(Welcome to Tales from the Box Office, our column that examines box office miracles, disasters, and everything in between, as well as what we can learn from them.)
1999 is widely considered to be one of the best years in cinema history. Truthfully, 25 years later, it's not remotely hard to see why. It saw the release of groundbreaking films like "The Matrix," which remains one of the most important sci-fi hits ever made. The likes of "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace," "Toy Story 2," "The Blair Witch Project," "American Pie," "Sleepy Hollow," "Deep Blue Sea," "Eyes Wide Shut," "Fight Club," "The Mummy," and so much more. It's an embarrassment of riches.
Unfortunately, even the best year is going to have its share of misfires. As far as 1999 goes, the biggest misfire of them all (at least by reputation) is unquestionably "The 13th Warrior." Directed by John McTiernan, of "Die Hard" and "Predator" fame,...
1999 is widely considered to be one of the best years in cinema history. Truthfully, 25 years later, it's not remotely hard to see why. It saw the release of groundbreaking films like "The Matrix," which remains one of the most important sci-fi hits ever made. The likes of "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace," "Toy Story 2," "The Blair Witch Project," "American Pie," "Sleepy Hollow," "Deep Blue Sea," "Eyes Wide Shut," "Fight Club," "The Mummy," and so much more. It's an embarrassment of riches.
Unfortunately, even the best year is going to have its share of misfires. As far as 1999 goes, the biggest misfire of them all (at least by reputation) is unquestionably "The 13th Warrior." Directed by John McTiernan, of "Die Hard" and "Predator" fame,...
- 8/24/2024
- by Ryan Scott
- Slash Film
In the 80s and 90s, an interesting cycle of inspirational teacher movies was being made. You know the type – the film where a big star plays a down-and-out teacher who gets posted in some crime-ridden school, and they manage to turn things around? Often, they were based on true stories, like Stand and Deliver, Dangerous Minds, Lean on Me and a few others. Then, there were the more fanciful, tough-guy teacher movies, like Nick Nolte’s Teachers and James Belushi’s underrated The Principal.
But of all these movies, the most badass, by far, is a little movie called The Substitute starring Tom Berenger.
In it, he plays a mercenary who goes undercover as a substitute teacher to avenge a brutal assault on his girlfriend, a crusading teacher played by Heat’s Diane Venora. While initially only planning on staying long enough to find the teens responsible, he finds himself...
But of all these movies, the most badass, by far, is a little movie called The Substitute starring Tom Berenger.
In it, he plays a mercenary who goes undercover as a substitute teacher to avenge a brutal assault on his girlfriend, a crusading teacher played by Heat’s Diane Venora. While initially only planning on staying long enough to find the teens responsible, he finds himself...
- 6/17/2024
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Clockwise from top left: The Wicker Man (Warner Bros.), Vanilla Sky (Paramont), Oldboy (FilmDistrict), The Toy (Columbia)Image: AVClub
In Hollywood, it often seems that the sincerest form of flattery is to remake a foreign film. Domestic versions of international hits are a long-running thing in a town where familiarity assumes success,...
In Hollywood, it often seems that the sincerest form of flattery is to remake a foreign film. Domestic versions of international hits are a long-running thing in a town where familiarity assumes success,...
- 11/1/2023
- by Ian Spelling
- avclub.com
The Wolfen episode of The Black Sheep was Written and Narrated by Andrew Hatfield, Edited by Brandon Nally, Produced by Lance Vlcek and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.
A black sheep doesn’t have to be considered bad to have that loving title and distinction. I mean, some of them are considered quite bad and need the layers peeled down to show off the good inside. There are other cases though. A movie can also be a black sheep if it was buried by a more popular outing like The Last Broadcast being utterly forgotten after the behemoth The Blair Witch Project made its appearance. Sometimes, like Last Broadcast, it can just be buried withing its own genre, decade, year, or as in today’s title, all 3. I’ve seen more than a few comments for this one so let’s take a look at werewolves in 1981. No,...
A black sheep doesn’t have to be considered bad to have that loving title and distinction. I mean, some of them are considered quite bad and need the layers peeled down to show off the good inside. There are other cases though. A movie can also be a black sheep if it was buried by a more popular outing like The Last Broadcast being utterly forgotten after the behemoth The Blair Witch Project made its appearance. Sometimes, like Last Broadcast, it can just be buried withing its own genre, decade, year, or as in today’s title, all 3. I’ve seen more than a few comments for this one so let’s take a look at werewolves in 1981. No,...
- 9/20/2023
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Michael Mann's 1995 opus "Heat" is a film that dives headfirst into contrasts. It juxtaposes the macro and the micro, following an ensemble of characters on opposite sides of the law who live, work, and converge in the city of Los Angeles. In its broad canvas, it focuses on as many details as possible, with the film circling around two men at the center of its narrative whirlpool: Lieutenant Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) and professional taker of scores Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro).
Even with two titans of film acting in the central roles, it was a challenge to make the characters distinctive — from each other as well as from the rest of the cast — while still exploring Mann's thesis of Hanna and McCauley being two men cut from the same cloth. Added to that challenge is the fact that the movie was set in the then-present day, with up-to-the-minute...
Even with two titans of film acting in the central roles, it was a challenge to make the characters distinctive — from each other as well as from the rest of the cast — while still exploring Mann's thesis of Hanna and McCauley being two men cut from the same cloth. Added to that challenge is the fact that the movie was set in the then-present day, with up-to-the-minute...
- 1/4/2023
- by Bill Bria
- Slash Film
In 1995, director Michael Mann delivered what is arguably the greatest heist film ever made in "Heat." It sees Robert De Niro as an expert thief named Neil McCauley who finds himself at odds with Al Pacino's Lieutenant Vincent Hanna as McCauley's crew narrows in on a big score. What emerges is one of the best cat and mouse crime thrillers to ever grace the silver screen.
Now, nearly 30 years later, we have a sequel in the form of the novel "Heat 2," which Mann actually co-wrote. Not only that, but the filmmaker has already revealed that he has every intention of turning the novel — part prequel and part sequel — into a film as well. But, unless we're going to go "The Irishman" route and de-age everyone very expensively, we are going to need new actors to fill these roles. So, who should fill out the cast? We've got some suggestions!
Now, nearly 30 years later, we have a sequel in the form of the novel "Heat 2," which Mann actually co-wrote. Not only that, but the filmmaker has already revealed that he has every intention of turning the novel — part prequel and part sequel — into a film as well. But, unless we're going to go "The Irishman" route and de-age everyone very expensively, we are going to need new actors to fill these roles. So, who should fill out the cast? We've got some suggestions!
- 8/17/2022
- by Ryan Scott
- Slash Film
Michael Mann greeted guests via video at a retrospective screening of Heat, saying he’d tested positive for Covid so had to stay away. Producer Art Linson and stars Al Pacino and Robert De Niro took the stage at the United Palace Theatre in Washington Heights without the writer/director of the iconic crime drama.
But not without a few words: “I’m incredibly disappointed not to be with all of you this evening,” Mann said in a recorded message. “At the Broadway Deli in 1994, I told Art, let’s produce my screenplay and find a director, because maybe I wouldn’t direct it. He told me I was crazy — so this is all his fault,” he joked. “I tested positive for Covid two days ago. I am feeling great and will be out of isolation in a few days. I was so anticipating sitting with good friends, family and...
But not without a few words: “I’m incredibly disappointed not to be with all of you this evening,” Mann said in a recorded message. “At the Broadway Deli in 1994, I told Art, let’s produce my screenplay and find a director, because maybe I wouldn’t direct it. He told me I was crazy — so this is all his fault,” he joked. “I tested positive for Covid two days ago. I am feeling great and will be out of isolation in a few days. I was so anticipating sitting with good friends, family and...
- 6/18/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
"After your first, live is never the same." Voltage Pictures has debuted an official trailer for First Love, a new romantic comedy from filmmaker A.J. Edwards, following his other two indies The Better Angels and Age Out. There have been way too many films named First Love, or about teenage first love recently, making everything a bit confusing as to what is what. This is described as a poignant look at a young man's difficult entry into adulthood. First Love follows Jim, played by Hero Fiennes Tiffin from the After franchise, a senior in high school who experiences the highs & lows of his first love with Ann, played by Sydney Park. At the same time, his parents are dealing with the familial fallout spurred by the financial crisis of 2008. Also starring Diane Kruger, Jeffrey Donovan, Diane Venora, and Nanrisa Lee. It looks like made-for-tv derivative cheesy junk, hitting all the...
- 5/12/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
This week’s horror and sci-fi home media releases are a fun bunch, as we have a lot of great new movies to look forward to, as well as a ton of killer classic titles headed home to various formats. If you missed it in theaters, Ghostbusters: Afterlife is being released alone and then alongside the first two Ghostbusters films as a three-movie collection, and for those of you who love mind-blowing animation, you’re going to definitely want to check out The Spine of Night. One of my favorite films from 2021 was Danishka Esterhazy’s Slumber Party Massacre, so if you missed seeing it then, now you can catch up with it courtesy of Scream Factory.
In terms of older titles, several of my favorite movies are headed to Blu-ray this week from the fine folks at Kino Lorber: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and both F/X...
In terms of older titles, several of my favorite movies are headed to Blu-ray this week from the fine folks at Kino Lorber: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and both F/X...
- 2/1/2022
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Exclusive: Michael Mann is ready to rip on Heat 2, a novel he has written with Edgar-winner Meg Gardiner that expands the tapestry of his 1995 crime classic film. The surprise here: the novel coming August 9 from William Morrow through the HarperCollins-based Michael Mann Books imprint will tell an original story about the lives of the characters in that movie both before and after the events depicted in the movie..
