Jason Solomons on an outbreak of film-making in the West Country, and Mike Leigh's secret new project
Go west
Film life is stirring in the West Country. Steven Spielberg is shooting War Horse in Castle Combe and three new features are filming in Bristol in the coming months. A micro-budget scheme called iFeatures is about to give the go-ahead to these three films, having originally taken submissions from more than 550 film-makers. Similar to Liverpool's successful Digital Departures programme, which gave us Terence Davies's Of Time and the City and Lindy Heymann's Kicks, I hear iFeatures are backing a debut feature film from talented director Alastair Siddons. I saw his exciting documentary Turn It Loose in Edinburgh last year, about the world breakdancing championships, and I understand his script, The Dark Half, will be first off the blocks in Bristol. Actor Michael Sheen is eyeing a part in...
Go west
Film life is stirring in the West Country. Steven Spielberg is shooting War Horse in Castle Combe and three new features are filming in Bristol in the coming months. A micro-budget scheme called iFeatures is about to give the go-ahead to these three films, having originally taken submissions from more than 550 film-makers. Similar to Liverpool's successful Digital Departures programme, which gave us Terence Davies's Of Time and the City and Lindy Heymann's Kicks, I hear iFeatures are backing a debut feature film from talented director Alastair Siddons. I saw his exciting documentary Turn It Loose in Edinburgh last year, about the world breakdancing championships, and I understand his script, The Dark Half, will be first off the blocks in Bristol. Actor Michael Sheen is eyeing a part in...
- 9/4/2010
- by Jason Solomons
- The Guardian - Film News
The Killer Inside Me (18)
(Michael Winterbottom, 2010, Us/UK) Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Ned Beatty. 109 mins
After Bad Lieutenant, meet Worse Lieutenant. Whereas Nic Cage's corrupt cop was operatically depraved, Affleck's 1950s Texan lawman hides his psychosis beneath a veneer of southern gentility, which is much creepier. He takes out his anger on various women in a few horribly violent scenes that have raised accusations of misogyny (blame Jim Thompson's source material), but the real challenge is whether Affleck and the stylish visuals are enough to hold the attention between these moments.
4.3.2.1 (15)
(Noel Clarke, 2010, UK) Tamsin Egerton, Emma Roberts, Ophelia Lovibond. 117 mins
With its zippy, attention-deficit plotting, quartet of men's-mag-friendly female leads, and servings of sex and violence, Clarke's frothy transatlantic heist movie aims for the unthinking end of the "male interest" market – what a waste.
Brothers Bloom (12A)
(Rian Johnson, 2008, Us) Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, Mark Ruffalo.
(Michael Winterbottom, 2010, Us/UK) Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Ned Beatty. 109 mins
After Bad Lieutenant, meet Worse Lieutenant. Whereas Nic Cage's corrupt cop was operatically depraved, Affleck's 1950s Texan lawman hides his psychosis beneath a veneer of southern gentility, which is much creepier. He takes out his anger on various women in a few horribly violent scenes that have raised accusations of misogyny (blame Jim Thompson's source material), but the real challenge is whether Affleck and the stylish visuals are enough to hold the attention between these moments.
4.3.2.1 (15)
(Noel Clarke, 2010, UK) Tamsin Egerton, Emma Roberts, Ophelia Lovibond. 117 mins
With its zippy, attention-deficit plotting, quartet of men's-mag-friendly female leads, and servings of sex and violence, Clarke's frothy transatlantic heist movie aims for the unthinking end of the "male interest" market – what a waste.
Brothers Bloom (12A)
(Rian Johnson, 2008, Us) Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, Mark Ruffalo.
- 6/4/2010
- by The guide
- The Guardian - Film News
This week on Film Weekly Jason Solomons meets two emerging acting talents in Nichola Burley and Kerrie Hayes, stars of new film Kicks. Burley also features as an aspiring dancer in StreetDance 3D, currently on release, after making her breakthrough on hard-hitting horror Donkey Punch.
Jason attends the launch of the 64th Edinburgh international film festival where he meets festival director Hannah McGill and young British director Gareth Edwards, whose Monsters premieres at the festival.
