In William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the pompous actor Bottom has his head transformed into that of a donkey by the mischievous sprite known as Puck (or Robin Goodfellow, depending on how specific you want to get). Much hilarity ensues as Titania, the Queen of the Fairies, falls in love with him after being drugged with […]
The post ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ Trailer Features a Man With a Literal Ass For a Face appeared first on /Film.
The post ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ Trailer Features a Man With a Literal Ass For a Face appeared first on /Film.
- 6/12/2017
- by Jacob Hall
- Slash Film
It’s the summer movie season, ladies and gentlemen. Every Friday it seems as though the latest and greatest in mind-melting studio shlock arrives in your local mall’s cinemas, trying to be louder and more aggressively bland than the previous week’s offerings. And then there is he counter-programming.
For every insipid franchise picture or insufferable TV-to-big screen reboot, there is a superlative piece of small scale filmmaking just waiting to be discovered at any local art house or on VOD. This week’s offering is no different, and in fact announces itself as a respite from all the blockbuster flotsam and jetsam.
Matias Pineiro continues his fascination with the work of William Shakespeare, this time spinning this ongoing project into something deeply personal for the young, critically beloved filmmaker. With Hermia and Helena, Pineiro again introduces us to a series of characters that are deep in the throes...
For every insipid franchise picture or insufferable TV-to-big screen reboot, there is a superlative piece of small scale filmmaking just waiting to be discovered at any local art house or on VOD. This week’s offering is no different, and in fact announces itself as a respite from all the blockbuster flotsam and jetsam.
Matias Pineiro continues his fascination with the work of William Shakespeare, this time spinning this ongoing project into something deeply personal for the young, critically beloved filmmaker. With Hermia and Helena, Pineiro again introduces us to a series of characters that are deep in the throes...
- 5/30/2017
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
The 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre still lingers in the hearts and minds of the nation five years later. In the aftermath of the tragedy, a group of artists from New York traveled to Newtown, Connecticut to work with kids from the local school system to mount an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Director Lloyd Kramer decided to film the production for a documentary entitled “Midsummer in Newtown.” Watch an exclusive clip from the film below.
Read More: Students on Stage Bring Joy in the Wake of Loss in Exclusive Trailer For ‘Midsummer in Newtown’ — Watch
The film follows the young kids as they explore Shakespeare’s language for the first time and work together to connect with art and potentially emerge from the trauma. Meanwhile, Kramer also follows the lives of Jimmy Greene, an acclaimed jazz saxophonist, and Nelba Márquez-Greene, a therapist who decidates herself to crisis intervention,...
Read More: Students on Stage Bring Joy in the Wake of Loss in Exclusive Trailer For ‘Midsummer in Newtown’ — Watch
The film follows the young kids as they explore Shakespeare’s language for the first time and work together to connect with art and potentially emerge from the trauma. Meanwhile, Kramer also follows the lives of Jimmy Greene, an acclaimed jazz saxophonist, and Nelba Márquez-Greene, a therapist who decidates herself to crisis intervention,...
- 1/26/2017
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
“Smiles Of A Chekhovian Night”
By Raymond Benson
Most cinephiles know that Woody Allen is a huge fan of Ingmar Bergman. Allen has paid homage to the Swedish master several times, and his 1982 work, A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy, is an example. It draws upon one of Bergman’s very few comedies, Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), which is also the basis of the Stephen Sondheim Broadway musical and later film, A Little Night Music.
Smiles takes place at the turn of the last century (1800s to 1900s) in a rural village in Sweden, and the story follows the bawdy escapades of several couples. Likewise, Allen’s Midsummer takes place in the same time period, although the story is transplanted to “the country” somewhere in New York state, and concerns an ensemble of six characters—three couples—who also embark on bawdy escapades.
Bergman’s original film, in turn,...
By Raymond Benson
Most cinephiles know that Woody Allen is a huge fan of Ingmar Bergman. Allen has paid homage to the Swedish master several times, and his 1982 work, A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy, is an example. It draws upon one of Bergman’s very few comedies, Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), which is also the basis of the Stephen Sondheim Broadway musical and later film, A Little Night Music.
Smiles takes place at the turn of the last century (1800s to 1900s) in a rural village in Sweden, and the story follows the bawdy escapades of several couples. Likewise, Allen’s Midsummer takes place in the same time period, although the story is transplanted to “the country” somewhere in New York state, and concerns an ensemble of six characters—three couples—who also embark on bawdy escapades.