To those like myself who’ve watched the atmospheric Los Angeles-based heist thriller dozens of times, the prospect of its creator revisiting the terrain and characters is something to look forward to. To remind, the meticulously plotted mano a mano matchup between LAPD Homicide/Robbery lieutenant Vincent Hanna and master thief Neil McCauley became...
To those like myself who’ve watched the atmospheric Los Angeles-based heist thriller dozens of times, the prospect of its creator revisiting the terrain and characters is something to look forward to. To remind, the meticulously plotted mano a mano matchup between LAPD Homicide/Robbery lieutenant Vincent Hanna and master thief Neil McCauley became...
- 1/19/2022
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
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Val Kilmer’s heartfelt new documentary “Val” premiered on Amazon Prime on Friday, and apart from tugging at your heartstrings, the film will stir up nostalgic memories of the 61-year-old actor’s filmography. To help with your next movie marathon, we comprised a list of 10 of Kilmer’s best films along with links to where you can stream them.
For more perspective on Kilmer’s life story, you might want to take a deep dive into Kilmer’s memoir, “I’m Your Huckleberry.” Below, find a list of great movies in his film catalog. For more binging options be sure to see our picks for movies by Christopher Nolan, Michael Keaton, and Al Pacino.
Val Kilmer’s heartfelt new documentary “Val” premiered on Amazon Prime on Friday, and apart from tugging at your heartstrings, the film will stir up nostalgic memories of the 61-year-old actor’s filmography. To help with your next movie marathon, we comprised a list of 10 of Kilmer’s best films along with links to where you can stream them.
For more perspective on Kilmer’s life story, you might want to take a deep dive into Kilmer’s memoir, “I’m Your Huckleberry.” Below, find a list of great movies in his film catalog. For more binging options be sure to see our picks for movies by Christopher Nolan, Michael Keaton, and Al Pacino.
- 8/10/2021
- by Latifah Muhammad
- Indiewire
Switzerland’s Locarno Film festival has unveiled its line-up ahead of a physical 2021 edition running August 4-14. Scroll down for a list of titles.
As previously announced, Ferdinando Cito Filomarino’s Beckett, starring John David Washington and Alicia Vikander, will open the festival with its world premiere on August 4.
Joining the movie for a screening at the fest’s main venue, the Piazza Grande, will be titles including John Swab’s Ida Red starring Frank Grillo, which will world premiere, Shawn Levy’s Free Guy starring Ryan Reynolds, and several U.S. classics including Michael Mann’s Heat and James Cameron’s The Terminator.
Back in November last year, Deadline interviewed new artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro, who told us about his love for popular cinema and American movies. This will mark his debut edition at the helm.
Screening in the Concorso Internazionale strand, which features international works from around the world,...
As previously announced, Ferdinando Cito Filomarino’s Beckett, starring John David Washington and Alicia Vikander, will open the festival with its world premiere on August 4.
Joining the movie for a screening at the fest’s main venue, the Piazza Grande, will be titles including John Swab’s Ida Red starring Frank Grillo, which will world premiere, Shawn Levy’s Free Guy starring Ryan Reynolds, and several U.S. classics including Michael Mann’s Heat and James Cameron’s The Terminator.
Back in November last year, Deadline interviewed new artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro, who told us about his love for popular cinema and American movies. This will mark his debut edition at the helm.
Screening in the Concorso Internazionale strand, which features international works from around the world,...
- 7/1/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Clint Eastwood is back in the nation’s theaters once again, but you won’t see him on screen. His latest film, “The 15:17 to Paris” is a biographical suspense drama based on the 2015 terrorist attack on a Thalys train headed to Paris. Three American soldiers (Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler and Alek Skarlatos) thwarted the terrorist and were declared heroes by the French Government. In a bold move, Eastwood cast the trio of heroes to play themselves in the film, but as a director, Eastwood is no stranger to bold moves.
For over half a century Eastwood has been one of the world’s greatest movie stars. Comfortable in both westerns and contemporary roles, his measured growl of a voice has been a key part in creating such iconic characters as The Man With No Name and Dirty Harry.
SEEOscar Best Director Gallery: Every Winner In Academy Award History
However...
For over half a century Eastwood has been one of the world’s greatest movie stars. Comfortable in both westerns and contemporary roles, his measured growl of a voice has been a key part in creating such iconic characters as The Man With No Name and Dirty Harry.
SEEOscar Best Director Gallery: Every Winner In Academy Award History
However...
- 2/26/2018
- by Tom O'Brien and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Michael Mann's Heat (1995) is showing November 11 - December 11, 2017 on Mubi in the United Kingdom.Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) emerges from a train with unassuming poise, mingling seamlessly with the other disembarking passengers. As they recede into the background, however, congealing into airy circular blurs of out-of-focus features, Neil becomes the obvious point of attention, even more so as the camera pulls back and follows his journey from a comparative distance. In the guise of a medic, he makes his way to a hospital and coasts through its thoroughfares, passing oblivious employees and patients, until he arrives at his destination: an ambulance, which he steals. Neil’s anonymity enabled the theft and it allowed for his inconspicuous progress. He fit in. He seemed natural. Wherever he went, he had the perceptible appearance of belonging. This is key to what distinguishes Heat, Michael Mann’s 1995 contemporary crime masterpiece. Capitalizing on...
- 12/5/2017
- MUBI
1981 was the Year of the Werewolf in horror; An American Werewolf in London and The Howling were easily the leaders of this particular pack, with Larry Cohen’s comedy Full Moon High offering up another unique monster spin. There was one other film that put its own twist on lycanthropy, and that’s Michael Wadleigh’s Wolfen, laden with social commentary writ large in place of silver bullets and gypsy fortune tellers. And it’s all the better for it.
Released Stateside in July by Orion Pictures, Wolfen (based on the novel by Whitley Strieber) only returned $10 million on its $17 million budget; critics however were very kind, unlike audiences who probably were expecting more traditional tropes for a trip to the movies. This is not that film; a measured pace and a heightened sense of intent set it apart from the others. (Plus the antagonists are shape shifting wolves, but...
Released Stateside in July by Orion Pictures, Wolfen (based on the novel by Whitley Strieber) only returned $10 million on its $17 million budget; critics however were very kind, unlike audiences who probably were expecting more traditional tropes for a trip to the movies. This is not that film; a measured pace and a heightened sense of intent set it apart from the others. (Plus the antagonists are shape shifting wolves, but...
- 8/12/2017
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Blu-ray Review: F/X (1986)
“Nobody cares about making movies about people anymore,” muses Diane Venora in Robert Mandel’s F/X (1986). “All they care about are special effects.” This statement made nearly 30 years ago has turned out to be eerily prophetic as audiences, particularly the variety who eagerly await summer movies, seem to be less discriminating nowadays. F/X is ...
Hnn | Horrornews.net - Official News Site...
“Nobody cares about making movies about people anymore,” muses Diane Venora in Robert Mandel’s F/X (1986). “All they care about are special effects.” This statement made nearly 30 years ago has turned out to be eerily prophetic as audiences, particularly the variety who eagerly await summer movies, seem to be less discriminating nowadays. F/X is ...
Hnn | Horrornews.net - Official News Site...
- 8/18/2015
- by Jonathan Stryker
- Horror News
The first week of June is looking to be excellent for those horror and sci-fi fans looking to add some new titles to their home entertainment collections. Two great cult classics—Scarecrows and Wolfen—are coming to high-definition, and we have Monsters: Dark Continent to look forward to as well. Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s genre-bending Spring is coming to DVD and Blu-ray (the latter being a Best Buy exclusive) and, for those of you waiting for WolfCop on Blu-ray, you’ll finally be able to bring the furry fiend home in HD.
A bevy of indie horror movies are also making their way onto DVD this week and the Wachowski’s Jupiter Ascending is arriving on 3D Blu-ray and standard DVD for those of you who may have missed the sci-fi actioner in theaters. And for all you Pitchfork fans out there, Hayride 2 will also be available on Tuesday.
A bevy of indie horror movies are also making their way onto DVD this week and the Wachowski’s Jupiter Ascending is arriving on 3D Blu-ray and standard DVD for those of you who may have missed the sci-fi actioner in theaters. And for all you Pitchfork fans out there, Hayride 2 will also be available on Tuesday.
- 6/2/2015
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
By Todd Garbarini
Director Robert Mandel's F/X is one of the most entertaining and compulsively watchable thrillers of 1986. I originally caught up with it on VHS and, while I was impressed with the film, the ending I found to be both hokey and frustrating, mostly due to the completely out-of-place 1982 song “Just an Illusion” by Imagination that plays over the end credits. I felt that it undermined all that preceded it. However, like William Friedkin's To Live and Die in La (1985) and David Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986), F/X is a film that would only grow on me after subsequent repeated viewings. I learned to forgive the inclusion of this song as the final minutes should really be viewed as a visual pun on the film’s overall theme, which begs the question “What is real and what is fiction?”
F/X, which was released on Friday,...
Director Robert Mandel's F/X is one of the most entertaining and compulsively watchable thrillers of 1986. I originally caught up with it on VHS and, while I was impressed with the film, the ending I found to be both hokey and frustrating, mostly due to the completely out-of-place 1982 song “Just an Illusion” by Imagination that plays over the end credits. I felt that it undermined all that preceded it. However, like William Friedkin's To Live and Die in La (1985) and David Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986), F/X is a film that would only grow on me after subsequent repeated viewings. I learned to forgive the inclusion of this song as the final minutes should really be viewed as a visual pun on the film’s overall theme, which begs the question “What is real and what is fiction?”
