New titles available to stream with your Amazon Prime membership next month include Season 5 of BBC’s “Orphan Black,” and several new Amazon Original series, including “Last Flag Flying,” “Picnic at Hanging Rock,” and “Diablo Guardian.”
Movies available include 2017’s “Baywatch,” “A.I. Artificial Intelligence,” and “Rocky” I through V. Beginning May 1, you’ll also be able to rent “Annihilation,” “12 Strong,” James Corden’s “Peter Rabbit” and “Fifty Shades Freed.”
See the full list below. For our May Hulu roundup, head over here.
Also Read: 'Westworld' Creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy's New Sci-Fi Series 'The Peripheral' Lands at Amazon
Available May 1
3 Ways to Get a Husband (2009)
40 Days and 40 Nights (2002)
A Very Brady Sequel (1996)
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
Baby Boom (1987)
Back to School (1986)
Bad News Bears (1976)
Barefoot (2014)
Beyond Borders (2003)
Blame (2017)
Brother Nature (2016)
Bull Durham (1988)
Cool World (1992)
Cyborg (1989)
Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Dr. No (1962)
Eight Men Out (1988)
Elizabethtown (2005)
Evolution (2001)
Foxfire (1996)
Frailty (2001)
From Russia with Love (1964)
Gator (1976)
Ghost Town (2008)
Goat (2016)
Goldfinger (1964)
Holy Air (2017)
Hot Boyz (2000)
Immigration Tango (2011)
Insomnia (2002)
Iron Eagle IV: On the Attack (1999)
Kalifornia (1993)
Live and Let Die (1973)
Love Is A Gun (1994)
Also Read: Amazon in Talks to Develop Series About Young Moammar Gadhafi's Rise to Power in Libya
Manhunter (1986)
Men with Brooms (2002)
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
Never Say Never Again (1983)
New Rose Hotel (1999)
Ninja Masters (2009)
Octopussy (1983)
Outcast (2014)
Perfect Score (2004)
Perfume: Story of a Murderer (2006)
Psychopaths (2017)
Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown (1977)
Rocky (1976)
Rocky II (1979)
Rocky III (1982)
Rocky IV (1985)
Rocky V (1990)
Sabrina (1995)
Saturday Church (2017)
School Ties (1992)
Set Up (2011)
Starting Out in the Evening (2007)
Strategic Air Command (1955)
The Benchwarmers (2006)
The Benefactor (2015)
The Box (2007)
The Brady Bunch Movie (1995)
The Counterfeit Traitor (1962)
The Crow (1994)
The Elephant Man (1980)
The Golden Compass (2007)
The Hangman (1959)
The House I Live In (2013)
The Hurt Locker (2008)
The Last Castle (2001)
Also Read: Amazon Studios Shakes Up Under Jennifer Salke: Albert Cheng Named Co-Head of TV
The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
The Saint (1997)
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
Thief (1981)
Thirst Street (2017)
Thunderball (1965)
Twisted (2004)
Untamed Heart (1993)
Wild Thornberrys (2002)
Wish Upon a Star (1996)
Wonder Boys (2000)
You Only Live Twice (1967)
Aristocrats: Limited Series
Banished: Limited Series
Charles II – The Power and The Passion: Limited Series
Daniel Deronda: Limited Series
David Copperfield: Limited Series
Desperate Romantics: Limited Series
Ivanhoe: Limited Series
Jane Eyre (1983): Limited Series
Jane Erye (2006): Limited Series
Life in Squares: Limited Series
Little Dorrit: Limited Series
Lorna Doone: Limited Series
Love in A Cold Climate: Limited Series
Mansfield Park: Limited Series
Martin Chuzzlewit: Limited Series
Middlemarch: Limited Series
Oliver Twist (1985): Limited Series
Oliver Twist (2007): Limited Series
Our Mutual Friend: Limited Series
Pride and Prejudice: Limited Series
Sense and Sensibility (1981): Limited Series
Sense and Sensibility (2008): Limited Series
Sinbad: Limited Series
Tess of the D’Urbervilles: Limited Series
The Buccaneers: Limited Series
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Limited Series
The Lost World: Limited Series
The Office: Limited Series
The Pickwick Papers: Limited Series
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall: Limited Series
The Way We Live Now: Limited Series
Tom Jones: Limited Series
Vanity Fair (1998): Limited Series
Available May 4
Last Flag Flying
Available May 5
Warrior (2011)
Diablo Guardian (Prime Original series), Season 1
Available May 11
Rocky & Bullwinkle (Prime Original series), Season 1
Available May 12
Baywatch (2017)
Still Mine (2012)
Orphan Black, Season 5
Available May 15
How to Be a Latin Lover (2017)
Available May 18
You Are Wanted (Prime Original series), Season 2
Available May 19
Beatriz at Dinner (2017)
Shooters (2003)
Available May 22
Dino Dana (Prime Original series), Season 2
Available May 23
Beast of Burden (2018)
Available May 25
Picnic at Hanging Rock (Prime Original series), Season 1
Available May 27
Just Getting Started (2017)
The Wedding Plan (2016)
Available May 29
Howards End, Season 1
Read original story Here’s What You Can Stream With Your Amazon Prime Membership in May At TheWrap...