Xan Brooks joins Jason to review the week's big releases, including Michael Winterbottom's hot potato noir, The Killer Inside Me, starring Casey Affleck, Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson; Videocracy, a documentary on the corrosive influence of television in Berlusconi's Italy; and The Girl On a Train, French director André Téchiné's drama centred on a false claim of an anti-Semitic attack.
Jason SolomonsXan BrooksJason Phipps...
Jason attends the launch of the 64th Edinburgh international film festival where he meets festival director Hannah McGill and young British director Gareth Edwards, whose Monsters premieres at the festival.
Xan Brooks joins Jason to review the week's big releases, including Michael Winterbottom's hot potato noir, The Killer Inside Me, starring Casey Affleck, Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson; Videocracy, a documentary on the corrosive influence of television in Berlusconi's Italy; and The Girl On a Train, French director André Téchiné's drama centred on a false claim of an anti-Semitic attack.
Jason SolomonsXan BrooksJason Phipps...
- 6/3/2010
- by Jason Solomons, Xan Brooks, Jason Phipps
- The Guardian - Film News
This is a review of Kicks, directed by Lindy Heymann and starring Kerrie Hayes, Nichola Burley (Streetdance 3D) and Jamie Doyle. Shy and awkward 15-year-old Merseyside teenager Nicole (Kerrie Hayes) nurtures a lonely crush on fictional Liverpool Fc footballer Lee Cassidy. Waiting to catch a glimpse of him at the stadium gates, she bonds with fellow fan Jasmine (Nichola Burley), a would-be glamour model and Wag. Jasmine wants a pair of breast implants for her sixteenth birthday as well as a footballer boyfriend – seeing both as a ticket to fame and stardom.
- 6/2/2010
- by David Hudson
- Pure Movies
This is a interview with Kerrie Hayes and Nichola Burley (Streetdance 3D), the young stars of new Merseyside-set British drama, Kicks. “It’s like that actress, Carey Mulligan,” says Hayes, “who’s now making it in Hollywood. I think she dresses quite cool – but she got criticised at the Oscars for wearing a long dress, for no other reason than she’s always wanted to wear a long dress at the Oscars. She got slated at this fashion show because she was wearing a dress that they didn’t think was right, but she still looks great! Just because she’s not quite conforming to what some people think a Hollywood star should look like.”...
- 5/31/2010
- by David Hudson
- Pure Movies
No woman has ever won an Oscar for directing. Could this be the year that all changes?
For Vanity Fair's annual Hollywood issue a few years back, photographer Annie Leibovitz created a classic image of a film director at work. Posing beneath a stormy sky, George Clooney stood with his shirt ripped open, trousers tucked rakishly into his boots, arms outstretched – a young Orson Welles meets Michelangelo's vision of God. His crew were a crowd of female models in flesh-coloured lingerie; not the obvious costume for a camera operator, but there you are. This was the auteur as masculine genius, a warrior amid a sea of passive women.
This has long been the archetype of the film director, but over the last few months a host of women have been making waves: Sam Taylor-Wood with Nowhere Boy, Lone Scherfig with An Education, Andrea Arnold with Fish Tank. Then there are Kathryn Bigelow and Jane Campion,...
For Vanity Fair's annual Hollywood issue a few years back, photographer Annie Leibovitz created a classic image of a film director at work. Posing beneath a stormy sky, George Clooney stood with his shirt ripped open, trousers tucked rakishly into his boots, arms outstretched – a young Orson Welles meets Michelangelo's vision of God. His crew were a crowd of female models in flesh-coloured lingerie; not the obvious costume for a camera operator, but there you are. This was the auteur as masculine genius, a warrior amid a sea of passive women.
This has long been the archetype of the film director, but over the last few months a host of women have been making waves: Sam Taylor-Wood with Nowhere Boy, Lone Scherfig with An Education, Andrea Arnold with Fish Tank. Then there are Kathryn Bigelow and Jane Campion,...
- 2/1/2010
- by Sam Taylor, Kira Cochrane
- The Guardian - Film News
He had never written or made a film before, but failure is not in the dictionary of Tom Ford. He tells Andrew Pulver how A Single Man inspired him, scared him – and got him addicted
It's not every day that a tycoon with a billion-dollar turnover makes his first movie, paid for from his own pocket; but Tom Ford would be a special, exotic creature in any environment. Fashion designer, brand developer, hobnobber with the rich and famous, Ford has now has put himself in an extraordinary, exceptional position – his film-making debut, A Single Man, is a potentially important, award-winning movie, one that looks set to make a significant impact on the culture. It's adapted from a 1964 novel by Christopher Isherwood about a gay man's grief after his partner is killed in a car accident; it stars Colin Firth, giving a performance that is already registering on the awards circuit,...