F/X, which was released on Friday,...
- 5/29/2015
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
'The Insider' movie: Al Pacino and Russell Crowe 'The Insider' movie: 1999 exposé of CBS news show barks, but doesn't bite Michael Mann's 1999 movie The Insider quote exchange: "It's old news. ... We'll be ok," says Don Hewitt (Philip Baker Hall), the creator of the CBS news show 60 Minutes. "These things have a half-life of 15 minutes." "No, that's fame," replies 60 Minutes anchor Mike Wallace (Christopher Plummer). "Fame has a 15-minute half-life. Infamy lasts a little longer." The infamous "things" referred to by Hewitt and Wallace are the series of scandals that erupted in early 1996, when it was revealed that CBS had refused to air an interview with a tobacco company whistleblower because the network feared the (financial) consequences. What Freedom of the Press? Based on Marie Brenner's Vanity Fair article about the events that led up to that embarrassing – and disturbing – incident, The Insider tells the story of scientist Jeffrey Wigand...
- 5/14/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Grief unleashes self-centered bluster instead of contemplative sorrow in the talky drama Childless. Four relatives preparing to attend a funeral focus less on the sudden death of sixteen-year-old Katherine (Natalie Dreyfuss) and more on relationship anxieties. Mary (Diane Venora) envisions an awkward reunion with ex-boyfriend Richard (Joe Mantegna), Katherine's stunned father, while his sister Natalie (Barbara Hershey) contemplates her future with distant husband Harvey (James Naughton). Writer-director Charlie Levi airs their musings as a series of monologues, and even Katherine gets in on the act. With a surprising lightness, Dreyfuss plays her as a blithe spirit free from earthly worries, unlike the exasperating adults fixated on their own concerns. Na...
- 5/13/2015
- Village Voice
An in-the-works Galaxy Quest TV series, the Blu-ray of 1981's Wolfen, and details on Daredevil’s sophomore season are all featured in our latest round-up.
Galaxy Quest TV Series: Variety reports that Paramount Television is looking to do a TV series take on the 1999 sci-fi-comedy, Galaxy Quest, which starred Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, and Alan Rickman. Robert Gordon, the co-writer of the feature film that poked fun at sci-fi conventions, such as the high fatalities of redshirts on Star Trek, is in talks to be involved in the TV version, along with the 1999 film's director, Dean Parisot, and its executive producers, Mark Johnson and Melissa Bernstein. Stay tuned to Daily Dead for further updates.
Synopsis of the Galaxy Quest film (via Blu-ray.com): "They're not astronauts... they only played them on TV. For four seasons, from 1979 to 1982, the crew of the N.S.E.A. Protector donned their uniforms...
Galaxy Quest TV Series: Variety reports that Paramount Television is looking to do a TV series take on the 1999 sci-fi-comedy, Galaxy Quest, which starred Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, and Alan Rickman. Robert Gordon, the co-writer of the feature film that poked fun at sci-fi conventions, such as the high fatalities of redshirts on Star Trek, is in talks to be involved in the TV version, along with the 1999 film's director, Dean Parisot, and its executive producers, Mark Johnson and Melissa Bernstein. Stay tuned to Daily Dead for further updates.
Synopsis of the Galaxy Quest film (via Blu-ray.com): "They're not astronauts... they only played them on TV. For four seasons, from 1979 to 1982, the crew of the N.S.E.A. Protector donned their uniforms...
- 4/22/2015
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Read More: Monterey Media Acquires True Crime Drama 'The Pardon' Monterey media has acquired U.S. and Canadian distribution rights to writer-director Charlie Levi's award-winning drama "Childless," starring Joe Mantegna, Barbara Hershey, Diane Venora and James Naughton. The film won the Visionary Award at the Boston Film Festival during an initial test screening. The uniquely styled drama centers on four adults in the aftermath of the sudden passing of a teenage girl. As each gets ready for the funeral, they speak their private thoughts directly to the camera in an attempt to understand and justify the current states of their own lives. It's ultimately left up to the viewer to make sense of these off-kilter, self-serving, yet frequently humorous personal accounts. "We are so very thrilled to be on board with these wonderful actors and this distinctive film with its interesting history," commented Scott Mansfield, Managing Partner of monterey.
- 3/30/2015
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
HeyUGuys recently caught up with Stelio Savante who following his lead role in the first film ever to shoot in Equatorial Guinea Where the Road Runs Out, also has a supporting role in Peter Greenaway’s upcoming film Eisenstein in Guanajuato.
Between Greenaway and making history, we felt privileged to have an opportunity to discuss with Savante his career to date, which apparently all began thanks to some good looking girls. In an interview mixed with seriousness and humour he spoke of discovering cinema in his native South Africa, the difference between cinema in American and South African culture, working with J.J. Abrams, and the rewards of collaboration.
———–
Why a career in acting? Was there that one inspirational moment?
Getting paid to do something that I’m passionate about… how could I refuse that? Performing plays in university… I got the bug, it bite hard, and so a journey was born.
Between Greenaway and making history, we felt privileged to have an opportunity to discuss with Savante his career to date, which apparently all began thanks to some good looking girls. In an interview mixed with seriousness and humour he spoke of discovering cinema in his native South Africa, the difference between cinema in American and South African culture, working with J.J. Abrams, and the rewards of collaboration.
———–
Why a career in acting? Was there that one inspirational moment?
Getting paid to do something that I’m passionate about… how could I refuse that? Performing plays in university… I got the bug, it bite hard, and so a journey was born.
- 3/28/2014
- by Paul Risker
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Meryl Streep breaks Oscar record: Oscar 2014 nominations (photo: Meryl Streep in ‘August: Osage County’) The 2014 Oscar nominations were announced earlier today at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs and Thor: The Dark World and Snow White and the Huntsman actor Chris Hemsworth — whose Rush was completely shut out — made the announcements, including that of Best Actress contender Meryl Streep, in the running for her performance in John Wells’ August: Osage County. Streep’s competitors are her Doubt and Julie & Julia co-star Amy Adams for David O. Russell’s American Hustle, Sandra Bullock for Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity, Judi Dench for Stephen Frears’ Philomena, and likely winner Cate Blanchett for Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine. (Emma Thompson’s absence from the Best Actress roster — for her performance in John Lee Hancock’s Saving Mr. Banks — was quite a surprise.
- 1/16/2014
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
Chicago – There are still a stunning number of films from the ’90s and ’00s not on Blu-ray but Bvhe recently corrected one of those oversights by releasing the stellar “The Insider,” one of the best films of arguably the best year for cinema in the last two decades — 1999. In a year that included “Magnolia,” “American Beauty,” “The Matrix,” “Three Kings,” “Fight Club,” “Toy Story 2,” “The Iron Giant.” “All About My Mother,” “Princess Mononoke,” “Election,” “Being John Malkovich,” and many more, “The Insider” went overlooked by too many people and certainly by history. With perfect technical elements, stunning performances, and perfect direction by the great Michael Mann, this is a spectacular film.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
The film has actually been digitally restored, not just transferred to the HD form, and it looks great. I forgot how detailed Dante Spinotti’s Oscar-nominated work was here or how tight William Goldenberg’s editing (he...
Rating: 4.5/5.0
The film has actually been digitally restored, not just transferred to the HD form, and it looks great. I forgot how detailed Dante Spinotti’s Oscar-nominated work was here or how tight William Goldenberg’s editing (he...
- 2/27/2013
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Welcome to another preview of some great upcoming Blu-Ray releases! This week, the much-talked about Argo hits store shelves, Sinister will convince you to never watch home movies again, and Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome lands on Blu-Ray with some science-fiction style.
Ready for this week’s Blu-Ray releases? Then read on.
Argo
Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Kyle Chandler, Clea DuVall, and Chris Messina.
Director: Ben Affleck
An American thriller film directed by Ben Affleck and based on the true story of a 1979 CIA operation. The film has won a number of awards and is nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Alan Arkin).
Plot: During the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, a CIA ‘exfiltration’ specialist concocts a risky plan to free six Americans who have found shelter at the home of the Canadian ambassador.
My Thoughts:...
Ready for this week’s Blu-Ray releases? Then read on.
Argo
Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Kyle Chandler, Clea DuVall, and Chris Messina.
Director: Ben Affleck
An American thriller film directed by Ben Affleck and based on the true story of a 1979 CIA operation. The film has won a number of awards and is nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Alan Arkin).
Plot: During the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, a CIA ‘exfiltration’ specialist concocts a risky plan to free six Americans who have found shelter at the home of the Canadian ambassador.
My Thoughts:...
- 2/15/2013
- by C.P. Howells
- We Got This Covered
The Insider (1999) Direction: Michael Mann Cast: Al Pacino, Russell Crowe, Christopher Plummer, Diane Venora, Philip Baker Hall, Lindsay Crouse, Colm Feore, Michael Gambon, Rip Torn Screenplay: Eric Roth and Michael Mann; from Marie Brenner's Vanity Fair article "The Man Who Knew Too Much" Oscar Movies Russell Crowe, Al Pacino, The Insider "It's old news. … We'll be ok," says Don Hewitt (Philip Baker Hall), the creator of the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes. "These things have a half-life of 15 minutes." "No, that's fame," replies 60 Minutes anchor Mike Wallace (Christopher Plummer). "Fame has a 15-minute half-life. Infamy lasts a little longer." The infamous "things" referred to by Hewitt and Wallace are the scandals that erupted in early 1996, when it was revealed that CBS News had refused to air an interview with a tobacco company whistleblower because the network feared the (financial) consequences. Based on Marie Brenner's Vanity Fair article about [...]...
