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Tye Sheridan, Bel Powley, and Emory Cohen Take a ‘Detour’ in First Trailer
19 hours ago
Not to be confused with Edgar G. Ulmer’s 1945 film noir classic, next year’s Detour comes from Christopher Smith, the U.K. director who has impressed with Triangle, Black Death, and more. Featuring the promising trio of Tye Sheridan (The Tree of Life, Mud), Bel Powley (The Diary of a Teenage Girl), and Emory Cohen (Brooklyn, The Place Beyond the Pines), the thriller does have some modern noir tones as evidenced in the first trailer.
We said in our review, “A gleeful throwback to a genre that unfortunately jumped the shark years ago, Detour harkens back to the ’90s noir that ultimately met its death with one too many Quentin Tarantino knock-offs. Detour is not that. It’s instead a playful shape-shifter (using a split-screen device) that offers a slight element of misdirection to its wild, winding road of unexpected encounters, moral decisions, and a portrait of white-trash Americana. »
- Leonard Pearce
‘Moonlight’ Cinematographer James Laxton on Wong Kar-wai’s Influence, Favorite Scenes, and More
19 hours ago
If no film this year has been as uniformly praised as Moonlight, it’s natural that the cinematography has impressed just about anybody, believer or otherwise, who comes into contact. Barry Jenkins based his second feature on Tarell McCraney‘s play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue, the evocative title of which marks a good precedent for what’s being visually communicated — a story of love, time, and discovery that serves to show how a perception of things plays into our lives as much as the facts themselves.
Cinematography James Laxton will undoubtedly find himself making a big step forward, so it’s good to speak with him now, as the movie continues rolling out across the U.S. and other parts of the world. We sat down in Bydgoszcz, Poland, at the Camerimage International Film Festival, where he helped peel back the production process of a film many will »
- Nick Newman
New to Streaming: ‘Don’t Think Twice,’ ‘Green Room,’ ‘Burn After Reading,’ and More
21 hours ago
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
An ecstatically original work of film-history-philosophy with a digital-cinema palette of acutely crafted compositions. Amour Fou seamlessly blends together the paintings of Vermeer, the acting of Bresson, and the psychological undercurrents of a Dostoevsky novel. It is an intensely thrilling and often slyly comic work that manages to combine a passionately dispassionate love story of the highest order with a larger socio-historical examination of a new era of freedom, »
- The Film Stage
Listen to the Full Score for ‘Manchester by the Sea’ and Extensive Talks with Kenneth Lonergan & Casey Affleck
22 hours ago
Starting today, one can see the year’s best film thus far, if you’re in New York and Los Angeles. Expanding in the coming weeks, Kenneth Lonergan‘s third feature, Manchester by the Sea, is a deeply affecting emotional odyssey and has firmly stuck with me since seeing it around 10 months ago. With the film, which features Casey Affleck‘s finest performance yet, now finally out in theaters, today we have Lesley Barber‘s beautiful full score as well as hours of talks with its creators.
“I think when I was choosing the music, a lot of it was about performance style,” Barber recently told us. “Once I had my themes established, for instance, when I was working with the orchestra, I wanted a very specific sound — sort of the surface of the ocean, but all this tension underneath, and kind of overwhelming darkness that comes across as light. »
- Jordan Raup
NYC Weekend Watch: Isabelle Huppert, MGM Musicals, ‘Last Year at Marienbad’ & More
22 hours ago
Since any New York City cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Metograph
Takeshi Kitano and Isabelle Huppert retrospectives begin
Film Forum
The great “3-D Auteurs” continues, with Hugo having a special Sunday screening.
Film Society of Lincoln Center
“Total Verhoeven” continues.
Anthology Film Archives
“Memorable Fantasies” continues with the likes of Last Year at Marienbad, Céline and Julie Go Boating, and Pandora’s Box.
Museum of »
- Nick Newman
AFI Fest Review: M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Split’ Has Big Twists and a Sympathetic Core
17 November 2016 12:45 PM, PST
M. Night Shyamalan movies are almost always better when he’s having fun. Like The Visit, Split makes mischief out of the balance between horror and comedy, continually throwing up situations that are simultaneously absurd and terrifying. The Visit exploited fears of the elderly, while Split goes to the popular well of insanity – specifically, dissociative identity disorder (better known as multiple personality disorder). There’s still controversy over whether Did is, in fact, a legitimate mental illness, but fiction loves it. Yet while Split takes Did to a more ridiculous extreme than most other depictions, the movie has a sympathetic core.
