Once a punchline, now a classic, Paul Verhoeven’s lusty Las Vegas spin on “All About Eve” was destroyed by critics at its release in 1995. But how many movies from that same period can boast a 1,200-seat sell-out at the Academy Museum’s Geffen Theater all these years later?
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film’s star (and that year’s Razzie-winner) Elizabeth Berkley received no less than three standing ovations during her introduction on Wednesday.
She told the crowd that the property was so hot at the time that she asked her agent if it could mean an Academy Award nomination. “Every girl in Hollywood had fought for this role,” she said.
While recognizing now that was a bit of wishful thinking she did salute the audience that “got” the movie from day one.
“[‘Showgirls’] really pushed the boundaries at that time that now have been embraced — not misunderstood but truly embraced.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film’s star (and that year’s Razzie-winner) Elizabeth Berkley received no less than three standing ovations during her introduction on Wednesday.
She told the crowd that the property was so hot at the time that she asked her agent if it could mean an Academy Award nomination. “Every girl in Hollywood had fought for this role,” she said.
While recognizing now that was a bit of wishful thinking she did salute the audience that “got” the movie from day one.
“[‘Showgirls’] really pushed the boundaries at that time that now have been embraced — not misunderstood but truly embraced.
- 3/21/2024
- by Jordan Hoffman
- Gold Derby
Brian McConnachie, the Emmy-winning writer with the offbeat sense of humor who worked on Sctv Network and Saturday Night Live and appeared in Caddyshack and several films for Woody Allen, has died. He was 81.
McConnachie died Friday of complications from Parkinson’s disease in Venice, Florida, Michael Gerber, editor and publisher of The American Bystander, told The Hollywood Reporter. The duo relaunched the humor magazine in 2015 after McConnachie — an original staff member at National Lampoon — originally got it going in 1981.
“Every day, on every page, he has been our North Star,” Gerber said in a statement. “From his days at National Lampoon, Brian was ‘every comedy writer’s favorite comedy writer,’ crafting an unmistakable one-of-a-kind laid-back eccentricity that inspired generations.
“He is the only person I know who wrote for the Holy Trinity of Seventies Comedy — National Lampoon, SNL and Sctv. This speaks to not only his writing talent, but...
McConnachie died Friday of complications from Parkinson’s disease in Venice, Florida, Michael Gerber, editor and publisher of The American Bystander, told The Hollywood Reporter. The duo relaunched the humor magazine in 2015 after McConnachie — an original staff member at National Lampoon — originally got it going in 1981.
“Every day, on every page, he has been our North Star,” Gerber said in a statement. “From his days at National Lampoon, Brian was ‘every comedy writer’s favorite comedy writer,’ crafting an unmistakable one-of-a-kind laid-back eccentricity that inspired generations.
“He is the only person I know who wrote for the Holy Trinity of Seventies Comedy — National Lampoon, SNL and Sctv. This speaks to not only his writing talent, but...
- 1/9/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Showgirls stands as one of the most critically-reviled movies of all time, a 1995 erotic thriller that starred Elizabeth Berkley as Nomi Malone, a young woman in search of her big break. While made with the best of intentions, Showgirls was a box-office bomb. And over the years, new generations have continued to find fault with the controversial flick. Interestingly enough, Berkley wasn’t the original choice to play Nomi. A-lister Charlize Theron was once in the running for the lead role.
‘Showgirls’ bombed at the box office when it debuted
Showgirls tells the story of Nomi Malone, a young woman who heads to Las Vegas in hopes of making it as a showgirl in a revue show. Things don’t go smoothly for Nomi from the start. Eventually, Nomi crosses paths with Cristal Connors and her boyfriend, Zack Carey, two mainstays at the Stardust Casino, who convince her to audition...
‘Showgirls’ bombed at the box office when it debuted
Showgirls tells the story of Nomi Malone, a young woman who heads to Las Vegas in hopes of making it as a showgirl in a revue show. Things don’t go smoothly for Nomi from the start. Eventually, Nomi crosses paths with Cristal Connors and her boyfriend, Zack Carey, two mainstays at the Stardust Casino, who convince her to audition...
- 2/5/2023
- by Christina Nunn
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Chicago – When an interview opportunity comes up with Wallace Shawn, and it lasts more than 15 minutes, a conversation can be born. In our own version of “My Dinner with Andre,” I got an expansion with the actor, writer and one of the most famous dinner guests in cinema history (he is the “My” in “My Dinner … “ ).