- 2/18/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Fresh clips have been added from Magnolia's "All Good Things" with Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst and Frank Langella, Kristen Wiig, Diane Venora and Zoe Lister Jones. Andrew Jarecki directs as well as working the screenplay alongside Marc Smerling and Marcus Hinchey. Visit the official site and be sure to join the "All Good Things" group on MovieJungle.com to show your support of the film. Check out all of the 6 clips below which can be embedded on your website. Inspired by the most notorious missing person's case in New York history, All Good Things is a love story and murder mystery set against the backdrop of a New York real estate dynasty in the 1980s. Produced and directed by Andrew Jarecki (director of the Academy Award-nominated doc Capturing the Friedmans and producer of Catfish), the film was inspired...
- 11/27/2010
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Fresh clips have been added from Magnolia's "All Good Things" with Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst and Frank Langella, Kristen Wiig, Diane Venora and Zoe Lister Jones. Andrew Jarecki directs as well as working the screenplay alongside Marc Smerling and Marcus Hinchey. Visit the official site and be sure to join the "All Good Things" group on MovieJungle.com to show your support of the film. Check out all of the 6 clips below which can be embedded on your website. Inspired by the most notorious missing person's case in New York history, All Good Things is a love story and murder mystery set against the backdrop of a New York real estate dynasty in the 1980s. Produced and directed by Andrew Jarecki (director of the Academy Award-nominated doc Capturing the Friedmans and producer of Catfish), the film was inspired...
- 11/27/2010
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Check out the trailer for Magnolia Pictures' "All Good Things," starring Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst and Frank Langella, Kristen Wiig, Diane Venora and Zoe Lister Jones. Crime drama/thriller finds theaters on December 3rd via Magnolia Pictures and is helmed by Andrew Jarecki, who writes alongside Marcus Hinchey. Inspired by the most notorious missing person's case in New York history, "All Good Things is a love story and murder mystery set against the backdrop of a New York real estate dynasty in the 1980s. Produced and directed by Andrew Jarecki (director of the Academy Award-nominated doc Capturing the Friedmans and producer of Catfish), the film was inspired by the story of Robert Durst, scion of the wealthy Durst family. Mr. Durst...
- 10/15/2010
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Magnolia has released the poster for their upcoming romantic drama/mystery movie All Good Things starring Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst, Frank Langhella, Kristen Wiig, Diane Venora and Zoe Lister Jones.
Andrew Jarecki directed, the movie dramatizes one of New York City’s most famous true-crime stories: that of real-estate heir Robert Durst, who, in 1982, was accused of (but never tried for) the murder of his disappeared wife. In the movie, Gosling and Dunst play characters based on Durst and his wife.
Check out the full poster after the jump.
Synopsis: Set against the extravagance and excess of New York City in the 80s, David Marks (Gosling), the son of a powerful real estate tycoon, marries a beautiful working class student, Katie (Dunst). Together they flee the city for country life in Vermont – only to be lured back by David’s father. Upon their return, Katie goes back to medical school...
Andrew Jarecki directed, the movie dramatizes one of New York City’s most famous true-crime stories: that of real-estate heir Robert Durst, who, in 1982, was accused of (but never tried for) the murder of his disappeared wife. In the movie, Gosling and Dunst play characters based on Durst and his wife.
Check out the full poster after the jump.
Synopsis: Set against the extravagance and excess of New York City in the 80s, David Marks (Gosling), the son of a powerful real estate tycoon, marries a beautiful working class student, Katie (Dunst). Together they flee the city for country life in Vermont – only to be lured back by David’s father. Upon their return, Katie goes back to medical school...
- 10/6/2010
- by Allan Ford
- Filmofilia
Magnolia have unveiled the debut poster for Andrew Jarecki’s All Good Things, starring Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst, Frank Langhella, Kristen Wiig, Diane Venora and Zoe Lister Jones.
Set against the extravagance and excess of New York City in the 80s, David Marks (Gosling), the son of a powerful real estate tycoon, marries a beautiful working class student, Katie (Dunst). Together they flee the city for country life in Vermont – only to be lured back by David’s father. Upon their return, Katie goes back to medical school and begins to make a life for herself. But as Katie becomes increasingly independent, David mysteriously turns more violent and controlling. Family secrets are slowly revealed, just as Katie disappears without a trace. Years later, when David’s best friend turns up dead, the 20-year-old case is re-opened, with David as the main suspect, and the Marks family’s dark secrets pave...
Set against the extravagance and excess of New York City in the 80s, David Marks (Gosling), the son of a powerful real estate tycoon, marries a beautiful working class student, Katie (Dunst). Together they flee the city for country life in Vermont – only to be lured back by David’s father. Upon their return, Katie goes back to medical school and begins to make a life for herself. But as Katie becomes increasingly independent, David mysteriously turns more violent and controlling. Family secrets are slowly revealed, just as Katie disappears without a trace. Years later, when David’s best friend turns up dead, the 20-year-old case is re-opened, with David as the main suspect, and the Marks family’s dark secrets pave...
- 10/5/2010
- by Jamie Neish
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst and Frank Langella, Kristen Wiig, Diane Venora and Zoe Lister Jones star in Magnolia Pictures' drama All Good Things. Pic is helmed and produced by Andrew Jarecki, director of the Academy Award-nominated documentary Capturing the Friedmans and is also the producer of the critically-acclaimed Catfish. Story is inspired by the most notorious missing person's case in New York history, and is a love story and murder mystery set against the backdrop of a New York real estate dynasty in the 1980s. The film was inspired by the story of Robert Durst, scion of the wealthy Durst family. Mr. Durst was suspected but never tried for killing his wife Kathie who disappeared in 1982 and was never found...
- 10/5/2010
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Chicago – Universal Home Video is releasing an impressive wave of catalog titles in HD for the first time this month and we have a preview of them just for you, including a great 15th Anniversary Edition of “Apollo 13,” and HD transfers of four movies that have little in common but the studio that released them: “Dune,” “The Jackal,” “Out of Africa,” and “Traffic”. Mini-reviews, synopses, tech specs, and special features details follow.
Apollo 13: 15th Anniversary Edition was released on Blu-Ray on April 13th, 2010.
Photo credit: Universal Home Video
“Apollo 13: 15th Anniversary Edition”
Ron Howard’s best film is a perfect fit for Blu-ray in that its a film that needs to immerse you in quality audio to be most effective. The most powerful moments of “Apollo 13” transport the audience into that capsule with the astronauts fighting to make it back to solid ground and...
Apollo 13: 15th Anniversary Edition was released on Blu-Ray on April 13th, 2010.
Photo credit: Universal Home Video
“Apollo 13: 15th Anniversary Edition”
Ron Howard’s best film is a perfect fit for Blu-ray in that its a film that needs to immerse you in quality audio to be most effective. The most powerful moments of “Apollo 13” transport the audience into that capsule with the astronauts fighting to make it back to solid ground and...
- 4/13/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Near the beginning of Adaptation, Charlie Kaufman, while advising his fictional brother Donald in the fine art of screenwriting, he suggests sarcastically that he “explore the notion that cop and criminal are really two aspects of the same person. See every cop movie ever made for other examples of this.” Really, he could save the time and just watch Heat. Of all the police/cop/heist crime movies of the 80s and 90s, probably none quite so completely embodies that “we’re not so different, you and I” dynamic that has been the last resort of screenwriters since the dawn of Hollywood. Nearly fifteen years on, this is both Heat’s greatest success and its greatest liability, because while nothing following in its footsteps has equaled it in scope or clarity, some of its drama has been rendered inert by the sheer number of well-funded directors who have tried, as...
- 11/17/2009
- by Anders Nelson
- JustPressPlay.net
Chicago – Michael Mann might first seem the ideal fit for Blu-Ray. He’s a notorious perfectionist, apparent in every frame of his remarkable output of films that includes such great modern classics as “Manhunter,” “The Insider,” “Collateral,” and “Public Enemies”. But one of Mann’s best films, “Heat,” recently released on Blu-Ray, is an interesting example of a director who has a vision that shouldn’t necessarily be overly polished by the HD format. The film looks like Mann wants it - gritty, dark, and like, well, actual film. It’s a release that some buyers may think doesn’t look “HD enough,” but to this Mann aficionado thinks that it looks just right.
Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0
As for the film itself, it’s one of the rare ’90s films that gets better every time I see it. It’s a battle of wills between two of the most legendary actors...
Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0
As for the film itself, it’s one of the rare ’90s films that gets better every time I see it. It’s a battle of wills between two of the most legendary actors...
- 11/11/2009
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Check out the trailer and poster for” The Ministers“, starring John Leguizamo, Harvey Keitel, Diane Venora and Florencia Lozano.
“The Ministers” features Keitel, as senior detective Joe Bruno, who takes police detective Celeste Santana under his wing. Celeste (Lozano) links the recent murders with the murder of her police detective father. Celeste’s investigation and the twins’ vigilante actions begin to converge. Detective Santana is restrained by her chief, Captain Diaz (Wanda De Jesus). But the will to solve these crimes and find the link to the death of her father is too great and leads to an inevitable confrontation with the twins.
“The Ministers” is claimed to be inspired by true events. It is shot on location in Bronx with Franc. Reyes (Empire, Illegal Tender) serving as writer and director. It is due to open in limited theaters across the U.S. in October.
The Ministers poster...
“The Ministers” features Keitel, as senior detective Joe Bruno, who takes police detective Celeste Santana under his wing. Celeste (Lozano) links the recent murders with the murder of her police detective father. Celeste’s investigation and the twins’ vigilante actions begin to converge. Detective Santana is restrained by her chief, Captain Diaz (Wanda De Jesus). But the will to solve these crimes and find the link to the death of her father is too great and leads to an inevitable confrontation with the twins.