James McAvoy plays a man with 23 different identities. Two of them, “Dennis” and “Miss Patricia,” lead him to kidnap three teen girls and imprison them in an underground lair. The girls – Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy), Marcia (Jessica Sula), and Claire (Haley Lu Richardson) – are informed that they are offerings to “The Beast, »
- Daniel Schindel
Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone Dream Big in New Trailer, Stills, and Posters for ‘La La Land’
17 November 2016 11:43 AM, PST
Considering that Damien Chazelle names the Jacques Demy masterpiece The Umbrellas of Cherbourg as perhaps his favorite film of all-time — and a clear-as-day influence on La La Land — it’s only fitting the latest trailer for his Los Angeles-set musical hails from France. Alongside a new preview for the film that stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, there’s also a batch of new stills, posters and the full cut of “City of Stars” to help hold one over for a just a few weeks until the theatrical release.
We said in our review, “There’s a great recurring gag in Whiplash director Damien Chazelle’s La La Land — a beautiful, audacious, aesthetically vibrant, and enchanting contemporary musical — when Ryan Gosling’s struggling musician, Sebastian, throws a few disparaging comments towards a samba/tapas joint that has taken the place of a legendary jazz club. Sebastian refers to this juxtaposition »
- Leonard Pearce
‘Groundhog Day’ Meets High School Drama in Trailer for Ry Russo-Young’s ‘Before I Fall’
17 November 2016 9:47 AM, PST
While Groundhog Day set the time-loop standard in Hollywood, we’ve seen some sci-fi movies (Edge of Tomorrow and Source Code) take on the concept. Now it’s time for a Ya adaptation to see what it can do in the scenario. Based on Lauren Oliver‘s book, Before I Fall has up-and-coming director Ry Russo-Young (Nobody Walks) behind it and the first trailer has landed today.
The drama follows Everybody Wants Some!! star Zoey Deutch as high school is nearly over. One night after she gets into a car accident, she wakes up reliving the same day again. With the directorial talent behind this one, hopefully it sets itself apart from other Ya fare. Also starring Halston Sage, Logan Miller, Kian Lawley, Elena Kampouris, Diego Boneta, Jennifer Beals, Cynthy Wu, and Medalion Rahimi, check out the trailer below.
What if you had only one day to change absolutely everything? »
- Jordan Raup
Michael Chapman Talks Restoring ‘Taxi Driver’ and the Problem with Modern Cinematography
17 November 2016 9:16 AM, PST
Had he only worked for a period of roughly ten years, Michael Chapman would still be among the best-regarded cameramen of his time. How else to qualify the man who acted as operator on Klute, Husbands, The Landlord, The Godfather and Jaws, as well as cinematographer on The Last Detail, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Hardcore, The Last Waltz, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers? (The decades-blurring Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid is no small achievement, either.) But then he’d go on to helm All the Right Moves (a key early point in Tom Cruise’s career), then photographed (to name but a few) The Fugitive, Scorsese’s video for Michael Jackson’s “Bad,” and, of course, Space Jam. How many people in his trade can lay claim to that wide a berth?
Chapman’s been retired for nearly ten years — his last feature, Bridge to Terabithia, was released »
- Nick Newman
‘Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk’ Star Makenzie Leigh on Flipping the Script, Ang Lee’s Advice, and More
17 November 2016 8:04 AM, PST
As messy as it is effective, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk attempts to be both a celebration and a satire on the American soldier and the way our country receives him or her. In Billy’s brief fling with Dallas cheerleader Faison do we get one of the more biting relationships of the film. The Film Stage spoke with actress Makenzie Leigh, who plays Faison, about injecting satire into character beats, pulling from her own life, and how personal politics play into a performance.
The Film Stage: Had you read the book or known about the [Ben Fountain] novel before filming? Was that something that was in your head?
Makenzie Leigh: I hadn’t. Not at all, because I was just given sides. And, to be honest, the sides were pretty long. I didn’t even have time to really read the script. Which is weird and rare, actually. Usually »
- Dan Mecca
Jessica Chastain is ‘The Zookeeper’s Wife’ in First Trailer
17 November 2016 8:02 AM, PST
With Miss Sloane arriving this Thanksgiving (our AFI Fest review), it provides the ideal platform to preview the next starring role for Jessica Chastain, so Focus Features have released the first trailer for The Zookeeper’s Wife. Directed by Niki Caro (Whale Rider) as adapted by Angela Workman from the Diane Ackerman book, the true story follows Chastain’s character who is in charge of the Warsaw Zoo during World War II and ends up working with the Resistance.