It's not every day that a tycoon with a billion-dollar turnover makes his first movie, paid for from his own pocket; but Tom Ford would be a special, exotic creature in any environment. Fashion designer, brand developer, hobnobber with the rich and famous, Ford has now has put himself in an extraordinary, exceptional position – his film-making debut, A Single Man, is a potentially important, award-winning movie, one that looks set to make a significant impact on the culture. It's adapted from a 1964 novel by Christopher Isherwood about a gay man's grief after his partner is killed in a car accident; it stars Colin Firth, giving a performance that is already registering on the awards circuit,...
- 1/29/2010
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
Jamie Doyle arrives for the premiere of Lindy Heymann’s Kicks, in which two women do whatever they can to get near their sports idol, during the Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival at the Vue West End on October 22. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images) Nichola Burley at the premiere of Kicks (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images) Director Lindy Heymann arrives for the premiere of Kicks (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images) A view from the National Gallery during the London Moves Me Outdoor Screening as part of the Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival held at Trafalgar Square on October 22. (Photo by Samir Hussein/Getty Images)...
- 10/29/2009
- by Joan Lister
- Alt Film Guide
We're down to the last few days of the festival, but the films and stars are still flowing thick and fast.
Today we have a report on Lindy Heymann's Kicks, an intelligent look at modern celebrity culture and its effects on two very different young women. Plus you can hear from the co-directors of Mugabe And The White African about the perils of filming illegally in a violent and hostile country.
And as if that weren't enough, we also have lovely ladies Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried telling us about their collaboration on Chloe, the story of a woman who hires an escort to seduce her husband, whom she supsects is cheating on her.
Get your Monday morning's worth by checking out the video below (or in the big player here) and don't forget to give us your comments.
More about this movie
>> Real the whole article | on...
Today we have a report on Lindy Heymann's Kicks, an intelligent look at modern celebrity culture and its effects on two very different young women. Plus you can hear from the co-directors of Mugabe And The White African about the perils of filming illegally in a violent and hostile country.
And as if that weren't enough, we also have lovely ladies Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried telling us about their collaboration on Chloe, the story of a woman who hires an escort to seduce her husband, whom she supsects is cheating on her.
Get your Monday morning's worth by checking out the video below (or in the big player here) and don't forget to give us your comments.
More about this movie
>> Real the whole article | on...
- 10/26/2009
- Screenrush
London -- The first best film nod to be presented during this year's The Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival will come from a list comprising "Balibo," "Bright Star," "Fantastic Mr. Fox," "Micmacs," "Nowhere Boy," "A Prophet," "The Road," "A Serious Man" and "The White Ribbon."
Organizers, announcing the shortlist Tuesday for the annual event's freshest award categories, also unveiled the names in the running for the second inaugural award, for best British newcomer.
Directors Malcolm Venville, J. Blakeson, Jordan Scott, Lindy Heymann, and Tom Harper are in the running alongside writers Leigh Campbell and Jack Thorne.
Heymann directed Campbell's script for "Kicks," while Thorne's words provided Harper with a directing project with "The Scouting Book for Boys." Venville directed "44 Inch Chest," Blakeson helmed "The Disappearance of Alice Creed" and Scott directed "Cracks." All efforts feature in this year's London Film Festival lineup.
Festival regular accolades The Sutherland Trophy and...
Organizers, announcing the shortlist Tuesday for the annual event's freshest award categories, also unveiled the names in the running for the second inaugural award, for best British newcomer.
Directors Malcolm Venville, J. Blakeson, Jordan Scott, Lindy Heymann, and Tom Harper are in the running alongside writers Leigh Campbell and Jack Thorne.
Heymann directed Campbell's script for "Kicks," while Thorne's words provided Harper with a directing project with "The Scouting Book for Boys." Venville directed "44 Inch Chest," Blakeson helmed "The Disappearance of Alice Creed" and Scott directed "Cracks." All efforts feature in this year's London Film Festival lineup.