Bergman’s original film, in turn,...
- 1/23/2017
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Matías Piñeiro on the set of Hermia & HelenaAfter presenting his complete retrospective at Olhar de Cinema in Brazil this past June, I spoke to the Argentine filmmaker about his new film Hermia & Helena a few days before its world premiere as part of the International Competition at the 69th Locarno Film Festival.In Hermia & Helena, Camila, a young Argentine theater director, travels to New York to work on a translation of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream. With her boyfriend and friends back in Buenos Aires, Camila rethinks old and new relationships. Shot between the two cities, the film is divided into chapters that focus on the different lives Camila experiences, as well as the different people she encounters during her journey.Notebook: Hermia & Helena shares a similar aesthetic with your previous films. At the same time, the overall tone feels much more melancholic now. You have been living...
- 8/5/2016
- MUBI
Hollywood, the Dream Factory, is the apt setting for the latest cinematic update on William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Fran Kranz, Hamish Linklater, Lily Rabe, and Rachael Leigh Cook are among the cast in the new Midsummer adaptation. HitFix has an exclusive early look at the film. The new vision of one of the Bard’s greatest comedies is set in present-day Hollywood, a place where glamorous stars, commanding moguls, starving artists, and vaulting pretenders all vie to get ahead. The Athenians are Hollywood glitterati, the mechanicals (Bottom and his troupe of wannabe actors) are film students, and the fairies of the forest are hippies in Topanga Canyon, nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains just east of Malibu. Staging or filming a Shakespeare project four centuries after the incomparable playwright lived and after countless artists have already mounted productions of his plays poses several challenges. (Yes, really four centuries,...
- 5/20/2016
- by Emily Rome
- Hitfix
A&E have announced that they are going to be developing an anthology horror series of their own, only they’re looking at a rather interesting inspirational source: William Shakespeare. According to Variety, A+E Studios has a series they’re calling “A Midsummer’s Nightmare” in the works and the episodes are said to be adaptions of Shakespeare’s plays […]...
- 4/29/2016
- by JonathanBarkan
- bloody-disgusting.com
Russell T Davies is returning to the BBC's Cardiff base to adapt William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream…
Here’s an exciting one. Doctor Who legend Russell T Davies is returning to the BBC (and to Cardiff’s Doctor Who base!), to put his spin on another bastion of British culture – he’s adapting William Shakespeare.
Specifically, Russell T Davies is working on the script for a 90-minute adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. His adaptation – which will be directed by David Kerr (Inside No. 9, That Mitchell And Webb Look, Fresh Meat) – is going by the title The Dream.
Although it’s being adapted by Davies, this new staging of the iconic comedy play has been described as ‘a truthful version […] the original play, the original words, the original Shakespeare. Warm and funny, it will have as much attitude and invention as any theatrical interpretation.’
“I...
Here’s an exciting one. Doctor Who legend Russell T Davies is returning to the BBC (and to Cardiff’s Doctor Who base!), to put his spin on another bastion of British culture – he’s adapting William Shakespeare.
Specifically, Russell T Davies is working on the script for a 90-minute adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. His adaptation – which will be directed by David Kerr (Inside No. 9, That Mitchell And Webb Look, Fresh Meat) – is going by the title The Dream.
Although it’s being adapted by Davies, this new staging of the iconic comedy play has been described as ‘a truthful version […] the original play, the original words, the original Shakespeare. Warm and funny, it will have as much attitude and invention as any theatrical interpretation.’
“I...
- 8/27/2015
- by rleane
- Den of Geek
Titus Andronicus Adapted and Directed by Ross Williams Written by William Shakespeare New York Shakespeare Exchange at Here 145 6th Avenue, New York, NY 10013 January 22-February 8, 2015
The New York Shakespeare Exchange has its finger in more than one pie, and not all of them are, as in Titus Andronicus, filled with human flesh. In addition to its current production of Shakespeare’s gory early crowd-pleaser, the group created The Sonnet Project, which develops a short film shot in a “cultural/historic” NYC location for each sonnet. The results can be viewed online or through a dedicated mobile app (available for Ios or Android). It also runs periodic pub crawls called ShakesBEER, which we can personally recommend as a fun way to experience a few new drinking establishments in the City accompanied by themed scenes or mash-ups from the Bard’s dramatic canon.
Titus follows the increasingly brutal conflict between the title...