“It was a wonderful story about not only animal nature vs. human nature but about radical compassion and humanity,” Caro tells USA Today. “The Zabinskis sheltered Jews at tremendous risk to themselves for a very simple reason: because it was the right thing to do.” Also starring Johan Heldenbergh, Michael McElhatton, and Daniel Brühl, check out the trailer below.
The real-life story of one working wife and mother who became a »
- Jordan Raup
Sam Neill and Geoffrey Rush Have Family Drama in U.S. Trailer for ‘The Daughter’
17 November 2016 7:29 AM, PST
A highlight on the fall festival circuit last year, stopping by both Tiff and Venice, was Simon Stone‘s directorial debut The Daughter. As a longtime theater director, Stone amassed a strong ensemble for the drama, including Geoffrey Rush, Ewen Leslie, Paul Schneider, Miranda Otto, Anna Torv, Odessa Young, and Sam Neill. Kino Lorber picked up the rights for the film, which follows a family harboring a secret that threatens to tear them apart, and have now released the U.S. trailer, which hints they’ll be releasing it soon.
We said in our review, “The acting is superb, headed by two Antipodean heavyweights in Rush and Neill, both in restrained less-is-more modes. The 16-year-old Odessa Young, as the titular daughter Hedvig, is a passionate addition exploring a new-found sexuality and shooting cans with her boyfriend using her grandfather’s shotgun – one that has a role to play in forthcoming events. »
- Jordan Raup
New Trailer for ‘Kong: Skull Island’ Introduces a Vibrant Monster-Filled Battle
17 November 2016 4:10 AM, PST
After an initial Comic Con tease, the fuzzy, misunderstood primate known as King Kong has returned in a new trailer for Kong: Skull Island. Like many superheroes and figures of lore, Kong is being treated with an origin story of sorts, set before all that canonical business with the skyscraper in New York. This prologue involves a group of researchers and some sort of military branch traveling to the distant titular planet, that just so happens to be home to the angry, titular beast. With a packed bill including Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston, Toby Kebbell, John Goodman, Samuel L. Jackson, Shea Whigam, and John C. Riley, Skull Island could be some early 2017 enjoyment with bite.
After the success of his indie drama The Kings of Summer, helmer Jordan Vogt-Roberts has certainly upped his scale and production budget with this massive studio outing. It will be interesting to see if any »
- Mike Mazzanti
Wong Kar-wai to Direct ‘Gucci’ Biopic Produced by Annapurna Pictures
16 November 2016 12:58 PM, PST
After finally releasing his long-gestating action epic The Grandmaster a few years back, Wong Kar-wai has stayed fairly quiet. That is until this summer, when we learned he teamed with the powerful Chinese production company Huanxi Media Group to fund an original, 18-episode drama series to produce and direct a few episodes of. With production not kicking off until next year for that series and details being scant so far, we now have word of a promising new feature film he will reportedly direct.
Buried at the bottom of a THR article about Megan Ellison‘s Annapurna Pictures and how they plan to have a “content empire” is the news that the In the Mood For Love director will helm Gucci for the company. Years ago it was attached to Ridley Scott with Angelina Jolie and Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead — as well as Penelope Cruz circling at one point — but that talent has left, »
- Jordan Raup
Review: ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ is Missing the Magic of ‘Harry Potter’
16 November 2016 11:45 AM, PST
The cinematic universe must continue. No franchise will go untouched. Stories cannot end. And so we are back in the Harry Potter universe via the prequel / spinoff Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. This is the first installment in a new quintet. (That’s five.) It was originally meant to be a single film. Hollywood multiplies properties with name recognition like the treasures from the vault in Deathly Hallows. I’ve no idea how the next film will keep the Fantastic Beasts name in a way that makes sense, since the serialized elements being set up here have nothing to do with magical animals.
In fact, the franchise obligations hanging over Fantastic Beasts are so heavy that they’ve essentially split it into two movies: one that is actually about beasts that are fantastic and where one may find them, and the other about a brewing conflict in the »
- Daniel Schindel
Dick Pope on Evaluating Cinematography, Questioning Everything, and Being Well-Prepared
16 November 2016 11:34 AM, PST
To attend Camerimage as a journalist is to be spoiled rotten. As was the case with yesterday’s conversation with Robert Yeoman, I didn’t have the opportunity to interview Mike Leigh’s regular cinematographer, Dick Pope, because he had a film to screen, but because he’s serving on the jury for their Cinematographers’ Debut Competition. Although I haven’t seen any of the titles to which he’s been responding this week, it’s an opportunity to pick the brain of a master craftsman. How could I turn it down?