Movies available include 2017’s “Baywatch,” “A.I. Artificial Intelligence,” and “Rocky” I through V. Beginning May 1, you’ll also be able to rent “Annihilation,” “12 Strong,” James Corden’s “Peter Rabbit” and “Fifty Shades Freed.”
See the full list below. For our May Hulu roundup, head over here.
Also Read: 'Westworld' Creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy's New Sci-Fi Series 'The Peripheral' Lands at Amazon
Available May 1
3 Ways to Get a Husband (2009)
40 Days and 40 Nights (2002)
A Very Brady Sequel (1996)
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
Baby Boom (1987)
Back to School (1986)
Bad News Bears (1976)
Barefoot (2014)
Beyond Borders (2003)
Blame (2017)
Brother Nature (2016)
Bull Durham (1988)
Cool World (1992)
Cyborg (1989)
Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Dr. No (1962)
Eight Men Out (1988)
Elizabethtown (2005)
Evolution (2001)
Foxfire (1996)
Frailty (2001)
From Russia with Love (1964)
Gator (1976)
Ghost Town (2008)
Goat (2016)
Goldfinger (1964)
Holy Air (2017)
Hot Boyz (2000)
Immigration Tango (2011)
Insomnia (2002)
Iron Eagle IV: On the Attack (1999)
Kalifornia (1993)
Live and Let Die (1973)
Love Is A Gun (1994)
Also Read: Amazon in Talks to Develop Series About Young Moammar Gadhafi's Rise to Power in Libya
Manhunter (1986)
Men with Brooms (2002)
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
Never Say Never Again (1983)
New Rose Hotel (1999)
Ninja Masters (2009)
Octopussy (1983)
Outcast (2014)
Perfect Score (2004)
Perfume: Story of a Murderer (2006)
Psychopaths (2017)
Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown (1977)
Rocky (1976)
Rocky II (1979)
Rocky III (1982)
Rocky IV (1985)
Rocky V (1990)
Sabrina (1995)
Saturday Church (2017)
School Ties (1992)
Set Up (2011)
Starting Out in the Evening (2007)
Strategic Air Command (1955)
The Benchwarmers (2006)
The Benefactor (2015)
The Box (2007)
The Brady Bunch Movie (1995)
The Counterfeit Traitor (1962)
The Crow (1994)
The Elephant Man (1980)
The Golden Compass (2007)
The Hangman (1959)
The House I Live In (2013)
The Hurt Locker (2008)
The Last Castle (2001)
Also Read: Amazon Studios Shakes Up Under Jennifer Salke: Albert Cheng Named Co-Head of TV
The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
The Saint (1997)
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
Thief (1981)
Thirst Street (2017)
Thunderball (1965)
Twisted (2004)
Untamed Heart (1993)
Wild Thornberrys (2002)
Wish Upon a Star (1996)
Wonder Boys (2000)
You Only Live Twice (1967)
Aristocrats: Limited Series
Banished: Limited Series
Charles II – The Power and The Passion: Limited Series
Daniel Deronda: Limited Series
David Copperfield: Limited Series
Desperate Romantics: Limited Series
Ivanhoe: Limited Series
Jane Eyre (1983): Limited Series
Jane Erye (2006): Limited Series
Life in Squares: Limited Series
Little Dorrit: Limited Series
Lorna Doone: Limited Series
Love in A Cold Climate: Limited Series
Mansfield Park: Limited Series
Martin Chuzzlewit: Limited Series
Middlemarch: Limited Series
Oliver Twist (1985): Limited Series
Oliver Twist (2007): Limited Series
Our Mutual Friend: Limited Series
Pride and Prejudice: Limited Series
Sense and Sensibility (1981): Limited Series
Sense and Sensibility (2008): Limited Series
Sinbad: Limited Series
Tess of the D’Urbervilles: Limited Series
The Buccaneers: Limited Series
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Limited Series
The Lost World: Limited Series
The Office: Limited Series
The Pickwick Papers: Limited Series
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall: Limited Series
The Way We Live Now: Limited Series
Tom Jones: Limited Series
Vanity Fair (1998): Limited Series
Available May 4
Last Flag Flying
Available May 5
Warrior (2011)
Diablo Guardian (Prime Original series), Season 1
Available May 11
Rocky & Bullwinkle (Prime Original series), Season 1
Available May 12
Baywatch (2017)
Still Mine (2012)
Orphan Black, Season 5
Available May 15
How to Be a Latin Lover (2017)
Available May 18
You Are Wanted (Prime Original series), Season 2
Available May 19
Beatriz at Dinner (2017)
Shooters (2003)
Available May 22
Dino Dana (Prime Original series), Season 2
Available May 23
Beast of Burden (2018)
Available May 25
Picnic at Hanging Rock (Prime Original series), Season 1
Available May 27
Just Getting Started (2017)
The Wedding Plan (2016)
Available May 29
Howards End, Season 1
Read original story Here’s What You Can Stream With Your Amazon Prime Membership in May At TheWrap...