Wallace Shawn’s story begins in New York City, where he was born the son of journalist Cecille Lyon and William Shawn, the longtime editor of the New Yorker magazine. After doing his undergrad at Harvard and post-grad work at Oxford, he eschew his philosophy and political studies to translate a play for a friend. He also had a role in the play, and his future was determined.
Wallace Shawn in ‘Rifkin’s Festival’
Photo credit: MPI Media Group
He began as a playwright, and many of his notable titles have been staged on...
Wallace Shawn’s story begins in New York City, where he was born the son of journalist Cecille Lyon and William Shawn, the longtime editor of the New Yorker magazine. After doing his undergrad at Harvard and post-grad work at Oxford, he eschew his philosophy and political studies to translate a play for a friend. He also had a role in the play, and his future was determined.
Wallace Shawn in ‘Rifkin’s Festival’
Photo credit: MPI Media Group
He began as a playwright, and many of his notable titles have been staged on...
- 2/10/2022
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – The distinctive voice and presence of Wallace Shawn has been in the show business firmament for over 40 years. From his legacy film “My Dinner with Andre” through cultural icon in “The Princess Bride” to “Young Sheldon,” Wally Shawn has endured and prospered. He stars as the title character in “Rifkin’s Festival, opening January 28th, 2022.
Wallace Shawn is Mort Rifkin, a struggling novelist who used to be a film studies professor. Through his academia he met and married Sue (Gina Gershon), a movie publicist who saw potential in his literary pursuit. She is representing a hot young director at the famous San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain, and takes Mort along for the ride. The ex-professor doesn’t like modern cinema, and distracts himself by pursuing a local cardiologist (Elena Anaya) and creating dreams and fantasies from his film heroes.
Wallace Shawn and Gina Gershon in ‘Rifkin’s Festival...
Wallace Shawn is Mort Rifkin, a struggling novelist who used to be a film studies professor. Through his academia he met and married Sue (Gina Gershon), a movie publicist who saw potential in his literary pursuit. She is representing a hot young director at the famous San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain, and takes Mort along for the ride. The ex-professor doesn’t like modern cinema, and distracts himself by pursuing a local cardiologist (Elena Anaya) and creating dreams and fantasies from his film heroes.
Wallace Shawn and Gina Gershon in ‘Rifkin’s Festival...
- 1/27/2022
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Bob Dorian, actor, magician (The Amazing Dorian) and the first prime-time host of American Movie Classics, died June 15, his family announced. He was 85.
Born in Brooklyn, NY, Dorian performed on the stage, radio, television and film. He appeared in features including Woody Allen’s Hollywood Ending and The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, and lent his voice to Sam Raimi’s 1981 horror classic The Evil Dead as an archaeologist whose tape-recorded readings from an ancient text resurrect a demon.
He also had a recurring role on one of AMC’s first original series, Remember WENN, which premiered in 1996, but it is as American Movie Classics’ first prime-time host for which he is best known. The network launched in 1984 as a premium channel focused on classic movies. Dorian introduced the films in the comfortable setting of a living room, providing viewers with Hollywood history and behind-the-scenes trivia.
An avowed movie buff,...
Born in Brooklyn, NY, Dorian performed on the stage, radio, television and film. He appeared in features including Woody Allen’s Hollywood Ending and The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, and lent his voice to Sam Raimi’s 1981 horror classic The Evil Dead as an archaeologist whose tape-recorded readings from an ancient text resurrect a demon.
He also had a recurring role on one of AMC’s first original series, Remember WENN, which premiered in 1996, but it is as American Movie Classics’ first prime-time host for which he is best known. The network launched in 1984 as a premium channel focused on classic movies. Dorian introduced the films in the comfortable setting of a living room, providing viewers with Hollywood history and behind-the-scenes trivia.
An avowed movie buff,...
- 6/25/2019
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Slate also includes Cannes hopefuls Ken Loach’s Sorry We Missed You, Kore-eda Hirokazu’s The Truth and Kantemir Balagov’s Beanpole.
Wild Bunch has boarded sales on zeitgeisty drama Les Misérables, the directorial debut of filmmaker Ladj Ly, a long-time collaborator of French street artist Jr, whose work focuses on the tough eastern suburbs of Paris where he grew up.
Inspired by the 2005 riots in the notorious Clichy-sous-Bois and Montfermeil suburbs east of Paris, Les Misérables revolves around three members of an anti-crime brigade who are overrun while trying to make an arrest.
“It’s a challenging, exciting title for us,...