Pope conducted a video interview right before we sat down, which must set off all kinds of bells for someone who’s spent a career ensuring that a person’s face is photographed just right. My iPhone seemed to be an immediate point of relief, and so we were off.
Dick Pope: Is this just radio? [Laughs] Like »
- Nick Newman
Review: ‘I Am Not Madame Bovary’ is a Lush, Slyly Observant Diagnosis of Contemporary China
16 November 2016 10:27 AM, PST
A couple of months ago, we noted how it’s been a seriously underwhelming year for Chinese-language cinema – an assessment that stands despite the recent release of Berlinale-winner Crosscurrent. Well, turns out the Middle Kingdom might have a year-end surprise or two up its sleeve after all. Having scored a Fipresci prize at Toronto and the prestigious Golden Seashell at San Sebastián, I Am Not Madame Bovary is a healthy return to form for veteran director Xiaogang Feng that, while not exactly hitting the ball out of the park, delivers a genuinely funny, slyly observant diagnosis of contemporary China complete with lush, absurdist flair.
The many cultural references that give a societal satire like this its texture but inevitably get lost in translation begin with the title. Instead of Flaubert’s world-known creation, it’s actually Pan Jinlian that our heroine Li Xuelian (played by Bingbing Fan) denies of being. »
- Zhuo-Ning Su
‘Donnie Darko’ Returns to Haunt Your Nightmares in 15th-Anniversary Restoration Trailer
16 November 2016 8:13 AM, PST
“It is only upon a recent revisit that the sheer achievement of Richard Kelly’s mesmerizing, unnerving calling card has become clear,” we recently said, naming Donnie Darko one of the best-sci-fi films of the century. “It is a masterclass in atmosphere, lulling viewers into its clutches with oozing cinematography, spectrally seductive sound design, and a young Jake Gyllenhaal’s stupefied, haunted performance. Its unhinged, metaphysical plotting is coupled with some truly unforgettable imagery — namely in a movie theater — and genuine levity amongst the disheartening ruminations of its protagonist that every living creature on Earth dies alone.”
In celebration of its 15th anniversary, Kelly’s debut is now back in a restored edition to haunt your nightmares with new clarity, and hopefully clear up the plot for some. Arrow Films has restored both the theatrical edition (running 113 minutes) and the director’s cut (running 134 minutes) and will be showing them »
- Jordan Raup
U.S. Trailer for Ben Wheatley-Produced ‘Tank 432’ Introduces a Hallucinatory Hellscape
16 November 2016 7:52 AM, PST
There will be many family-friendly films available at multiplexes this Thanksgiving, but if you are looking for something that may put some fright into your relatives, why not have them enter the twisted mind of Ben Wheatley? Before his next directorial effort Free Fire arrives this spring, he’s executive produced a new post-apocalyptic thriller Tank 432. Directed by Nick Gillespie, a long-time member of Wheatley’s go-to camera crew, IFC Midnight is putting this one out next week in both limited release and on VOD, and we now have the U.S. trailer.
We said in our review, “Director Ben Wheatley is showing his eye for talent by putting his name behind a guy who’s worked closely with him since 2011’s Kill List. A filmmaker in his own right, camera operator Nick Gillespie has stayed by Wheatley’s side on every subsequent project up to and including the forthcoming Free Fire. »
- Jordan Raup
Final Trailer for ‘Hidden Figures’ Shows Groundbreaking Work in the Space Race
16 November 2016 6:42 AM, PST
One of the late entries into this year’s awards-primed prestige drama slate is Hidden Figures, the latest drama from St. Vincent director Theodore Melfi. Starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monáe, it tells the true story of a group of brilliant African-American women who worked at Nasa during the mission to launch John Glenn into orbit.
With 20th Century Fox giving the film an awards-qualifying run in late December ahead of a wide release in January, they’ve now released the final trailer. This new preview sells a stirring story of inspirational achievements in the space race and it looks like the film follows through on its potential as early screenings this past week indicate it’s something to look out for in this crowded season.
Check out the trailer below for the film also starring Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, Mahershala Ali, Aldis Hodge, »
- Jordan Raup
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