“The Ministers” is claimed to be inspired by true events. It is shot on location in Bronx with Franc. Reyes (Empire, Illegal Tender) serving as writer and director. It is due to open in limited theaters across the U.S. in October.
The Ministers poster...
- 8/26/2009
- by Allan Ford
- Filmofilia
"What took you so long?" asks Clint Eastwood, jesting when we tell him this interview will be printed in Back Stage, which has never spoken to him until now. He appeared on the cover in 2003 when the Screen Actors Guild honored him with a Life Achievement Award, but a SAG representative said at the time that he wasn't available to be interviewed. Eastwood looks stricken when he hears this and apologetically explains that the request never got to him. Perhaps that's because although he's one of the most respected filmmakers and actors working today, he prefers not to have a personal publicist. He is a man of seeming practicality and probable frugality. Anyone who works with him will tell you he "takes the B.S. out of filmmaking," as his longtime production designer, the late Henry Bumstead, so bluntly put it. In fact, Eastwood drove himself to our interview. The...
- 12/31/2008
- by Jamie Painter Young
- backstage.com
New Company Profile: Aspect Film Ltd.
Aspect Film Ltd, the UK and Spain-based theatrical sales & production agency, launched less than 2 years ago by Hugh Edwards, is offering completed and and in-production features which include Monty Lapica’s 'Self-Medicated', the most award-winning film of 2006, having picked up 39 international awards and starring Golden Globe nominee Diane Venora, Monty Lapica and former Ally McBeal star Greg Germann; Zackary Adler’s comedy 'Familiar Strangers' with Twilight star Nikki Reed, DJ Qualls and Shawn Hatosy from the upcoming 'Public Enemies'; 'Dough Boys' directed by and starring The Spirit, 24 and The Sopranos star Louis Lombardi.
Aspect's films in production include including sophomore comedy 'Luckyi Stroke', produced by Hugh Edwards, directed by John P. Aguirre and due to start April 2009; 'Cain's Awakening', an action thriller to be co-produced by Hugh Edwards and directed by Lawrence Pearce, with Brian Cox rumored to star; 'Wolf Sheep', a family animation feature to be directed by Eusebio Torres and voiced by Christopher Lloyd, Eric Idle and Tim Curry; and 'Fading of the Cries', Brian Metcalf’s fantasy movie, which has just finished filming and stars Brad Dourif, Thomas Ian Nicholas and Mackenzie Rosman.
Aspect's films in production include including sophomore comedy 'Luckyi Stroke', produced by Hugh Edwards, directed by John P. Aguirre and due to start April 2009; 'Cain's Awakening', an action thriller to be co-produced by Hugh Edwards and directed by Lawrence Pearce, with Brian Cox rumored to star; 'Wolf Sheep', a family animation feature to be directed by Eusebio Torres and voiced by Christopher Lloyd, Eric Idle and Tim Curry; and 'Fading of the Cries', Brian Metcalf’s fantasy movie, which has just finished filming and stars Brad Dourif, Thomas Ian Nicholas and Mackenzie Rosman.
- 12/11/2008
- Sydney's Buzz
'Stiletto' keen on Berenger, Biehn, Katic
NEW YORK -- Tom Berenger, Michael Biehn and Stana Katic have been tapped to star in the crime thriller Stiletto from producer-director Nick Vallelonga.
The feature, which recently began principal photography, stars Katic (NBC's Heroes) as an assassin whose seemingly random killings puzzle her lover, her clients and the detective following her rising body count. Berenger (Training Day) plays her boyfriend, whose rise in organized crime is offset by his love for her and his Mafia cohort (Biehn of Grindhouse).
Paul Sloan (The Scorpion King) plays the detective and makes his feature screenwriting debut with the film.
The ensemble cast also includes Dominique Swain, Kelly Hu, Diane Venora, William Forsythe, Amanda Brooks and Tom Sizemore.
Stiletto is produced by Vallelonga (A Modern Twain Story: The Prince and the Pauper) and co-produced by Warren Ostergard. The feature is being filmed with Panavision's state-of-the-art Genesis Super 35 Digital Cinematography Camera System.
Berenger's credits include his Oscar-nominated turn in Platoon, Major League and Born on the Fourth of July as well as the upcoming The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey. Biehn, who has appeared in The Terminator, Aliens, Tombstone and The Abyss, will star in the upcoming Kids in America for Universal Pictures.
The feature, which recently began principal photography, stars Katic (NBC's Heroes) as an assassin whose seemingly random killings puzzle her lover, her clients and the detective following her rising body count. Berenger (Training Day) plays her boyfriend, whose rise in organized crime is offset by his love for her and his Mafia cohort (Biehn of Grindhouse).
Paul Sloan (The Scorpion King) plays the detective and makes his feature screenwriting debut with the film.
The ensemble cast also includes Dominique Swain, Kelly Hu, Diane Venora, William Forsythe, Amanda Brooks and Tom Sizemore.
Stiletto is produced by Vallelonga (A Modern Twain Story: The Prince and the Pauper) and co-produced by Warren Ostergard. The feature is being filmed with Panavision's state-of-the-art Genesis Super 35 Digital Cinematography Camera System.
Berenger's credits include his Oscar-nominated turn in Platoon, Major League and Born on the Fourth of July as well as the upcoming The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey. Biehn, who has appeared in The Terminator, Aliens, Tombstone and The Abyss, will star in the upcoming Kids in America for Universal Pictures.
- 5/7/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Keitel flashing NYPD badge for 'Ministers'
Harvey Keitel is in final negotiations to join the cast of The Ministers, a crime thriller being directed by filmmaker Franc. Reyes.
Written by Reyes, the story follows a female NYPD detective whose father was murdered years ago by a group known as the Ministers. She learns that the group has begun to kill again, and in her attempt to avenge her father, she unknowingly becomes romantically involved with a member of the group.
Newcomer Florencia Lozano is the detective. John Leguizamo, who starred in Reyes' 2002 hit actioner Empire, and Diane Venora also are in the cast.
Keitel would play a good cop who has an unfortunate incident that changes the course of his life.
Reyes is producing along with Jill Footlick, who produces via her Grow Pictures.
Aaron Ray of the Collective, and Glenn Stewart, Steffan Aumuller and Claus Clausen of Sherzade are exec producing.
The Collective structured the financing for the sub-$10 million film and will handle all domestic sales.
Written by Reyes, the story follows a female NYPD detective whose father was murdered years ago by a group known as the Ministers. She learns that the group has begun to kill again, and in her attempt to avenge her father, she unknowingly becomes romantically involved with a member of the group.
Newcomer Florencia Lozano is the detective. John Leguizamo, who starred in Reyes' 2002 hit actioner Empire, and Diane Venora also are in the cast.
Keitel would play a good cop who has an unfortunate incident that changes the course of his life.
Reyes is producing along with Jill Footlick, who produces via her Grow Pictures.
Aaron Ray of the Collective, and Glenn Stewart, Steffan Aumuller and Claus Clausen of Sherzade are exec producing.
The Collective structured the financing for the sub-$10 million film and will handle all domestic sales.
- 1/26/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Self-Medicated
LAS VEGAS -- Newcomer Monty Lapica makes an assured debut on both sides of the camera in "Self-Medicated", a lightly fictionalized account of his drug-abusing high school years and attempted rehabilitation at a controversial treatment center.
There's a palpable element of honesty in Lapica's writing and lead performance that gives this indie production, which received its world premiere at the recent CineVegas Film Festival, the edge over other troubled teen dramas.
A natural for festivals, the picture establishes Lapica as one to watch -- either as a filmmaker or, for that matter, an actor.
Having never come to terms with the death of his father, Lapica's alter ego Drew Eriksen lapses from honor roll student to party animal on the fast-track to self-destruction.
No longer able to handle the Las Vegas teenager's violent outbursts and increasingly unpredictable behavior, Drew's mother (effectively played by Diane Venora), herself in denial about her addiction to prescription drugs, takes drastic measures and has him snatched right out of his bed in the middle of the night by attendants from a lock-down treatment facility.
But the questionable, if not downright abusive, reform tactics fail to have the desired effect on Drew, who stages a bold escape from the de facto prison and, after a few false starts, finds his way on his own path to rehab.
Although the good-looking Lapica is right on the edge of being able to pass himself off as a teenager, there's a real sense of authority and a raw, unmannered intensity in his performance that sets the requisite tone for the entire production.
While one is curious to see if the feature novice will be able to demonstrate that same level of assurance with a project that isn't autobiographical, "Self-Medicated" is just what the doctor ordered in terms of an impressive calling card, with Lapica receiving sturdy technical back-up from cinematographer Denis Maloney and a reflective piano-driven score by Anthony Marinelli.
There's a palpable element of honesty in Lapica's writing and lead performance that gives this indie production, which received its world premiere at the recent CineVegas Film Festival, the edge over other troubled teen dramas.
A natural for festivals, the picture establishes Lapica as one to watch -- either as a filmmaker or, for that matter, an actor.
Having never come to terms with the death of his father, Lapica's alter ego Drew Eriksen lapses from honor roll student to party animal on the fast-track to self-destruction.
No longer able to handle the Las Vegas teenager's violent outbursts and increasingly unpredictable behavior, Drew's mother (effectively played by Diane Venora), herself in denial about her addiction to prescription drugs, takes drastic measures and has him snatched right out of his bed in the middle of the night by attendants from a lock-down treatment facility.
But the questionable, if not downright abusive, reform tactics fail to have the desired effect on Drew, who stages a bold escape from the de facto prison and, after a few false starts, finds his way on his own path to rehab.
