the poorly manufactured shingles at the Casa de Hur a key prop in cinema history – if not quite Charles Foster...
They finally got the roof fixed.
In every previous adaptation of General Lew Wallace’s wildly successful 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, the instigating event stems from Judah Ben-Hur, the Jewish nobleman, accidentally knocking some stray tiles on to the heads of Roman bigshots as they enter Jerusalem. In 1907 (the 15-minute version), 1926 (Fred Niblo’s luxe and still very watchable silent), 1959 (the enormous Charlton Heston classic), 2003 (an animated version featuring Heston’s voice) and 2010 (a TV miniseries) tiles rained from above, shattering the friendship between Judah and his boyhood chum, the striving Roman tribune Messala. It’s not a stretch to call the poorly manufactured shingles at the Casa de Hur a key prop in cinema history – if not quite Charles Foster...
- 8/17/2016
- by Jordan Hoffman
- The Guardian - Film News
Memos show media mogul William Randolph Hearst’s executives conspired to undermine Welles and stop release of film
Previously unpublished documents have revealed the scale of a plot by the media mogul William Randolph Hearst to discredit Orson Welles and destroy Citizen Kane, the 1941 film about the rise and fall of the fictional newspaper proprietor Charles Foster Kane.
Welles and Rko Pictures faced extortion, media manipulation and other underhand tactics in a plot that was much darker and began earlier than was previously known, according to research by Harlan Lebo for a forthcoming book.
Continue reading...
Previously unpublished documents have revealed the scale of a plot by the media mogul William Randolph Hearst to discredit Orson Welles and destroy Citizen Kane, the 1941 film about the rise and fall of the fictional newspaper proprietor Charles Foster Kane.
Welles and Rko Pictures faced extortion, media manipulation and other underhand tactics in a plot that was much darker and began earlier than was previously known, according to research by Harlan Lebo for a forthcoming book.
Continue reading...
- 3/28/2016
- by Dalya Alberge
- The Guardian - Film News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.