- 4/17/2018
- by Ashley Boucher
- The Wrap
“Breakable You” is like a kinder gentler version of Woody Allen’s “Crime and Misdemeanors”: a rumination on human fallibility and corruption with lower stakes but a lot more sexual heat in its heart. Freely adapted by writer-director Andrew Wagner (“Starting Out in the Evening”) and co-screenwriter Fred Parnes from Brian Morton’s well-reviewed novel, “Breakable You” is the story of the Weller family, a cluster of neurotic New Yorkers who live outwardly charmed but inwardly tempestuous lives. “Matriarch” is perhaps the wrong word for Holly Hunter’s lithe and whippet-thin Eleanor, a character notably more obese in the book.
- 1/13/2017
- by Ray Greene
- The Wrap
John Carney at the Spirit AwardsLynn Lee revisits the 2007 Sundance hit Once as the current festival wraps up.
I was at Sundance in 2007—the only time I’ve ever been. It was one of the highlights of my life as a moviegoer, albeit more for the experience than the actual movies. While I enjoyed most of the films I saw there, few really stuck with me beyond the festival, with the exception of the lovely character study Starting Out in the Evening (which really should have gotten Frank Langella an Oscar nomination).
Somehow, I missed the true breakout success of Sundance that year—the low-budget Irish musical Once, which won the festival’s World Cinema Audience Award. It went on to become a critical darling, a sleeper indie hit, and even an Oscar winner for Best Original Song. How could I have bypassed being one of the first in the U.
I was at Sundance in 2007—the only time I’ve ever been. It was one of the highlights of my life as a moviegoer, albeit more for the experience than the actual movies. While I enjoyed most of the films I saw there, few really stuck with me beyond the festival, with the exception of the lovely character study Starting Out in the Evening (which really should have gotten Frank Langella an Oscar nomination).
Somehow, I missed the true breakout success of Sundance that year—the low-budget Irish musical Once, which won the festival’s World Cinema Audience Award. It went on to become a critical darling, a sleeper indie hit, and even an Oscar winner for Best Original Song. How could I have bypassed being one of the first in the U.
- 1/30/2016
- by Lynn Lee
- FilmExperience
The 87th Academy Award nominations for 2015 were recently released on January 15, 2015 representing the excellence in film for the previous year. Naturally there was the standard controversy regarding those films and performances that got unfairly overlooked. Unfortunately, the perceived snubs do happen from year to year so this goes along with the territory. Nevertheless, the lucky selections that do manage to grab Oscar’s attention are understandably grateful and psyched to see if the golden statuette will in fact go home with them on the film industry’s biggest and most elegant evening.
With the obvious crankiness of Oscar omissions aside and the injustices that go with these “reel” deals has anyone ever considered the Academy Award nominees that are surprisingly recognized that could have gone unnoticed for whatever reasoning? After all there are films and exceptional performances that get lost in the shuffle but manage to get the accolades it...
With the obvious crankiness of Oscar omissions aside and the injustices that go with these “reel” deals has anyone ever considered the Academy Award nominees that are surprisingly recognized that could have gone unnoticed for whatever reasoning? After all there are films and exceptional performances that get lost in the shuffle but manage to get the accolades it...