Festival regular accolades The Sutherland Trophy and...
- 10/6/2009
- by By Stuart Kemp
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Directed by Lindy Heymann
Written by Leigh Campbell
Featuring Nichola Burley, Jamie Doyle, Kerrie Hayes
Website
Review by projectcyclops
Kicks tells the story of Nicole and Jasmin, two girls from opposite sides of the tracks who bond over their favourite football (soccer) star, Lee, in Liverpool. Meeting for the first time outside the club training grounds to try and get a peek at the guy, they hit it off and go clubbing together, at which point their differences become more apparent. Nicole (or Col) is a shy and intelligent girl who comes from the kind of household where you'd see an asthma inhaler next to a ashtray full of old butts, while Jasmine's family are wealthy nouveau riche, promising her a boob-job for her sweet-sixteenth. Jasmine wants to marry rich and be a pro-party girl, while Col wants a, "Brain-job", rather than chest enhancement, and her love for Lee is more cerebral and obsessive,...
Written by Leigh Campbell
Featuring Nichola Burley, Jamie Doyle, Kerrie Hayes
Website
Review by projectcyclops
Kicks tells the story of Nicole and Jasmin, two girls from opposite sides of the tracks who bond over their favourite football (soccer) star, Lee, in Liverpool. Meeting for the first time outside the club training grounds to try and get a peek at the guy, they hit it off and go clubbing together, at which point their differences become more apparent. Nicole (or Col) is a shy and intelligent girl who comes from the kind of household where you'd see an asthma inhaler next to a ashtray full of old butts, while Jasmine's family are wealthy nouveau riche, promising her a boob-job for her sweet-sixteenth. Jasmine wants to marry rich and be a pro-party girl, while Col wants a, "Brain-job", rather than chest enhancement, and her love for Lee is more cerebral and obsessive,...
- 6/27/2009
- by Superheidi
- Planet Fury
Year: 2009
Directors: Lindy Heymann
Writers: Leigh Campbell
IMDb: link
Trailer: link
Review by: projectcyclops
Rating: 7 out of 10
Kicks tells the story of Nicole and Jasmin, two girls from opposite sides of the tracks who bond over their favourite football (soccer) star, Lee, in Liverpool. Meeting for the first time outside the club training grounds to try and get a peek at the guy, they hit it off and go clubbing together, at which point their differences become more apparent. Nicole (or Col) is a shy and intelligent girl who comes from the kind of household where you'd see an asthma inhaler next to a ashtray full of old butts, while Jasmine's family are wealthy nouveau riche, promising her a boob-job for her sweet-sixteenth. Jasmine wants to marry rich and be a pro-party girl, while Col wants a, "Brain-job", rather than chest enhancement, and her love for Lee is more cerebral and obsessive,...
Directors: Lindy Heymann
Writers: Leigh Campbell
IMDb: link
Trailer: link
Review by: projectcyclops
Rating: 7 out of 10
Kicks tells the story of Nicole and Jasmin, two girls from opposite sides of the tracks who bond over their favourite football (soccer) star, Lee, in Liverpool. Meeting for the first time outside the club training grounds to try and get a peek at the guy, they hit it off and go clubbing together, at which point their differences become more apparent. Nicole (or Col) is a shy and intelligent girl who comes from the kind of household where you'd see an asthma inhaler next to a ashtray full of old butts, while Jasmine's family are wealthy nouveau riche, promising her a boob-job for her sweet-sixteenth. Jasmine wants to marry rich and be a pro-party girl, while Col wants a, "Brain-job", rather than chest enhancement, and her love for Lee is more cerebral and obsessive,...
- 6/21/2009
- QuietEarth.us
London -- Director Joe Wright will preside over this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival Michael Powell Jury, organizers said Monday.
Wright will be president of the festival's main jury alongside actor Frank Langella, USA Today film critic Claudia Puig, journalist, broadcaster and author Janet Street-Porter and Australian actor Sacha Horler.
Wright said he was delighted to be returning to the Scottish shindig, describing it as a place "which has always been the greatest melting pot of the British film industry and culture."