The New York Shakespeare Exchange has its finger in more than one pie, and not all of them are, as in Titus Andronicus, filled with human flesh. In addition to its current production of Shakespeare’s gory early crowd-pleaser, the group created The Sonnet Project, which develops a short film shot in a “cultural/historic” NYC location for each sonnet. The results can be viewed online or through a dedicated mobile app (available for Ios or Android). It also runs periodic pub crawls called ShakesBEER, which we can personally recommend as a fun way to experience a few new drinking establishments in the City accompanied by themed scenes or mash-ups from the Bard’s dramatic canon.
Titus follows the increasingly brutal conflict between the title...
- 2/10/2015
- by Leah Richards
- www.culturecatch.com
When Disney purchased Lucasfilm from George Lucas back in 2012, they were mostly in it for "Star Wars," a property that the company knew it could exploit and synergize and spin-off with the kind of aplomb that only Disney can muster. But there was something else in that deal that they weren't entirely sure of: "Strange Magic," a computer-animated fairy tale that had been a passion project of Lucas' for more than a decade and was being developed in earnest as the company was purchased. Now the project feels like a Skywalker orphan, left to fend for itself on the desolate planet known as Late January. It's a complicated, uneven film, equal parts bewitching and repellant, and it should command an almost instantaneous cult audience due to its trippy visuals and jukebox musical soundtrack. Even if it doesn't totally work, it's hard not have a kind of begrudging admiration for its weirdness.
- 1/21/2015
- by Drew Taylor
- The Playlist
“Boy Next Door,” “Mortdecai”and “Strange Magic” open against “American Sniper,” which aims for $45 million in repeat win
Johnny Depp and Jennifer Lopez, two stars whose best box box office days appear behind them, will try to bounce back in new movies opening Friday. But with the record-breaking reigning champ “American Sniper” turning into a cultural phenomenon, they may have picked the wrong weekend.
Lopez is featured in Universal Pictures’ R-rated erotic thriller “The Boy Next Door” as a high school teacher who becomes the object of a young neighbor’s obsession after a one-night stand. Rob Cohen directs and Ryan Guzman,...
Johnny Depp and Jennifer Lopez, two stars whose best box box office days appear behind them, will try to bounce back in new movies opening Friday. But with the record-breaking reigning champ “American Sniper” turning into a cultural phenomenon, they may have picked the wrong weekend.
Lopez is featured in Universal Pictures’ R-rated erotic thriller “The Boy Next Door” as a high school teacher who becomes the object of a young neighbor’s obsession after a one-night stand. Rob Cohen directs and Ryan Guzman,...
- 1/21/2015
- by Todd Cunningham
- The Wrap
While he is done with with Star Wars, that doesn’t mean we won’t be getting some work done by George Lucas in 2015.
Disney and LucasFilms released the first trailer for the animated feature, Strange Magic, which was written by Lucas. The film is inspired by William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Tale and features the voice work of Alan Cumming, Evan Rachel Wood, Kristin Chenoweth, Maya Rudolph, Sam Palladio, Meredith Anne Bull, Alfred Molina, Elijah Kelley, Bob Einstein, and Peter Stormare.
While taking a little from Shakespeare, the film follows goblins, elves, fairies and imps embark on a musical adventure in hopes of getting a powerful potion.
Strange Magic is opening in theaters on January 23, 2015.
The post George Lucas returns to features with ‘Strange Magic’ appeared first on Sound On Sight.
Disney and LucasFilms released the first trailer for the animated feature, Strange Magic, which was written by Lucas. The film is inspired by William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Tale and features the voice work of Alan Cumming, Evan Rachel Wood, Kristin Chenoweth, Maya Rudolph, Sam Palladio, Meredith Anne Bull, Alfred Molina, Elijah Kelley, Bob Einstein, and Peter Stormare.
While taking a little from Shakespeare, the film follows goblins, elves, fairies and imps embark on a musical adventure in hopes of getting a powerful potion.
Strange Magic is opening in theaters on January 23, 2015.
The post George Lucas returns to features with ‘Strange Magic’ appeared first on Sound On Sight.
- 11/22/2014
- by Zach Dennis
- SoundOnSight
Well, that was unexpected. Today, Lucasfilm announced that it will be bringing us an animated film titled Strange Magic in just three short months. Touchstone Pictures will be releasing the project, inspired by William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” into theaters on January 23rd, 2015.