Although the good-looking Lapica is right on the edge of being able to pass himself off as a teenager, there's a real sense of authority and a raw, unmannered intensity in his performance that sets the requisite tone for the entire production.
While one is curious to see if the feature novice will be able to demonstrate that same level of assurance with a project that isn't autobiographical, "Self-Medicated" is just what the doctor ordered in terms of an impressive calling card, with Lapica receiving sturdy technical back-up from cinematographer Denis Maloney and a reflective piano-driven score by Anthony Marinelli.
- 7/14/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Stateside
Writer-director Reverge Anselmo has an eye for odd, telling details in this 1980s-set us-against-the-world romance. But the finely observed moments in "Stateside" accumulate little emotional power. The promise of something startling and compelling goes unfulfilled, and the arc of the central love story isn't interesting enough to sustain the drama.
Jonathan Tucker ("The Deep End") delivers a fresh, convincing portrayal of a well-to-do kid who finds himself stunned into growing up fast. As the girl he loves, Rachael Leigh Cook ("She's All That") brings a brooding restlessness to the more cliched role of a troubled but irresistible waif. The story's military angle might hit a current events nerve, and younger audiences likely will find the offbeat darkness of the saga and the Reagan-era setting exotic enough to drive modest boxoffice returns.
The Catholic schoolkid rebellion of Connecticut high school senior Mark (Tucker) and his friends, well captured here, implodes in a car crash with lasting repercussions. The school's head priest (Ed Begley Jr.) winds up in a wheelchair. Mark's precocious classmate Sue (Agnes Bruckner) loses not only her front teeth but her freedom: Her bitter mother (Carrie Fisher) tosses her into a state institution after learning of her sexual exploits. She also presses charges against Mark, who was behind the wheel.
Thanks to the influence of his wealthy father (Joe Mantegna), a compromise sentence places Mark in the Marine Corps rather than jail. Before he departs, he falls for Sue's slightly older hospital roommate, Dori (Cook), an actress/rock singer on leave from Hollywood. There's an urgency to their flirtation, an idiosyncratic poetry to their conversations and letters, all of which starts off bracing but becomes self-conscious.
It takes a while for it to sink in with Mark that Dori is being treated for schizophrenia. Most of the time Cook navigates the fine line that separates the role of a charismatic mental patient from the maudlin or cute. Dori is alternately exuberant, unresponsive, melancholy and thick-tongued from Thorazine. A therapist (Diane Venora) warns Mark that their intermittent get-togethers threaten her recovery.
When he isn't springing Dori from a halfway house, Mark is immersed in Marine Corps training, a crucible from which he believes he emerges a man. His silver-spoon status makes him the prime target for torment from his drill instructor (Val Kilmer), an oddball on a mission to do what "the mothers of America" cannot. In a strange way, the endless humiliation engages Mark, who never quite felt at home in the cavernous mansion he shared with his asthmatic father and dreamily grieving younger sister (Zena Grey), who is wont to traipse through the rooms in a mink that belonged to their recently deceased mother.
Such provocative character nuances are pushed to the periphery as the film falters in a wearying string of hospitalizations and furloughs. The well-played supporting characters serve mainly to orbit the young couple. While that might make sense for the adults, it's a shame that Bruckner's Sue is all but lost in the mix. Ultimately, so is Dori -- glimpses of her background or the drive that fueled her career apparently lost in editing. Her mother and uncle are dropped awkwardly into a scene in which they speak no lines and serve no discernible dramatic purpose.
Although the film's title refers to military slang for The Loved Ones left back home, Mark's experiences overseas, when his unit is deployed to Beirut, are compressed to a few lines of voice-over. Anselmo (a former Marine) brings the saga to a rushed conclusion, and the sense of two outsiders finding focus and solace in each other doesn't register with the necessary tenderness or force.
Unshowy wide-screen lensing and design elements effectively evoke the recent past, with vintage tracks by Elvis Costello and Rickie Lee Jones, among others, helping to heighten the nostalgia.
STATESIDE
Samuel Goldwyn Films
in association with Cinerenta and First Look Media
A Seven Hills Pictures production in association with Cinealpha KG
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Reverge Anselmo
Producer: Robert Greenhut
Executive producers: Eberhard Kayser, Michele Berk
Director of photography: Adam Holender
Production designer: Mike Shaw
Music: Joel McNeely
Co-producer: Bonnie Hlinomaz
Costume designer: Cynthia Flynt
Editor: Suzy Elmiger
Cast:
Dori Lawrence: Rachael Leigh Cook
Mark Deloach: Jonathan Tucker
Sue Dubois: Agnes Bruckner
Mr. Deloach: Joe Mantegna
Mrs. Dubois: Carrie Fisher
Mrs. Hengen: Diane Venora
Father Concoff: Ed Begley Jr.
Senior Drill Instructor Skeer: Val Kilmer
Gina Deloach: Zena Grey
Running time -- 96 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Jonathan Tucker ("The Deep End") delivers a fresh, convincing portrayal of a well-to-do kid who finds himself stunned into growing up fast. As the girl he loves, Rachael Leigh Cook ("She's All That") brings a brooding restlessness to the more cliched role of a troubled but irresistible waif. The story's military angle might hit a current events nerve, and younger audiences likely will find the offbeat darkness of the saga and the Reagan-era setting exotic enough to drive modest boxoffice returns.
The Catholic schoolkid rebellion of Connecticut high school senior Mark (Tucker) and his friends, well captured here, implodes in a car crash with lasting repercussions. The school's head priest (Ed Begley Jr.) winds up in a wheelchair. Mark's precocious classmate Sue (Agnes Bruckner) loses not only her front teeth but her freedom: Her bitter mother (Carrie Fisher) tosses her into a state institution after learning of her sexual exploits. She also presses charges against Mark, who was behind the wheel.
Thanks to the influence of his wealthy father (Joe Mantegna), a compromise sentence places Mark in the Marine Corps rather than jail. Before he departs, he falls for Sue's slightly older hospital roommate, Dori (Cook), an actress/rock singer on leave from Hollywood. There's an urgency to their flirtation, an idiosyncratic poetry to their conversations and letters, all of which starts off bracing but becomes self-conscious.
It takes a while for it to sink in with Mark that Dori is being treated for schizophrenia. Most of the time Cook navigates the fine line that separates the role of a charismatic mental patient from the maudlin or cute. Dori is alternately exuberant, unresponsive, melancholy and thick-tongued from Thorazine. A therapist (Diane Venora) warns Mark that their intermittent get-togethers threaten her recovery.
When he isn't springing Dori from a halfway house, Mark is immersed in Marine Corps training, a crucible from which he believes he emerges a man. His silver-spoon status makes him the prime target for torment from his drill instructor (Val Kilmer), an oddball on a mission to do what "the mothers of America" cannot. In a strange way, the endless humiliation engages Mark, who never quite felt at home in the cavernous mansion he shared with his asthmatic father and dreamily grieving younger sister (Zena Grey), who is wont to traipse through the rooms in a mink that belonged to their recently deceased mother.
Such provocative character nuances are pushed to the periphery as the film falters in a wearying string of hospitalizations and furloughs. The well-played supporting characters serve mainly to orbit the young couple. While that might make sense for the adults, it's a shame that Bruckner's Sue is all but lost in the mix. Ultimately, so is Dori -- glimpses of her background or the drive that fueled her career apparently lost in editing. Her mother and uncle are dropped awkwardly into a scene in which they speak no lines and serve no discernible dramatic purpose.
Although the film's title refers to military slang for The Loved Ones left back home, Mark's experiences overseas, when his unit is deployed to Beirut, are compressed to a few lines of voice-over. Anselmo (a former Marine) brings the saga to a rushed conclusion, and the sense of two outsiders finding focus and solace in each other doesn't register with the necessary tenderness or force.
Unshowy wide-screen lensing and design elements effectively evoke the recent past, with vintage tracks by Elvis Costello and Rickie Lee Jones, among others, helping to heighten the nostalgia.
STATESIDE
Samuel Goldwyn Films
in association with Cinerenta and First Look Media
A Seven Hills Pictures production in association with Cinealpha KG
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Reverge Anselmo
Producer: Robert Greenhut
Executive producers: Eberhard Kayser, Michele Berk
Director of photography: Adam Holender
Production designer: Mike Shaw
Music: Joel McNeely
Co-producer: Bonnie Hlinomaz
Costume designer: Cynthia Flynt
Editor: Suzy Elmiger
Cast:
Dori Lawrence: Rachael Leigh Cook
Mark Deloach: Jonathan Tucker
Sue Dubois: Agnes Bruckner
Mr. Deloach: Joe Mantegna
Mrs. Dubois: Carrie Fisher
Mrs. Hengen: Diane Venora
Father Concoff: Ed Begley Jr.
Senior Drill Instructor Skeer: Val Kilmer
Gina Deloach: Zena Grey
Running time -- 96 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 7/9/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Stateside
Writer-director Reverge Anselmo has an eye for odd, telling details in this 1980s-set us-against-the-world romance. But the finely observed moments in "Stateside" accumulate little emotional power. The promise of something startling and compelling goes unfulfilled, and the arc of the central love story isn't interesting enough to sustain the drama.
Jonathan Tucker ("The Deep End") delivers a fresh, convincing portrayal of a well-to-do kid who finds himself stunned into growing up fast. As the girl he loves, Rachael Leigh Cook ("She's All That") brings a brooding restlessness to the more cliched role of a troubled but irresistible waif. The story's military angle might hit a current events nerve, and younger audiences likely will find the offbeat darkness of the saga and the Reagan-era setting exotic enough to drive modest boxoffice returns.