Wild Bunch has boarded sales on zeitgeisty drama Les Misérables, the directorial debut of filmmaker Ladj Ly, a long-time collaborator of French street artist Jr, whose work focuses on the tough eastern suburbs of Paris where he grew up.
Inspired by the 2005 riots in the notorious Clichy-sous-Bois and Montfermeil suburbs east of Paris, Les Misérables revolves around three members of an anti-crime brigade who are overrun while trying to make an arrest.
“It’s a challenging, exciting title for us,...
- 2/6/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
by Tim Brayton
As part of our celebration of the career of Charlize Theron, I'm revisiting the performance of hers that first made me clearly aware that here was a woman whose career would be worth keeping an eye on. Unfortunately, it's a crap film, one of the worst she's ever been in: I speak of the 2001 Woody Allen project The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, a sluggish, mirthless throwback to the screwball comedies of old that is, by some reports, Allen's own least favorite of his career. I can't quite bring myself to agree with that assessment, but it's certainly right down there near the bottom.
In fact, Theron's performance as bored, spoiled rich society woman Laura Kensington is easily the best thing about the film, if not indeed the only good thing about it, period. I'm very happy to report that her work holds up, even without the sense of newness.
As part of our celebration of the career of Charlize Theron, I'm revisiting the performance of hers that first made me clearly aware that here was a woman whose career would be worth keeping an eye on. Unfortunately, it's a crap film, one of the worst she's ever been in: I speak of the 2001 Woody Allen project The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, a sluggish, mirthless throwback to the screwball comedies of old that is, by some reports, Allen's own least favorite of his career. I can't quite bring myself to agree with that assessment, but it's certainly right down there near the bottom.
In fact, Theron's performance as bored, spoiled rich society woman Laura Kensington is easily the best thing about the film, if not indeed the only good thing about it, period. I'm very happy to report that her work holds up, even without the sense of newness.
- 7/28/2017
- by Tim Brayton
- FilmExperience
Elizabeth Berkley was all set to make Hollywood waves after achieving teen cult status as 17-year-old Jessie Spano, grappling with amphetamines caffeine pill addiction in Saved by the Bell.
Yet a swimming pool splash-about with Kyle MacLachlan in Robocop director Paul Verhoeven's 1995 skin flick Showgirls - the Us's first and only big-budget Nc-17 - unfortunately torpedoed her career before it began.
But as Showgirls celebrates its 20th anniversary this week, having been reappraised and reborn as a midnight movie regular, a musical masterpiece (tagline: "Singing. Dancing. Tits") and a classic exploitation film of our time (not our words, but Jim Jarmusch's), we look at what happened to the actress best known as Nomi Malone.
1. She won two Razzies
Worse than being on the end of a critical and commercial panning was Berkley's personal haul of Golden Raspberry awards for Showgirls, one for Worst Actress and Worst New Star...
Yet a swimming pool splash-about with Kyle MacLachlan in Robocop director Paul Verhoeven's 1995 skin flick Showgirls - the Us's first and only big-budget Nc-17 - unfortunately torpedoed her career before it began.
But as Showgirls celebrates its 20th anniversary this week, having been reappraised and reborn as a midnight movie regular, a musical masterpiece (tagline: "Singing. Dancing. Tits") and a classic exploitation film of our time (not our words, but Jim Jarmusch's), we look at what happened to the actress best known as Nomi Malone.
1. She won two Razzies
Worse than being on the end of a critical and commercial panning was Berkley's personal haul of Golden Raspberry awards for Showgirls, one for Worst Actress and Worst New Star...
- 9/24/2015
- Digital Spy
Hocus Pocus: Allen’s Latest a Re-hash of All-Too-Familiar Themes
Returning once more to the world of psychics and magicians to inform his breezy comedic styling, Woody Allen’s latest, Magic in the Moonlight, plays like the slight reconnoitering of a slew of other past titles from his filmography. While this is often a critique lobbed at Allen’s perennial offerings, his latest is a surprisingly uncharismatic and uninvolving recapitulation of the kinds of schemes he used in The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001), Scoop (2006), and a few others. If those are your favored Allen titles, then perhaps this one will be a pleasing trifle. However, whereas generally Allen applies a zany, broad streak to these scenarios, here we’re pared down to a quietly developing (and unlikely) romance between its two leads.
Wei Ling Soo, a famed Chinese conjurer in 1920’s Berlin, is actually the stage persona of a...