Alan Cumming, Evan Rachel Wood, Kristin Chenoweth, Maya Rudolph, Alfred Molina, Peter Stormare and Elijah Kelley all lend their voices to the film, playing magical creatures such as goblins, elves, fairies and imps who come to blows over a magic potion. Musical interludes help to tell the story, with Strange Magic incorporating “popular songs from the past six decades.”
Gary Rydstrom, a seven-time Oscar winner for his work as a sound designer on films as diverse as Saving Private Ryan, Titanic and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, will direct from an original idea by George Lucas. Rydstrom’s experience isn’t limited to sound work – he also helmed Oscar-nominated,...
Alan Cumming, Evan Rachel Wood, Kristin Chenoweth, Maya Rudolph, Alfred Molina, Peter Stormare and Elijah Kelley all lend their voices to the film, playing magical creatures such as goblins, elves, fairies and imps who come to blows over a magic potion. Musical interludes help to tell the story, with Strange Magic incorporating “popular songs from the past six decades.”
Gary Rydstrom, a seven-time Oscar winner for his work as a sound designer on films as diverse as Saving Private Ryan, Titanic and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, will direct from an original idea by George Lucas. Rydstrom’s experience isn’t limited to sound work – he also helmed Oscar-nominated,...
- 11/11/2014
- by Isaac Feldberg
- We Got This Covered
What Fools These Mortals Be: The Story of Puck, America’s First and Most Influential Magazine of Color Political Cartoons • 328 pages, Idw Publishing, $59.99 (Amazon, $40.64)
Once upon a time, mere mortal cartoonists held rockstar sway over American electoral politics via a wildly popular periodical that, early in its more than 40 year run. actually got their guy into the White House.
Let us now return to those halcyon days when men were men and cartoonists were gods.
These are your great-great grandfather’s political cartoons: dense, colorful and full of coded graphic allusions, mini-masterpieces as indecipherable to most modern day minds as The Daily Show’s Photoshopped on-screen graphics – arguably Puck’s progeny — would have been to our ancestors. But fret not, because all you really need to know to take a deep dive into this inky pool of polychromous political effulgence is that the message is always basically the same, most...
Once upon a time, mere mortal cartoonists held rockstar sway over American electoral politics via a wildly popular periodical that, early in its more than 40 year run. actually got their guy into the White House.
Let us now return to those halcyon days when men were men and cartoonists were gods.
These are your great-great grandfather’s political cartoons: dense, colorful and full of coded graphic allusions, mini-masterpieces as indecipherable to most modern day minds as The Daily Show’s Photoshopped on-screen graphics – arguably Puck’s progeny — would have been to our ancestors. But fret not, because all you really need to know to take a deep dive into this inky pool of polychromous political effulgence is that the message is always basically the same, most...
- 10/9/2014
- by Amanda Hass
- Comicmix.com
Above: Us 2014 re-release poster for Othello (Orson Welles, Morocco/Italy, 1952) designed by Dark Star, Paris.
Orson Welles' glorious, noirish, idiosyncratic, benighted Othello opens in New York and Chicago today in a new restoration. And Wednesday, not coincidentally, saw the 450th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s birth. Shakespeare has been adapted for film since the silent dawn of cinema, so it seems only right and fitting that I should mark this occasion with the best posters for Shakespeare on film through the ages, presented here in chronological order.
Above: German poster for Hamlet (Svend Gade & Heinz Schall, Germany, 1921).
Above: Us one sheet for The Taming of the Shrew (Sam Taylor, USA, 1929).
Above: Us lobby card for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (William Dieterle & Max Reinhardt, USA, 1935).
Above: 1956 Polish poster for Henry V (Laurence Olivier, UK, 1944) by Jozef Mroszczak.
Above: Australian poster for Henry V (Laurence Olivier, UK, 1944).
Above: French poster for Hamlet (Laurence Olivier,...
Orson Welles' glorious, noirish, idiosyncratic, benighted Othello opens in New York and Chicago today in a new restoration. And Wednesday, not coincidentally, saw the 450th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s birth. Shakespeare has been adapted for film since the silent dawn of cinema, so it seems only right and fitting that I should mark this occasion with the best posters for Shakespeare on film through the ages, presented here in chronological order.
Above: German poster for Hamlet (Svend Gade & Heinz Schall, Germany, 1921).
Above: Us one sheet for The Taming of the Shrew (Sam Taylor, USA, 1929).
Above: Us lobby card for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (William Dieterle & Max Reinhardt, USA, 1935).