Named in homage to one of Britain's most original filmmakers and inaugurated in 1993, the Michael Powell Award is sponsored by the U.K. Film Council and carries a purse of £20,000 ($32,700).
The jury will pick a winner from Brian Percival's "A Boy Called Dad," Duncan Ward's "Boogie Woogie," Jan Dunn's "The Calling," Justin Molotnikov's "Crying With Laughter," Andrea Arnold's "Fish Tank" Lindy Heymann's "Kicks,...
Wright will be president of the festival's main jury alongside actor Frank Langella, USA Today film critic Claudia Puig, journalist, broadcaster and author Janet Street-Porter and Australian actor Sacha Horler.
Wright said he was delighted to be returning to the Scottish shindig, describing it as a place "which has always been the greatest melting pot of the British film industry and culture."
Named in homage to one of Britain's most original filmmakers and inaugurated in 1993, the Michael Powell Award is sponsored by the U.K. Film Council and carries a purse of £20,000 ($32,700).
The jury will pick a winner from Brian Percival's "A Boy Called Dad," Duncan Ward's "Boogie Woogie," Jan Dunn's "The Calling," Justin Molotnikov's "Crying With Laughter," Andrea Arnold's "Fish Tank" Lindy Heymann's "Kicks,...
- 6/15/2009
- by By Stuart Kemp
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Thanks to QuietEarth, now you can check out the trailer for Lindy Heymann's thriller Kicks, about two young girls in love with a soccer player who will do Anything to keep him from leaving their fave team.
Nicole & Jasmine are two teenagers who bond over a mutual obsession for Premiership footballer, Lee Cassidy. Fuelled by their fantasy of meeting him, they track him down and before they know it their dream has become a nightmare. Watch the trailer!...
Kicks trailer
Average: Select ratingSuckySeen WorseDecentPretty good!Awesome No votes yet...
Nicole & Jasmine are two teenagers who bond over a mutual obsession for Premiership footballer, Lee Cassidy. Fuelled by their fantasy of meeting him, they track him down and before they know it their dream has become a nightmare. Watch the trailer!...
Kicks trailer
Average: Select ratingSuckySeen WorseDecentPretty good!Awesome No votes yet...
- 6/9/2009
- by Superheidi
- Planet Fury
Have you ever wondered what happens when fangirls take their obsession too far? Kicks does. And it's screening at The Edinburgh Film Fest this June.
Lindy Heymann’s gripping and thought-provoking psycho-sexual thriller was written by Leigh Campbell and stars Nichola Burley (Eiff/Skillset Trailblazer 2008) and newcomer Kerrie Hayes as Liverpudlian teenagers devoted to their favorite football player, Lee (Jamie Doyle). When Lee’s move to Spain is announced, the girls resolve to change his mind – by any means necessary - including fear. A tense and frighteing journey that provides sharp and eloquent comment on Wag culture, beautifully shot by Eduardo Grau...
read more...
Lindy Heymann’s gripping and thought-provoking psycho-sexual thriller was written by Leigh Campbell and stars Nichola Burley (Eiff/Skillset Trailblazer 2008) and newcomer Kerrie Hayes as Liverpudlian teenagers devoted to their favorite football player, Lee (Jamie Doyle). When Lee’s move to Spain is announced, the girls resolve to change his mind – by any means necessary - including fear. A tense and frighteing journey that provides sharp and eloquent comment on Wag culture, beautifully shot by Eduardo Grau...
read more...
- 5/8/2009
- by Superheidi
- Planet Fury
I don't have much info on this film besides a straight synopsis so I'm not sure if this is a psycho-sexual thriller, but regardless the footage looks stunning and director Lindy Heymann says the film is "about society’s obsession with celebrity." It will be having it's world premier at Eiff and we've got the trailer.
Nicole & Jasmine are two teenagers who bond over a mutual obsession for Premiership footballer, Lee Cassidy. Fuelled by their fantasy of meeting him, they track him down and before they know it their dream has become a nightmare.
Trailer link here.
Nicole & Jasmine are two teenagers who bond over a mutual obsession for Premiership footballer, Lee Cassidy. Fuelled by their fantasy of meeting him, they track him down and before they know it their dream has become a nightmare.
Trailer link here.
- 5/6/2009
- QuietEarth.us
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.