Returning once more to the world of psychics and magicians to inform his breezy comedic styling, Woody Allen’s latest, Magic in the Moonlight, plays like the slight reconnoitering of a slew of other past titles from his filmography. While this is often a critique lobbed at Allen’s perennial offerings, his latest is a surprisingly uncharismatic and uninvolving recapitulation of the kinds of schemes he used in The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001), Scoop (2006), and a few others. If those are your favored Allen titles, then perhaps this one will be a pleasing trifle. However, whereas generally Allen applies a zany, broad streak to these scenarios, here we’re pared down to a quietly developing (and unlikely) romance between its two leads.
Wei Ling Soo, a famed Chinese conjurer in 1920’s Berlin, is actually the stage persona of a...
- 7/21/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a film that looks more like the filmmaker’s midlife-crisis wish-fulfillment fantasy than this one. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
You know how it happens. A beautiful, wealthy woman — a doctor — happens to mention, offhand, just out of the blue, to one of her patients that she and her even more gorgeous, even more rich friend are just dying to have a threesome. And the patient, who just happens to be Woody Allen, naturally thinks to pimp out his florist pal, John Turturro, to them. Cuz who couldn’t use a little extra dough? Same old story, really.
Did I mention that this is written and directed by Turturro?
This is like Twilight for middle-aged men, in which prostitution is an adventure and getting paid tons...
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
You know how it happens. A beautiful, wealthy woman — a doctor — happens to mention, offhand, just out of the blue, to one of her patients that she and her even more gorgeous, even more rich friend are just dying to have a threesome. And the patient, who just happens to be Woody Allen, naturally thinks to pimp out his florist pal, John Turturro, to them. Cuz who couldn’t use a little extra dough? Same old story, really.
Did I mention that this is written and directed by Turturro?
This is like Twilight for middle-aged men, in which prostitution is an adventure and getting paid tons...
- 4/23/2014
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
Not everyone welcomed the director's Lifetime Achievement award – particularly Mia and Ronan Farrow. So is it Ok to praise his work?
Is it Ok to celebrate Woody Allen? Many fans thought, with some relief, that this question had finally been settled, with the public beginning to relax about the public scandals that destroyed his family in the 90s, and the filmmaker himself at long last returning to professional form. (It has never been clear to me, incidentally, which was deemed by the masses to be Allen's more grievous fault: running off with his longterm partner Mia Farrow's adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn, or going off the boil and making dross like The Curse of the Jade Scorpion. These, shall we say, missteps seemed, in the eyes of the media, to be interchangeable, probably with some mutual causation.) Clearly the Hollywood Foreign Press Association felt all that "unpleasantness" was over when...
Is it Ok to celebrate Woody Allen? Many fans thought, with some relief, that this question had finally been settled, with the public beginning to relax about the public scandals that destroyed his family in the 90s, and the filmmaker himself at long last returning to professional form. (It has never been clear to me, incidentally, which was deemed by the masses to be Allen's more grievous fault: running off with his longterm partner Mia Farrow's adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn, or going off the boil and making dross like The Curse of the Jade Scorpion. These, shall we say, missteps seemed, in the eyes of the media, to be interchangeable, probably with some mutual causation.) Clearly the Hollywood Foreign Press Association felt all that "unpleasantness" was over when...
- 1/15/2014
- by Hadley Freeman
- The Guardian - Film News
By Joey Magidson
Film Contributor
***
I’ve always had a soft spot for films that are directed by actors. In one of my recent pieces, I spoke about how the Academy looks at actors who direct. Now, I’ll be continuing my interest by focusing in on which of these multi-hyphenates are the best at what they do.
By and large, the films that actors make when they choose directorial projects have some sort of significance for them or at least play to their strengths, so disasters are few and far between. This makes it a lot of fun to celebrate the best of the bunch, since I’m able to draw from a larger pool than you normally can when looking at one particular type of filmmaker.
I take some comfort in knowing that most films directed by actors tend to be at least decent, if not better. I...
Film Contributor
***
I’ve always had a soft spot for films that are directed by actors. In one of my recent pieces, I spoke about how the Academy looks at actors who direct. Now, I’ll be continuing my interest by focusing in on which of these multi-hyphenates are the best at what they do.
By and large, the films that actors make when they choose directorial projects have some sort of significance for them or at least play to their strengths, so disasters are few and far between. This makes it a lot of fun to celebrate the best of the bunch, since I’m able to draw from a larger pool than you normally can when looking at one particular type of filmmaker.
I take some comfort in knowing that most films directed by actors tend to be at least decent, if not better. I...