Above: 1956 Polish poster for Henry V (Laurence Olivier, UK, 1944) by Jozef Mroszczak.
Above: Australian poster for Henry V (Laurence Olivier, UK, 1944).
Above: French poster for Hamlet (Laurence Olivier,...
- 4/25/2014
- by Adrian Curry
- MUBI
William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Directed by Christian Amato
The Theater Project
September 20-28, 2013 (Closed)
The Players Theater, MacDougal Street, NYC
Christian Amato's direction of A Midsummer Night’s Dream displays that he posses a comedic theatrical maturity far beyond what one might expect for a twenty-five year old director. Mr. Amato so accurately channeled the spirit of the 70's theater of John Vaccaro, Ron Tavel, and Charles Ludlum that upon leaving the theater I expected to be transported back to that raucous and innovative era, one in which the energy of The Village reflected the hoopla we were witnessing on stage. [Need I say I quickly woke up to the disappointment that it was 2013, and The Village and the world were now radically different.] Mr. Amato in his hilarious production, has recreated anew and in a contemporary context that which made devoted audiences keep returning for more works by the creators of the “ridiculous” mode in New York theater.
If the reader needs a refresher on the plot of his classic,...
Directed by Christian Amato
The Theater Project
September 20-28, 2013 (Closed)
The Players Theater, MacDougal Street, NYC
Christian Amato's direction of A Midsummer Night’s Dream displays that he posses a comedic theatrical maturity far beyond what one might expect for a twenty-five year old director. Mr. Amato so accurately channeled the spirit of the 70's theater of John Vaccaro, Ron Tavel, and Charles Ludlum that upon leaving the theater I expected to be transported back to that raucous and innovative era, one in which the energy of The Village reflected the hoopla we were witnessing on stage. [Need I say I quickly woke up to the disappointment that it was 2013, and The Village and the world were now radically different.] Mr. Amato in his hilarious production, has recreated anew and in a contemporary context that which made devoted audiences keep returning for more works by the creators of the “ridiculous” mode in New York theater.
If the reader needs a refresher on the plot of his classic,...
- 10/6/2013
- by Jay Reisberg
- www.culturecatch.com
While Tom Hiddleston effortlessly oozes sex appeal whether he’s battling hunky on-screen brother Chris Hemsworth in the Thor and The Avengers films or, more recently, singing ‘Bare Necessities” at this past weekend’s D23 Disney Expo, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything hotter than Hiddleston letting the written word of William Shakespeare fall from his oh-so-divine lips.
While playing Loki in the Marvel Studios films may get him buckets of exposure these days, spend some time sitting across from the engaging Hiddleston talking about his role as King Henry V in PBS’s Great Performances: The Hollow Crown miniseries next month, as this reporter did recently, and you’ll see the Brit’s eyes light up and his enthusiasm become more than a little intoxicating.
The Hollow Crown, which begins September 20th on PBS, features productions of Shakespeare’s Richard II, Henry IV, Part 1 and 2 and Henry V.
While playing Loki in the Marvel Studios films may get him buckets of exposure these days, spend some time sitting across from the engaging Hiddleston talking about his role as King Henry V in PBS’s Great Performances: The Hollow Crown miniseries next month, as this reporter did recently, and you’ll see the Brit’s eyes light up and his enthusiasm become more than a little intoxicating.
The Hollow Crown, which begins September 20th on PBS, features productions of Shakespeare’s Richard II, Henry IV, Part 1 and 2 and Henry V.
- 8/15/2013
- by Jim Halterman
- The Backlot
New York -- There is life after Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. In her first New York stage venture since her rocky experience as the original director and co-creator of that Broadway blockbuster, Julie Taymor will return to her artistic roots with an Off Broadway production of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Starring David Harewood (Homeland) as Oberon, Tina Benko as Titania, Max Casella as Bottom and Kathryn Hunter as Puck, the production will inaugurate Theatre for a New Audience's new home, the Center for Shakespeare and Classical Drama in Brooklyn. Photos: Broadway Musicals That Have Sung
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- 8/1/2013
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A man in a pool donning a snorkel and grasping a martini doesn’t exactly shout Shakespeare.
Yet that image is becoming ever more closely associated with William Shakespeare by Bardolaters and Browncoats who are eagerly anticipating the June release of Much Ado About Nothing as interpreted by a modern bard, Joss Whedon. The image of a party-ready and dive-ready Fran Kranz (Dollhouse, Cabin in the Woods) was originally seen on a mysterious website that first hinted at the existence of the production, and now it’s on the film’s newest poster.