- 1/25/2015
- by Frank Ochieng
- SoundOnSight
The contradiction in film criticism certainly does not go unnoticed. Sure, there are countless films that are praised and applauded for its excellence in quality and creativity. Unfortunately, the overlooked cinema fare that deserves just as much attention (more so than some of the recognized critically-acclaimed selections on an impressive selection of critics’ and moviegoers’ radars) get lost in the proverbial shuffle. It is simply the professional hazard of the movie industry because not every well-received and standout gem will get its rightful due come major awards season in Hollywood.
Just how many times have we as movie reviewers and/or movie fans become indignant when we realized that the special piece of entertainment we personally and critically cherished came up short and empty in expectations? Again, every smart kid in the classroom cannot get a gold star as we remain a competitive society in the world of celluloid superiority.
Just how many times have we as movie reviewers and/or movie fans become indignant when we realized that the special piece of entertainment we personally and critically cherished came up short and empty in expectations? Again, every smart kid in the classroom cannot get a gold star as we remain a competitive society in the world of celluloid superiority.
- 7/7/2014
- by Frank Ochieng
- SoundOnSight
When grassroots production company InDigEnt (Independent Digital Entertainment) quietly shut down in 2006, it marked the end of an era that never really got going. There was a lot of talk about digital filmmaking around the turn of the last century, but this was more from the point of skepticism directed at a burgeoning new means of shooting, not an embrace of new cinematic possibilities. Inexpensive and boundary-pushing indies, then, were the only projects decisively making use of the new portable technologies out of a mix of economic necessity and aesthetic choice. As a result, for a few years at the end of the ‘90s and the very beginning of the 2000s, a few movies were made that truly look like nothing we’ve seen before or since. InDigEnt was founded in 1999 under the inspiration of the Dogme 95 and the guerrilla, no-budget pioneering of John Cassavetes. That the name of the company’s pseudo-acronym also means “poor” seems...
- 2/11/2014
- by Landon Palmer
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
As a young man Frank Langella worked with Laurence Olivier, partied with Noël Coward and seduced Rita Hayworth. Then his career fell apart. He tells Simon Hattenstone about losing everything and what he's learned from King Lear
It's all about the crown, Frank Langella says: are you prepared to lose it, and if so can you cope? The great American actor is preparing to play King Lear. At 75, he says he's still too young – Lear is in his mid-80s - but Langella knows plenty about losing his crown.
As a young man, he was gorgeous – lithe, snake-hipped, l'homme fatal. He played fabulously seductive, often cruel, characters. His 1970s Dracula was pure sex. In Diary of a Mad Housewife, his priapic author has come-to-bed eyes, come-to-bed voice, come-to-bed everything. And his own life didn't seem far removed from the characters he played. He has been on intimate terms with many...
It's all about the crown, Frank Langella says: are you prepared to lose it, and if so can you cope? The great American actor is preparing to play King Lear. At 75, he says he's still too young – Lear is in his mid-80s - but Langella knows plenty about losing his crown.
As a young man, he was gorgeous – lithe, snake-hipped, l'homme fatal. He played fabulously seductive, often cruel, characters. His 1970s Dracula was pure sex. In Diary of a Mad Housewife, his priapic author has come-to-bed eyes, come-to-bed voice, come-to-bed everything. And his own life didn't seem far removed from the characters he played. He has been on intimate terms with many...
- 10/30/2013
- by Simon Hattenstone
- The Guardian - Film News
Alexa here. I just couldn't let the day pass without paying tribute to Frank Langella on his 75th birthday. He has always been one of my favorite actors; something about his unctuous classicism makes him appear to be a larger-than-life Caravaggio, and my gothic sensibilities have only truly been satisfied with his turn as Dracula. His work continues to intrigue; 2007's Starting Out in the Evening was a recent high point in a career that has spanned more than 50 years. Plus, he revealed himself to be quite the debauched dandy in his memoir Dropped Names, making him all the more endearing (read what Nathaniel had to say about it here; it really is a fun read).
I'm enough of a fan that I invested in an Edward Gorey-illustrated poster from his Broadway turn in Dracula, and I still hold on to my VHS copies of two of his early films.
I'm enough of a fan that I invested in an Edward Gorey-illustrated poster from his Broadway turn in Dracula, and I still hold on to my VHS copies of two of his early films.
- 1/1/2013
- by Alexa
- FilmExperience
"Special From Next Avenue"
By Leah Rozen
The veteran actor takes on aging, dementia and a droid butler in a new dystopian comedy
Frank Langella isn’t afraid to act his age.