- 2/1/2013
- by Joey Magidson
- Scott Feinberg
The two part Woody Allen documentary on PBS this week has got a lot of people thinking and talking about the prolific filmmaker again. Everyone agrees on his best work -- "Annie Hall," "Manhattan," "Hannah and Her Sisters" -- and just about everyone agrees on his worst stuff -- "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion" -- but after that it gets a little trickier.
Picking five "underrated" Woody Allen movies isn't an easy job. The man has made a lot of films, and everyone has their personal favorites; a Twitter poll on this subject yielded at least a dozen different responses and no clear consensus (though "Match Point" and "Broadway Danny Rose," two fine films which are both absent from this list, were quite popular). So these are my five favorite underrated Woody Allen movies. You could very easily have five others you prefer. But if you haven't seen these,...
Picking five "underrated" Woody Allen movies isn't an easy job. The man has made a lot of films, and everyone has their personal favorites; a Twitter poll on this subject yielded at least a dozen different responses and no clear consensus (though "Match Point" and "Broadway Danny Rose," two fine films which are both absent from this list, were quite popular). So these are my five favorite underrated Woody Allen movies. You could very easily have five others you prefer. But if you haven't seen these,...
- 11/22/2011
- by Matt Singer
- ifc.com
The first thing to say about the two-part, 3-hour-and-15-minute American Masters special Woody Allen: A Documentary, which airs tonight and tomorrow on PBS, is that it mixes things you already know with things you didn’t know in an avidly enjoyable, Woody-nostalgia way. Here’s something, for instance, that I didn’t know: Allen still does all his writing on the same tiny typewriter he has owned since he was 16 — a German-made Olympia portable that he purchased for $40 in 1952. He’s written all his movies on it, all his plays, and all his New Yorker pieces. The typewriter is missing its top,...
- 11/20/2011
- by Owen Gleiberman
- EW - Inside Movies
She’s been an assassin, a coal miner, a supermodel and an astronauts wife; portrayed Britt Ekland, transformed herself into the most misunderstood monster of modern times, been tortured by Satan and is soon to be seen as the evil queen with her murderous sights set on Snow White. I am talking about the beautiful, blonde bombshell from South Africa, Charlize Theron.
It seems a little premature to have a ‘Life in Pictures’ tribute for Theron; at just 36 she has only been on screen for 16 years since making her debut in 2 Days in the Valley. She had been in Hollywood less than a year when she won the role of Helga and her sexy performance stole the show and earned her a dominant role on the movie poster in her lingerie, ‘I was totally unprepared for that. A year earlier I had bought a one-way ticket from South Africa to...
It seems a little premature to have a ‘Life in Pictures’ tribute for Theron; at just 36 she has only been on screen for 16 years since making her debut in 2 Days in the Valley. She had been in Hollywood less than a year when she won the role of Helga and her sexy performance stole the show and earned her a dominant role on the movie poster in her lingerie, ‘I was totally unprepared for that. A year earlier I had bought a one-way ticket from South Africa to...
- 11/14/2011
- by Adam Rayner
- Obsessed with Film
★★★★☆ Woody Allen's continued underlying flirtation with fantastical situations - previously witnessed with the screen-fleeing charm of The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) and hypnotism-induced antics of The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) - returns once again within Midnight in Paris (2011), the seasoned auteur's forty-first directed feature in so many years, and stars Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates and 'First Lady' of France, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
Read more »...
Read more »...
- 10/6/2011
- by Daniel Green
- CineVue
Veteran director joins $100m club with his acclaimed new picture despite being written off by critics
Despite years of critical derision and a general perception that his career is in terminal decline, Woody Allen has confounded his critics by engineering a commercial renaissance – joining the $100m club in the process.
Allen's 41st feature as director, Midnight in Paris, which is due for release in the UK on Friday, is already his highest-grossing picture: its worldwide take stands at more than $107.4m (£68.7m).
Allen has not reached these heights at the box office since the mid-80s, when Hannah and Her Sisters took $40.1m in the Us, compared with Midnight in Paris's $54.4m. Manhattan (1979) and Annie Hall (1977) are the next highest, with $39.9m and $38.3m respectively.
The reasons behind the success of Midnight in Paris are open to debate. In recent years Allen's commercial credibility has been on the rise,...
Despite years of critical derision and a general perception that his career is in terminal decline, Woody Allen has confounded his critics by engineering a commercial renaissance – joining the $100m club in the process.
Allen's 41st feature as director, Midnight in Paris, which is due for release in the UK on Friday, is already his highest-grossing picture: its worldwide take stands at more than $107.4m (£68.7m).