The Catholic schoolkid rebellion of Connecticut high school senior Mark (Tucker) and his friends, well captured here, implodes in a car crash with lasting repercussions. The school's head priest (Ed Begley Jr.) winds up in a wheelchair. Mark's precocious classmate Sue (Agnes Bruckner) loses not only her front teeth but her freedom: Her bitter mother (Carrie Fisher) tosses her into a state institution after learning of her sexual exploits. She also presses charges against Mark, who was behind the wheel.
Thanks to the influence of his wealthy father (Joe Mantegna), a compromise sentence places Mark in the Marine Corps rather than jail. Before he departs, he falls for Sue's slightly older hospital roommate, Dori (Cook), an actress/rock singer on leave from Hollywood. There's an urgency to their flirtation, an idiosyncratic poetry to their conversations and letters, all of which starts off bracing but becomes self-conscious.
It takes a while for it to sink in with Mark that Dori is being treated for schizophrenia. Most of the time Cook navigates the fine line that separates the role of a charismatic mental patient from the maudlin or cute. Dori is alternately exuberant, unresponsive, melancholy and thick-tongued from Thorazine. A therapist (Diane Venora) warns Mark that their intermittent get-togethers threaten her recovery.
When he isn't springing Dori from a halfway house, Mark is immersed in Marine Corps training, a crucible from which he believes he emerges a man. His silver-spoon status makes him the prime target for torment from his drill instructor (Val Kilmer), an oddball on a mission to do what "the mothers of America" cannot. In a strange way, the endless humiliation engages Mark, who never quite felt at home in the cavernous mansion he shared with his asthmatic father and dreamily grieving younger sister (Zena Grey), who is wont to traipse through the rooms in a mink that belonged to their recently deceased mother.
Such provocative character nuances are pushed to the periphery as the film falters in a wearying string of hospitalizations and furloughs. The well-played supporting characters serve mainly to orbit the young couple. While that might make sense for the adults, it's a shame that Bruckner's Sue is all but lost in the mix. Ultimately, so is Dori -- glimpses of her background or the drive that fueled her career apparently lost in editing. Her mother and uncle are dropped awkwardly into a scene in which they speak no lines and serve no discernible dramatic purpose.
Although the film's title refers to military slang for The Loved Ones left back home, Mark's experiences overseas, when his unit is deployed to Beirut, are compressed to a few lines of voice-over. Anselmo (a former Marine) brings the saga to a rushed conclusion, and the sense of two outsiders finding focus and solace in each other doesn't register with the necessary tenderness or force.
Unshowy wide-screen lensing and design elements effectively evoke the recent past, with vintage tracks by Elvis Costello and Rickie Lee Jones, among others, helping to heighten the nostalgia.
STATESIDE
Samuel Goldwyn Films
in association with Cinerenta and First Look Media
A Seven Hills Pictures production in association with Cinealpha KG
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Reverge Anselmo
Producer: Robert Greenhut
Executive producers: Eberhard Kayser, Michele Berk
Director of photography: Adam Holender
Production designer: Mike Shaw
Music: Joel McNeely
Co-producer: Bonnie Hlinomaz
Costume designer: Cynthia Flynt
Editor: Suzy Elmiger
Cast:
Dori Lawrence: Rachael Leigh Cook
Mark Deloach: Jonathan Tucker
Sue Dubois: Agnes Bruckner
Mr. Deloach: Joe Mantegna
Mrs. Dubois: Carrie Fisher
Mrs. Hengen: Diane Venora
Father Concoff: Ed Begley Jr.
Senior Drill Instructor Skeer: Val Kilmer
Gina Deloach: Zena Grey
Running time -- 96 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Jonathan Tucker ("The Deep End") delivers a fresh, convincing portrayal of a well-to-do kid who finds himself stunned into growing up fast. As the girl he loves, Rachael Leigh Cook ("She's All That") brings a brooding restlessness to the more cliched role of a troubled but irresistible waif. The story's military angle might hit a current events nerve, and younger audiences likely will find the offbeat darkness of the saga and the Reagan-era setting exotic enough to drive modest boxoffice returns.
The Catholic schoolkid rebellion of Connecticut high school senior Mark (Tucker) and his friends, well captured here, implodes in a car crash with lasting repercussions. The school's head priest (Ed Begley Jr.) winds up in a wheelchair. Mark's precocious classmate Sue (Agnes Bruckner) loses not only her front teeth but her freedom: Her bitter mother (Carrie Fisher) tosses her into a state institution after learning of her sexual exploits. She also presses charges against Mark, who was behind the wheel.
Thanks to the influence of his wealthy father (Joe Mantegna), a compromise sentence places Mark in the Marine Corps rather than jail. Before he departs, he falls for Sue's slightly older hospital roommate, Dori (Cook), an actress/rock singer on leave from Hollywood. There's an urgency to their flirtation, an idiosyncratic poetry to their conversations and letters, all of which starts off bracing but becomes self-conscious.
It takes a while for it to sink in with Mark that Dori is being treated for schizophrenia. Most of the time Cook navigates the fine line that separates the role of a charismatic mental patient from the maudlin or cute. Dori is alternately exuberant, unresponsive, melancholy and thick-tongued from Thorazine. A therapist (Diane Venora) warns Mark that their intermittent get-togethers threaten her recovery.
When he isn't springing Dori from a halfway house, Mark is immersed in Marine Corps training, a crucible from which he believes he emerges a man. His silver-spoon status makes him the prime target for torment from his drill instructor (Val Kilmer), an oddball on a mission to do what "the mothers of America" cannot. In a strange way, the endless humiliation engages Mark, who never quite felt at home in the cavernous mansion he shared with his asthmatic father and dreamily grieving younger sister (Zena Grey), who is wont to traipse through the rooms in a mink that belonged to their recently deceased mother.
Such provocative character nuances are pushed to the periphery as the film falters in a wearying string of hospitalizations and furloughs. The well-played supporting characters serve mainly to orbit the young couple. While that might make sense for the adults, it's a shame that Bruckner's Sue is all but lost in the mix. Ultimately, so is Dori -- glimpses of her background or the drive that fueled her career apparently lost in editing. Her mother and uncle are dropped awkwardly into a scene in which they speak no lines and serve no discernible dramatic purpose.
Although the film's title refers to military slang for The Loved Ones left back home, Mark's experiences overseas, when his unit is deployed to Beirut, are compressed to a few lines of voice-over. Anselmo (a former Marine) brings the saga to a rushed conclusion, and the sense of two outsiders finding focus and solace in each other doesn't register with the necessary tenderness or force.
Unshowy wide-screen lensing and design elements effectively evoke the recent past, with vintage tracks by Elvis Costello and Rickie Lee Jones, among others, helping to heighten the nostalgia.
STATESIDE
Samuel Goldwyn Films
in association with Cinerenta and First Look Media
A Seven Hills Pictures production in association with Cinealpha KG
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Reverge Anselmo
Producer: Robert Greenhut
Executive producers: Eberhard Kayser, Michele Berk
Director of photography: Adam Holender
Production designer: Mike Shaw
Music: Joel McNeely
Co-producer: Bonnie Hlinomaz
Costume designer: Cynthia Flynt
Editor: Suzy Elmiger
Cast:
Dori Lawrence: Rachael Leigh Cook
Mark Deloach: Jonathan Tucker
Sue Dubois: Agnes Bruckner
Mr. Deloach: Joe Mantegna
Mrs. Dubois: Carrie Fisher
Mrs. Hengen: Diane Venora
Father Concoff: Ed Begley Jr.
Senior Drill Instructor Skeer: Val Kilmer
Gina Deloach: Zena Grey
Running time -- 96 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 5/7/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
'Actions' speaks volumes at Lifetime
Lifetime has ordered Class Actions, a pilot for a potential primetime series from Sony Pictures Television starring Diane Venora. Meanwhile, Illeana Douglas has been tapped to star in another Lifetime pilot. The hourlong drama, ready to go into production in Vancouver, will be executive produced by Deborah Joy LeVine (The Division), who also will script. Class involves a hotshot Manhattan lawyer who quits the rat race and moves to a small town with her teenage daughter to work as a professor. Venora (Heat) has been cast in the lead as the lawyer, while Tangi Miller (Felicity) plays a law student under the professor's tutelage.
- 12/10/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Young Girl, Monsoon
There are few things more intimidating than a teenage girl in full tantrum mode, and James Ryan's film captures that complex mixture of adolescent stubbornness and burgeoning womanhood with uncanny precision.
His debut feature, "The Young Girl and the Monsoon" is about the complex relationship be-tween a weekend dad and his 13-year-old daughter. It is a well-written and -acted drama that, while it suffers from a certain talky, stagebound quality, bears the stamp of psychological truth.
Terry Kinney, in his first feature starring role, plays Hank, an award-winning, divorced photojournalist about to turn 40 who is coping with several problems in his life. He's facing serious career competition from his best friend, even while he's in the running for a major award that he feels guilty about competing for because his photo was staged. And his gorgeous, much younger girlfriend, Erin (Mili Avital), who also happens to be a model who makes $10,000 a week (we should all have such problems), is raising issues about commitment and her desire to have a baby.
When Hank's ex-wife gets remarried and embarks on an extended honeymoon, he is suddenly saddled with Constance (Ellen Muth), their 13-year-old daughter with issues of her own. Hank, unused to the demands of fatherhood and the particular concerns of a teenager, soon finds himself desperately attempting to cope with a person whose range of expression veers from a petulant whine to howls of outrage.