Shakespeare’s comedy about the “merry war...
Yet that image is becoming ever more closely associated with William Shakespeare by Bardolaters and Browncoats who are eagerly anticipating the June release of Much Ado About Nothing as interpreted by a modern bard, Joss Whedon. The image of a party-ready and dive-ready Fran Kranz (Dollhouse, Cabin in the Woods) was originally seen on a mysterious website that first hinted at the existence of the production, and now it’s on the film’s newest poster.
Shakespeare’s comedy about the “merry war...
- 4/11/2013
- by Emily Rome
- EW - Inside Movies
After a successful run with Good Night Good Morning, Supermen of Malegaon and the much acclaimed Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron recently among many others, PVR Directors Rare next is a quirky romance drama 10 Ml Love releasing in theatres on 7th December.
Set against the backdrop of your everyday world, 10Ml Love – a contemporary adaptation of William Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ is a light hearted romantic comedy concerning the tribulations of a love quadrangle during a night of madness. One wedding, three couples, a whole lot of love, lust and desire make for a heady mix, but add to that a dash of magic potion and an enthralling rendition of the Ramlila and you have a revelation on your hands!
Directed by Sharat Katariya (Co-writer and dialogues for Bheja Fry), the film has an interesting mix of cast ranging from Rajat Kapoor (Corporate, Bheja Fry), Tisca Chopra (Taare Zameen Par...
Set against the backdrop of your everyday world, 10Ml Love – a contemporary adaptation of William Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ is a light hearted romantic comedy concerning the tribulations of a love quadrangle during a night of madness. One wedding, three couples, a whole lot of love, lust and desire make for a heady mix, but add to that a dash of magic potion and an enthralling rendition of the Ramlila and you have a revelation on your hands!
Directed by Sharat Katariya (Co-writer and dialogues for Bheja Fry), the film has an interesting mix of cast ranging from Rajat Kapoor (Corporate, Bheja Fry), Tisca Chopra (Taare Zameen Par...
- 11/23/2012
- by Pooja Rao
- Bollyspice
I'm intrigued by this new TV mini-series that started airing on South Africa's SABC1 last week Thursday night. Titled Dream World, it's a contemporary all-black South African adaptation of William Shakespeare‘s A Midsummer Nights Dream, and follows 4 young lovers as they face several comedic challenges on their way to finding true love. This dance of desire will be familiar to the youthful South Africa, and hopefully the series will give them pause for thought. Who amongst them hasn’t been swept along by infatuation? And who hasn’t felt as if they’ve stepped into a dream? Dream World takes place in a predominantly artificial world located...
- 10/15/2012
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Three things to check out on TV tonight.
Jane Espenson's latest episode of Once Upon a Time, "Skin Deep," airs tonight at 8 pm Et. Jane will do a live Q&A on Twitter during the West Coast airing. From ABC's press release:
Fans of ABC's hit drama, "Once Upon a Time" will be able to submit questions and receive real-time responses from writer/consulting producer Jane Espenson, who will be up on Twitter at @JaneEspenson during the West Coast broadcast of the show on Sunday, February 12 from 8:00-9:00 p.m., Pt. Espenson will also offer commentary and behind-the-scenes anecdotes about working on the show.
On Sunday's episode, "Skin Deep" - which was written by Espenson -- after Mr. Gold's house is robbed, Emma keeps a close eye on him when it looks like he wants to track down the criminal and dole out some vigilante justice as payback,...
Jane Espenson's latest episode of Once Upon a Time, "Skin Deep," airs tonight at 8 pm Et. Jane will do a live Q&A on Twitter during the West Coast airing. From ABC's press release:
Fans of ABC's hit drama, "Once Upon a Time" will be able to submit questions and receive real-time responses from writer/consulting producer Jane Espenson, who will be up on Twitter at @JaneEspenson during the West Coast broadcast of the show on Sunday, February 12 from 8:00-9:00 p.m., Pt. Espenson will also offer commentary and behind-the-scenes anecdotes about working on the show.
On Sunday's episode, "Skin Deep" - which was written by Espenson -- after Mr. Gold's house is robbed, Emma keeps a close eye on him when it looks like he wants to track down the criminal and dole out some vigilante justice as payback,...