Allen has not reached these heights at the box office since the mid-80s, when Hannah and Her Sisters took $40.1m in the Us, compared with Midnight in Paris's $54.4m. Manhattan (1979) and Annie Hall (1977) are the next highest, with $39.9m and $38.3m respectively.
The reasons behind the success of Midnight in Paris are open to debate. In recent years Allen's commercial credibility has been on the rise,...
- 10/3/2011
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
If its 'working stiffs who decide to rob the billionaire who defrauded their pensions' plot weren't such a blatant capitalization on recent financial scandals, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Tower Heist looks like an ensemble robbery comedy that someone like Woody Allen would have tried to make 13 years ago. For starters, it stars Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Casey Affleck, Alan Alda, Matthew Broderick and Tea Leoni. The only actors that tip off the fact that this is a 2011 film are Michael Pena and Gabourey Sidibe. Oh, and the grey hair on Stiller and Broderick's hair, that's kind of a tell as well. And while that sounds like a knock on the film, Tower Heist looking like it belongs in a generational league with Small Time Crooks, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion,...
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- 7/28/2011
- by affiliates@fandango.com
- Fandango
If its 'working stiffs who decide to rob the billionaire who defrauded their pensions' plot weren't such a blatant capitalization on recent financial scandals, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Tower Heist looks like an ensemble robbery comedy that someone like Woody Allen would have tried to make 13 years ago. For starters, it stars Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Casey Affleck, Alan Alda, Matthew Broderick and Tea Leoni. The only actors that tip off the fact that this is a 2011 film are Michael Pena and Gabourey Sidibe. Oh, and the grey hair on Stiller and Broderick's hair, that's kind of a tell as well. And while that sounds like a knock on the film, Tower Heist looking like it belongs in a generational league with Small Time Crooks, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion,...
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- 7/28/2011
- by affiliates@fandango.com
- Fandango
As far as old-school movie geeks are concerned, it is those who love Woody Allen the most who hold him to the highest standard. So when I offer the opinion that the outrageously prolific filmmaker has been a little "off his game" over the past few ... decades, it's a criticism that's laced with admiration, affection, and the certainty that Woody Allen is one of America's greatest filmmakers. Even when he's working overseas. Sure, Match Point was quite intriguing, and there were the low-key charms of Melinda and Melinda, Cassandra's Dream, and Vicky Cristina Barcelona ... but it will take a pretty long time to wash away the stench of the run that included Anything Else, Hollywood Ending, and The Curse of the Jade Scorpion....
- 6/19/2011
- Screen Anarchy
Subject: Helen Hunt, 47-year old American actress
Date of Assessment: April 6, 2011
Positive Buzzwords: Longevity, television, girl next door
Negative Buzzwords: Oscar, limited range, feature films
The Case: This week, we're dealing with yet another damn Academy Award winner and perhaps one of the greatest indicators that awards don't matter beyond a short-term improvement of the salary. In 1998, Helen Hunt won the Best Actress Oscar for her role in As Good As It Gets; she subsequently enjoyed a short run in a few high-powered blockbusters but then suddenly dropped off the Hollywood radar. Yet since the tender age of 10 years, Hunt's been working as an actress, although she didn't rise into mainstream popular culture until 1992's debut of "Mad About You." After seven seasons, a few Emmy awards, and a couple of blockbuster movies (including the aforementioned Oscar-winning role), Hunt pulled a Hollywood disappearing act for the most part. Indeed, the 1990s were hers,...
Date of Assessment: April 6, 2011
Positive Buzzwords: Longevity, television, girl next door
Negative Buzzwords: Oscar, limited range, feature films
The Case: This week, we're dealing with yet another damn Academy Award winner and perhaps one of the greatest indicators that awards don't matter beyond a short-term improvement of the salary. In 1998, Helen Hunt won the Best Actress Oscar for her role in As Good As It Gets; she subsequently enjoyed a short run in a few high-powered blockbusters but then suddenly dropped off the Hollywood radar. Yet since the tender age of 10 years, Hunt's been working as an actress, although she didn't rise into mainstream popular culture until 1992's debut of "Mad About You." After seven seasons, a few Emmy awards, and a couple of blockbuster movies (including the aforementioned Oscar-winning role), Hunt pulled a Hollywood disappearing act for the most part. Indeed, the 1990s were hers,...