The strength of the film lies in Ryan's ability to make us care about all of his characters and to make them highly credible and specific. Although the film never reaches any great dramatic heights, it presents a series of small moments that reverberate with the messiness and complexity of truth.
Adding greatly to the overall effect is the highly talented cast. Kinney, masterful at portraying aggrieved characters (as evidenced by his superb work on HBO's "Oz"), makes Hank highly sympathetic in spite of the character's self-absorption. And Muth, a 19-year-old actress who does an excellent job of playing much younger, excellently conveys Constance's childishness and blossoming sexuality.
Avital is highly appealing and low-key as the frustrated girlfriend, and Diane Venora has some terrific moments as Hank's boss and ex-college girlfriend who impulsively jumps into the sack with him one night, only to wake up in a state of embarrassed mortification.
THE YOUNG GIRL AND THE MONSOON
Artistic License Films
Director-screenwriter: James Ryan
Executive producers: Richard Mehrlich, Beverly Mehrlich
Director of photography: Ben Wolf
Production designer: Tina Manfredi
Editor: John David Allen
Music: David Carbonara
Color/stereo
Cast:
Hank: Terry Kinney
Constance: Ellen Muth
Erin: Mili Avital
Giovanna: Diane Venora
Jack: Tim Guinee
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
His debut feature, "The Young Girl and the Monsoon" is about the complex relationship be-tween a weekend dad and his 13-year-old daughter. It is a well-written and -acted drama that, while it suffers from a certain talky, stagebound quality, bears the stamp of psychological truth.
Terry Kinney, in his first feature starring role, plays Hank, an award-winning, divorced photojournalist about to turn 40 who is coping with several problems in his life. He's facing serious career competition from his best friend, even while he's in the running for a major award that he feels guilty about competing for because his photo was staged. And his gorgeous, much younger girlfriend, Erin (Mili Avital), who also happens to be a model who makes $10,000 a week (we should all have such problems), is raising issues about commitment and her desire to have a baby.
When Hank's ex-wife gets remarried and embarks on an extended honeymoon, he is suddenly saddled with Constance (Ellen Muth), their 13-year-old daughter with issues of her own. Hank, unused to the demands of fatherhood and the particular concerns of a teenager, soon finds himself desperately attempting to cope with a person whose range of expression veers from a petulant whine to howls of outrage.
The strength of the film lies in Ryan's ability to make us care about all of his characters and to make them highly credible and specific. Although the film never reaches any great dramatic heights, it presents a series of small moments that reverberate with the messiness and complexity of truth.
Adding greatly to the overall effect is the highly talented cast. Kinney, masterful at portraying aggrieved characters (as evidenced by his superb work on HBO's "Oz"), makes Hank highly sympathetic in spite of the character's self-absorption. And Muth, a 19-year-old actress who does an excellent job of playing much younger, excellently conveys Constance's childishness and blossoming sexuality.
Avital is highly appealing and low-key as the frustrated girlfriend, and Diane Venora has some terrific moments as Hank's boss and ex-college girlfriend who impulsively jumps into the sack with him one night, only to wake up in a state of embarrassed mortification.
THE YOUNG GIRL AND THE MONSOON
Artistic License Films
Director-screenwriter: James Ryan
Executive producers: Richard Mehrlich, Beverly Mehrlich
Director of photography: Ben Wolf
Production designer: Tina Manfredi
Editor: John David Allen
Music: David Carbonara
Color/stereo
Cast:
Hank: Terry Kinney
Constance: Ellen Muth
Erin: Mili Avital
Giovanna: Diane Venora
Jack: Tim Guinee
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 5/11/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film Review: 'Looking for an Echo'
'Echo' Finds High Notes / Doo-wop-themed drama manages a certain poignancy depite its blatant manipulation
By David Hunter
Martin Davidson, director of "Eddie and the Cruisers" and "The Lords of Flatbush", takes us on another nostalgic cruise in the doo-wop-themed "Looking for an Echo". His angle is to set the story in present times, with Armand Assante starring as Vince, who once upon a time fronted a local band that had a few hits and then faded away.
A Regent Entertainment release with no enticements for viewers under 40, except perhaps the presence of likable heartthrob Edoardo Ballerini ("The Last Days of Disco"), "Echo" is a scattershot success at best and deliriously pumped up with its own sense of importance at worst.
Bartender, part-time musician and bus-riding lonely heart, Vince is depressed and not much of a talker. He's never gotten over the death of his wife 10 years ago, and pays close attention to his three children, including two grown sons and a daughter suffering from leukemia. A chip off the old block, Anthony (Ballerini) is a musician and unabashed fan of Vince's old group Vinnie and the Dreamers. Older brother Tommy (David Vadim) is a New York cop with a mild mean streak.
It's through frequent visits to the hospital that Vince resurrects his romantic nature with the enthusiastically available Joanne (Diane Venora), one of the nurses attending his seriously ill daughter, Tina (Christy Romano).
With a little help from Anthony, who croons Dad's biggest hit, "This I Swear", at a rock show they drop by for, Vince and Joanne have a long and successful first date.
Approaching 50 -- and passing it during the course of the movie -- Vince is bitter about the long-ago days when he fronted a band of "losers" that got shafted out of the big bucks. But with Joanne drawing him out of his funk, Vince goes along on a trip to Atlantic City, N.J., with former Dreamers bandmates, including Vic (Joe Grifasi). They have a swell time, Tina's condition goes from worse to better, and Anthony composes a new song that marks the passing of the teeny-bopper musical mojo from one generation to the next.
Executive produced by Steve Tisch ("Forrest Gump") and featuring music wrangling by Kenny Vance -- of Jay and the Americans fame as well as the creator of soundtracks for many films, including "American Hot Wax" and "Eddie and the Cruisers" -- "Echo" is thoroughly manipulative. But Assante and Venora, in fine performances, are well-matched, while the common experience of taking years to rebound from life's disappointments and tragedies leads to a warm, heartfelt atmosphere with the comfortableness of a slow air by one of the a cappella groups that inspired the filmmakers.
LOOKING FOR AN ECHO
Regent Entertainment
Steve Tisch/Paul Kurta
Credits: Director: Martin Davidson; Screenwriters: Jeffrey Goldenberg, Robert Held, Martin Davidson; Producers: Paul Kurta, Martin Davidson; Executive producer: Steve Tisch; Director of photography: Charles Minsky; Editor: Jerrold Ludwig; Costume designer: Sandy Davidson; Music: Kenny Vance. Cast: Vince: Armand Assante; Joanne: Diane Venora; Anthony: Edoardo Ballerini; Tina: Christy Romano; Vic: Joe Grifasi; Tommie: David Vadim. MPAA rating: R. Running time - 97 minutes. Color/stereo.
By David Hunter
Martin Davidson, director of "Eddie and the Cruisers" and "The Lords of Flatbush", takes us on another nostalgic cruise in the doo-wop-themed "Looking for an Echo". His angle is to set the story in present times, with Armand Assante starring as Vince, who once upon a time fronted a local band that had a few hits and then faded away.
A Regent Entertainment release with no enticements for viewers under 40, except perhaps the presence of likable heartthrob Edoardo Ballerini ("The Last Days of Disco"), "Echo" is a scattershot success at best and deliriously pumped up with its own sense of importance at worst.
Bartender, part-time musician and bus-riding lonely heart, Vince is depressed and not much of a talker. He's never gotten over the death of his wife 10 years ago, and pays close attention to his three children, including two grown sons and a daughter suffering from leukemia. A chip off the old block, Anthony (Ballerini) is a musician and unabashed fan of Vince's old group Vinnie and the Dreamers. Older brother Tommy (David Vadim) is a New York cop with a mild mean streak.
It's through frequent visits to the hospital that Vince resurrects his romantic nature with the enthusiastically available Joanne (Diane Venora), one of the nurses attending his seriously ill daughter, Tina (Christy Romano).
With a little help from Anthony, who croons Dad's biggest hit, "This I Swear", at a rock show they drop by for, Vince and Joanne have a long and successful first date.
Approaching 50 -- and passing it during the course of the movie -- Vince is bitter about the long-ago days when he fronted a band of "losers" that got shafted out of the big bucks. But with Joanne drawing him out of his funk, Vince goes along on a trip to Atlantic City, N.J., with former Dreamers bandmates, including Vic (Joe Grifasi). They have a swell time, Tina's condition goes from worse to better, and Anthony composes a new song that marks the passing of the teeny-bopper musical mojo from one generation to the next.
Executive produced by Steve Tisch ("Forrest Gump") and featuring music wrangling by Kenny Vance -- of Jay and the Americans fame as well as the creator of soundtracks for many films, including "American Hot Wax" and "Eddie and the Cruisers" -- "Echo" is thoroughly manipulative. But Assante and Venora, in fine performances, are well-matched, while the common experience of taking years to rebound from life's disappointments and tragedies leads to a warm, heartfelt atmosphere with the comfortableness of a slow air by one of the a cappella groups that inspired the filmmakers.
LOOKING FOR AN ECHO
Regent Entertainment
Steve Tisch/Paul Kurta
Credits: Director: Martin Davidson; Screenwriters: Jeffrey Goldenberg, Robert Held, Martin Davidson; Producers: Paul Kurta, Martin Davidson; Executive producer: Steve Tisch; Director of photography: Charles Minsky; Editor: Jerrold Ludwig; Costume designer: Sandy Davidson; Music: Kenny Vance. Cast: Vince: Armand Assante; Joanne: Diane Venora; Anthony: Edoardo Ballerini; Tina: Christy Romano; Vic: Joe Grifasi; Tommie: David Vadim. MPAA rating: R. Running time - 97 minutes. Color/stereo.
- 11/14/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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