- 2/13/2012
- by fanshawe
- CapricaTV
World-scale destruction director Roland Emmerich’s latest, Anonymous, is a disaster movie of a different kind. One that swaps explosions for theatrics, aliens for lords, and heroic one-liners for the smooth eloquence of iambic pentameter.
But the nonsense remains. Emmerich’s newest bane on storytelling expands upon a theory, a myth really, that William Shakespeare was not the true author of his exalted works. That Shakespeare was really illiterate, and a foolish lush who snatched credit and crowd surfed. That a mere child wrote the classic comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream to impress a young Queen Elizabeth. That the plays and sonnets we have read and studied since grade school were authored, often for political reasons, by Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford.
It’s silly, and Emmerich’s firm sincerity and oblique style don’t help sell his personal belief.
The film is set in 16th Century,...
But the nonsense remains. Emmerich’s newest bane on storytelling expands upon a theory, a myth really, that William Shakespeare was not the true author of his exalted works. That Shakespeare was really illiterate, and a foolish lush who snatched credit and crowd surfed. That a mere child wrote the classic comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream to impress a young Queen Elizabeth. That the plays and sonnets we have read and studied since grade school were authored, often for political reasons, by Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford.
It’s silly, and Emmerich’s firm sincerity and oblique style don’t help sell his personal belief.
The film is set in 16th Century,...
- 10/28/2011
- by Jeff Leins
- newsinfilm.com
Rating: 1.0/5.0
Chicago – Roland Emmerich has been commonly mocked for his larger-than-life blockbusters that include “Godzilla,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” and “2012.” I would rather sit through a marathon of all three of those works back-to-back-to-back than suffer through “Anonymous” one more time. While those movies have undeniable flaws, they do so on a grand scale common with the words guilty pleasure. There’s absolutely nothing pleasurable about this self-serious and remarkably stupid drama.
Don’t get me wrong and assume that because I’m a writer and a former English major that I consider the subject matter of “Anonymous” to be hallowed ground. In fact, the opposite is true. There could have been a raucous, enjoyable period piece borne from the conspiracy theory that suggests that perhaps William Shakespeare didn’t write his famous works of art. I have no significant problem with the plot of “Anonymous” (although it is remarkably...
Chicago – Roland Emmerich has been commonly mocked for his larger-than-life blockbusters that include “Godzilla,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” and “2012.” I would rather sit through a marathon of all three of those works back-to-back-to-back than suffer through “Anonymous” one more time. While those movies have undeniable flaws, they do so on a grand scale common with the words guilty pleasure. There’s absolutely nothing pleasurable about this self-serious and remarkably stupid drama.
Don’t get me wrong and assume that because I’m a writer and a former English major that I consider the subject matter of “Anonymous” to be hallowed ground. In fact, the opposite is true. There could have been a raucous, enjoyable period piece borne from the conspiracy theory that suggests that perhaps William Shakespeare didn’t write his famous works of art. I have no significant problem with the plot of “Anonymous” (although it is remarkably...
- 10/28/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
HollywoodNews.com: Alan Cumming, Garret Dillahunt, and Frances Fisher star in the poignant period drama Any Day Now, written, produced and directed by filmmaker Travis Fine (The Space Between). The film recently completed principal photography in Los Angeles and is currently in post-production. Produced by Kristine Hostetter Fine (The Space Between) and Chip Hourihan (Frozen River), the film is executive produced by Anne O’Shea (The Kids Are Alright) and Maxine Makover (The Space Between.
Set in the 1970s and inspired by a true story, the film chronicles a gay couple who take in a teenage boy with Down Syndrome who has been abandoned by his drug addicted mother. As the teen discovers the strong bonds of family for the first time in his life, disapproving authorities step in to tear the boy from the only stable environment he has ever known. As the gay men fight to adopt this extraordinary special needs child,...
Set in the 1970s and inspired by a true story, the film chronicles a gay couple who take in a teenage boy with Down Syndrome who has been abandoned by his drug addicted mother. As the teen discovers the strong bonds of family for the first time in his life, disapproving authorities step in to tear the boy from the only stable environment he has ever known. As the gay men fight to adopt this extraordinary special needs child,...