- 4/6/2011
- by Agent Bedhead
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger has an elegant lightness and a literary feel
This March, Woody Allen's new film, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, will be released in the UK. Set in London, it follows the fortunes of a late-middle-aged couple, played by Anthony Hopkins and Gemma Jones, and their daughter and son-in-law, played by Naomi Watts and Josh Brolin. The disintegration of these two marriages sends narrative ripples far and wide.
Like many other of the comedies from Woody Allen's late period, this is not a masterpiece. And yet I always look forward to a new Allen film, and am rarely disappointed. Perhaps it is time, in 2011, to adjust our expectation: not lower, but sideways. It's time to stop moaning that he isn't the director he once was, or that we aren't the people we once were.
This new Allen film has some...
This March, Woody Allen's new film, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, will be released in the UK. Set in London, it follows the fortunes of a late-middle-aged couple, played by Anthony Hopkins and Gemma Jones, and their daughter and son-in-law, played by Naomi Watts and Josh Brolin. The disintegration of these two marriages sends narrative ripples far and wide.
Like many other of the comedies from Woody Allen's late period, this is not a masterpiece. And yet I always look forward to a new Allen film, and am rarely disappointed. Perhaps it is time, in 2011, to adjust our expectation: not lower, but sideways. It's time to stop moaning that he isn't the director he once was, or that we aren't the people we once were.
This new Allen film has some...
- 1/3/2011
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Setting aside for a moment the personal view that people rush too quickly into naming their favorites every year (usually well before the annum is over) I do love reading a good top ten list. When those lists are from magazines, they have a long lead excuse so let's enjoy them.
The L Magazine, a local NYC offering ("the L"is a subway), has released their Best Films of 2010 and as usual there's a lot to argue with. For instance, Mark Asche lulled me into a state of hipster foreign-film auteurism before clobbering me by honoring Woody Allen at the end. Did not see that coming given the rest of the list and, what's more, I'd call You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger Woody's nadir if I hadn't failed at successfully erasing all memories of The Curse of the Jade Scorpion and Hollywood Ending. Where is Lacuna, Inc when I need them?...
The L Magazine, a local NYC offering ("the L"is a subway), has released their Best Films of 2010 and as usual there's a lot to argue with. For instance, Mark Asche lulled me into a state of hipster foreign-film auteurism before clobbering me by honoring Woody Allen at the end. Did not see that coming given the rest of the list and, what's more, I'd call You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger Woody's nadir if I hadn't failed at successfully erasing all memories of The Curse of the Jade Scorpion and Hollywood Ending. Where is Lacuna, Inc when I need them?...
- 12/8/2010
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Until I find more time... 7 words must suffice.
Tangled
Disney's animated Rapunzel musical (Skip the 3D, save money.)
7Wr: Gorgeously rendered central image / conflict. Tonal slips. B+
[More to come on this one soon. Sorry for wait.]
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
Woody Allen's annual comedy. This one focuses on a failed writer (Josh Brolin) whose new work just doesn't measure up to the old (hmmmm) and the women in his life.
7Wr: Woody, lazily confessing, quotes Shakespeare "...signifying nothing." D*
Inside Job
Oscar finalist documentary on the global economic crisis.
7Wr: Dry, linear 'Recitation O' Horrors'. Beautifully shot. B
The Way BackPeter Weir's true WWII era story of escapees from a Siberian work camp.7Wr: The walking dead; only haunts in stasis. B/B-
*That grade might be generous. It might be my second least favorite Woody Allen film. Nothing "tops" The Curse of the Jade Scorpion.
Tangled
Disney's animated Rapunzel musical (Skip the 3D, save money.)
7Wr: Gorgeously rendered central image / conflict. Tonal slips. B+
[More to come on this one soon. Sorry for wait.]
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
Woody Allen's annual comedy. This one focuses on a failed writer (Josh Brolin) whose new work just doesn't measure up to the old (hmmmm) and the women in his life.
7Wr: Woody, lazily confessing, quotes Shakespeare "...signifying nothing." D*
Inside Job
Oscar finalist documentary on the global economic crisis.
7Wr: Dry, linear 'Recitation O' Horrors'. Beautifully shot. B
The Way BackPeter Weir's true WWII era story of escapees from a Siberian work camp.7Wr: The walking dead; only haunts in stasis. B/B-
*That grade might be generous. It might be my second least favorite Woody Allen film. Nothing "tops" The Curse of the Jade Scorpion.
- 11/22/2010
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Woody Allen's 39th feature film brings him back to Manhattan where he belongs – and where his humour works best
Cast your mind back 30 years or so, and a weekend with new films from both Woody Allen and Francis Ford Coppola arriving on our screens would herald the most exciting few days of the year for cinephiles. These days, the latest works from two of the most distinguished American film-makers are buried under the blanket of the World Cup. (There's a newly restored one out from Jean-Luc Godard, too, and he's no slouch.)
I'll discuss Coppola's film below, but here we must focus on Woody Allen, whose films, along with those of Godard, first made me love cinema. Alas, the current critical orthodoxy is that Woody is a spent force. Whatever Works is his 39th feature film and opinion varies as to exactly when the fires went out. Some say...
Cast your mind back 30 years or so, and a weekend with new films from both Woody Allen and Francis Ford Coppola arriving on our screens would herald the most exciting few days of the year for cinephiles. These days, the latest works from two of the most distinguished American film-makers are buried under the blanket of the World Cup. (There's a newly restored one out from Jean-Luc Godard, too, and he's no slouch.)
I'll discuss Coppola's film below, but here we must focus on Woody Allen, whose films, along with those of Godard, first made me love cinema. Alas, the current critical orthodoxy is that Woody is a spent force. Whatever Works is his 39th feature film and opinion varies as to exactly when the fires went out. Some say...
- 6/26/2010
- by Jason Solomons
- The Guardian - Film News
Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson and Dustin Hoffman refused to star in a movie by filmmaker Woody Allen because they were not offered enough money.
The Oscar-winning moviemaker claims the Hollywood actors snubbed the chance to star in one of his movies, because he could not match their huge salaries.
He says, "There are plenty of actors and actresses that have said - even after saying 'I'm dying to work with you so I'd do anything' - that they're not available or they can't work for the pay I'm offering because they have a chance to make a movie for GBP4 million or GBP5 million and they need the money."
"For Deconstructing Harry I tried to get De Niro, I tried to get Hoffman, I tried to get Elliot Gould."
Allen claims Nicholson and Tom Hanks both turned down roles in The Curse Of The Jade Scorpion.
The Oscar-winning moviemaker claims the Hollywood actors snubbed the chance to star in one of his movies, because he could not match their huge salaries.
He says, "There are plenty of actors and actresses that have said - even after saying 'I'm dying to work with you so I'd do anything' - that they're not available or they can't work for the pay I'm offering because they have a chance to make a movie for GBP4 million or GBP5 million and they need the money."
"For Deconstructing Harry I tried to get De Niro, I tried to get Hoffman, I tried to get Elliot Gould."
Allen claims Nicholson and Tom Hanks both turned down roles in The Curse Of The Jade Scorpion.
- 6/6/2008
- WENN
Meet Horatio's ex: Elizabeth Berkley is joining CBS' crime drama CSI: Miami as a recurring.
She will play Julia Winston -- Horatio Caine's (David Caruso) former wife and the mother of his recently discovered teenage son, Kyle (Evan Ellingson) -- who becomes part of an investigation when her billionaire husband is murdered.
Berkley has guest-starred on the mothership "CSI" series, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which spawned CSI: Miami.
The actress, whose feature credits include Any Given Sunday, Curse of the Jade Scorpion and Rodger Dodger, is repped by Innovative Artists and Kritzer/Levine/Wilkins Entertainment.
She will play Julia Winston -- Horatio Caine's (David Caruso) former wife and the mother of his recently discovered teenage son, Kyle (Evan Ellingson) -- who becomes part of an investigation when her billionaire husband is murdered.
Berkley has guest-starred on the mothership "CSI" series, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which spawned CSI: Miami.
The actress, whose feature credits include Any Given Sunday, Curse of the Jade Scorpion and Rodger Dodger, is repped by Innovative Artists and Kritzer/Levine/Wilkins Entertainment.
- 11/26/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Director Woody Allen is glad the attacks on New York and Washington have united his country behind President George W. Bush, but hopes any military response will be "measured". Allen, in Munich to promote his latest film Curse Of The Jade Scorpion, told German newspaper Die Welt it was important to root out the causes of the hatred that led to the suicide attacks. He said, "It won't do anyone any good if America hits back with exaggerated military force. I'm fully aware that there has to be a response to these attacks, but a military attack should be the final means after all other means have been exhausted. It's important to root out the causes of this hatred." Allen, whose quirky films are popular in much of Europe, said the attack was counterproductive. He added, "What did they achieve? We just got over an election that polarized our country more than anything else in decades. The country was divided in half. Naturally everyone is now united behind President Bush."...
- 9/20/2001
- WENN
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