- 9/21/2011
- by Josh Abraham
- Hollywoodnews.com
Every Sunday, Film School Rejects presents a film that was made before you were born and tells you why you should like it. This week, Old Ass Movies presents the story of James Cagney turning into a donkey, a jealous king who wants to steal an Indian child, an amateur acting troupe trying to present the story of a wall, and a group of young lovers who need a little help from the woodland narcotics to realize their undying emotions for each other. Plus, as a bonus, little Mickey Rooney cackles like a drunken hyena to no one in particular. It’s Shakespeare, so you know it’s smart. A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935) Directed by: William Dieterle and Max Reinhardt Starring: Dick Powell, Ross Alexander, Olivia de Haviland, Jean Muir, Anita Louise, Mickey Rooney and James Cagney If there’s one piece of classic literature that you’re forced to read during high school, it...
- 1/9/2011
- by Cole Abaius
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Why aren’t there more good gay movies? We hear this complaint at AfterElton.com a lot, and we’ve even made it a few times ourselves (although we think the results of this poll prove that there are more good movies than many of us think!).
There are surely many reasons why more “mainstream” movies don’t include gay or bisexual themes, but no doubt one of them is heterosexual discomfort – not just discomfort on the part of audiences and network executives, but also discomfort on the part of critics and others to champion these films.
This is where our poll of AfterElton.com readers on the 50 Greatest Gay Movies comes in. We can think of no better way to encourage the creation of more good gay movies than to praise and support the existence of past good gay movies!
How does this list compare to our previous poll?...
There are surely many reasons why more “mainstream” movies don’t include gay or bisexual themes, but no doubt one of them is heterosexual discomfort – not just discomfort on the part of audiences and network executives, but also discomfort on the part of critics and others to champion these films.
This is where our poll of AfterElton.com readers on the 50 Greatest Gay Movies comes in. We can think of no better way to encourage the creation of more good gay movies than to praise and support the existence of past good gay movies!
How does this list compare to our previous poll?...
- 9/14/2009
- by Brent Hartinger
- The Backlot
When a gay teen faces constant bullying, the last thing he wants is to play the faerie Puck in his senior class’s production of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. His drama teacher insists, though, sending him on a musical odyssey...
Visit ThisWeekInTexas.Com to read the rest of my review of Were the World Mine. Tanner Cohen of the electronic pop duo The Guts stars in this musical fantasy about a gay teen who responds to homophobic bullying by using a magic spell to turn much of his town gay. The award-winning film arrives on DVD June 9.
Were the World Mine at Wikipedia.
Duane Simolke wrote the gay-themed novel Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure.
Visit ThisWeekInTexas.Com to read the rest of my review of Were the World Mine. Tanner Cohen of the electronic pop duo The Guts stars in this musical fantasy about a gay teen who responds to homophobic bullying by using a magic spell to turn much of his town gay. The award-winning film arrives on DVD June 9.
Were the World Mine at Wikipedia.
Duane Simolke wrote the gay-themed novel Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure.
- 5/4/2009
- doorQ.com
obsession: the plays of William Shakespeare (cuz he never goes out of style) boyfriend: Peter Davison in The Last Detective at the moment (but pretty much forever in anything) psyched: absolutely nothing (the next month or so is a movie wasteland) dreading: Knowing (see above about cinematic wastelands) enemy: everyone responsible for Fired Up! (for trying to pass off such disgusting oafs as heroes) I consider my current obsession with Shakespeare movie-related, not only because so many of his plays have ended up on the big screen. He was the consummate teller of stories in motion, full of action and intrigue and murder and romance. He’d have loved movies, and he probably would have written some great ones. Very soon -- I promise -- I’ll share my reactions to the Royal Shakespeare Company’s productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Taming of the Shrew that...
- 3/4/2009
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
For Equity contract information, refer to our complete listings online at www.backstage.com/spotlight. If your company is not listed but you would like to be included in next year's list, contact Laura A. Butler, Research Editor, at Back Stage, at lbutler@backstage.com.California La Jolla Playhouse P.O. Box 12039 La Jolla, CA 92039 (858) 550-1070, fax (858) 550-1075 www.lajollaplayhouse.org Christopher Ashley, artistic director Casting: Casts productions in-house and through independent casting directors by invitation only. Send pix & resumes to above address, Attn: Casting. See website for more information. Internships available. Season: Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre: Continuous City (March 19 - 22). Future schedule Tba. Marin Shakespeare Company P.O. Box 4053 San Rafael, CA 94913 (415) 499-4485, fax (415) 499-1492 management@marinshakespeare.org www.marinshakespeare.org Robert S. Currier, artistic director Casting: Casts productions in-house. Send pix & resumes to: Robert Currier. Please see website for specific audition dates and information. Internships and/or apprenticeships available.
- 2/26/2009
- backstage.com
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