The 74-year-old actor plays a gentleman of advancing years in "Robot & Frank," an endearing new comedy that opened in New York last weekend and will be playing to wider audiences across the country starting Friday. (To see when the film is coming to your town, click here.)
The movie is set in the not very distant future, when robot helpers along the lines of Rosie in "The Jetsons" or R2-D2 in "Star Wars" have become commonplace.
Langella’s character, also named Frank, is a retired cat burglar who spent time in jail and now lives alone in a small town not too far from New York. He keeps himself amused by flirting with the local librarian (Susan Sarandon...
By Leah Rozen
The veteran actor takes on aging, dementia and a droid butler in a new dystopian comedy
Frank Langella isn’t afraid to act his age.
The 74-year-old actor plays a gentleman of advancing years in "Robot & Frank," an endearing new comedy that opened in New York last weekend and will be playing to wider audiences across the country starting Friday. (To see when the film is coming to your town, click here.)
The movie is set in the not very distant future, when robot helpers along the lines of Rosie in "The Jetsons" or R2-D2 in "Star Wars" have become commonplace.
Langella’s character, also named Frank, is a retired cat burglar who spent time in jail and now lives alone in a small town not too far from New York. He keeps himself amused by flirting with the local librarian (Susan Sarandon...
- 8/24/2012
- by Next Avenue
- Huffington Post
Chicago – Frank’s world is fading before his eyes. With his wife gone and his children all grown up, Frank lives a reclusive existence, though he doesn’t seem to be in particular need of company. His memory may be fading, but his instincts as a retired cat burglar are still ever-present. He can’t helping stuffing a few soap figurines into his pockets while casually browsing through a store.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
This is a plum role for Frank Langella, the wonderfully understated actor capable of projecting a sly intelligence even in his most delusional state. There are echoes here of Leonard Schiller, the aging novelist Langella played in 2007’s woefully overlooked treasure, “Starting Out in the Evening,” in which he found enriching companionship in the unlikeliest of forms. Yet in Jake Schreier’s Sundance prizewinner, “Robot & Frank,” Langella is paired with a far more unusual screen partner.
Read Matt Fagerholm...
Rating: 4.0/5.0
This is a plum role for Frank Langella, the wonderfully understated actor capable of projecting a sly intelligence even in his most delusional state. There are echoes here of Leonard Schiller, the aging novelist Langella played in 2007’s woefully overlooked treasure, “Starting Out in the Evening,” in which he found enriching companionship in the unlikeliest of forms. Yet in Jake Schreier’s Sundance prizewinner, “Robot & Frank,” Langella is paired with a far more unusual screen partner.
Read Matt Fagerholm...
- 8/24/2012
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
By Harvey Chartrand
Frank Langella played an aging writer in Starting Out in the Evening (2007). Who would have figured this for typecasting?
In his superb memoir, Dropped Names: Famous Men and Women As I Knew Them (HarperCollins), Langella reveals that he is an incomparable memoirist and storyteller, recalling his encounters with scores of luminaries from the world of entertainment in a career spanning half a century. All of these luminaries are deceased and the cast of characters is listed “by order of disappearance”. Just as well, as many of the revelations are quite shocking.
Langella must be the most sociable and congenial actor on the planet, as the busyness of his social and professional lives and the breadth and depth of his friendships, romantic liaisons and acquaintances are very impressive indeed. He met Marilyn Monroe in 1953. She stepped out of a limousine and said “hi” to the adolescent from Bayonne,...
Frank Langella played an aging writer in Starting Out in the Evening (2007). Who would have figured this for typecasting?
In his superb memoir, Dropped Names: Famous Men and Women As I Knew Them (HarperCollins), Langella reveals that he is an incomparable memoirist and storyteller, recalling his encounters with scores of luminaries from the world of entertainment in a career spanning half a century. All of these luminaries are deceased and the cast of characters is listed “by order of disappearance”. Just as well, as many of the revelations are quite shocking.
Langella must be the most sociable and congenial actor on the planet, as the busyness of his social and professional lives and the breadth and depth of his friendships, romantic liaisons and acquaintances are very impressive indeed. He met Marilyn Monroe in 1953. She stepped out of a limousine and said “hi” to the adolescent from Bayonne,...
- 7/13/2012
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Robot and Frank
Directed by Jack Schreier
Screenplay by Christopher D. Ford
2012, USA
Director Jake Schreier’s Robot and Frank is a tale set sometime in the near future when robots will be at our beck and call for menial tasks or even to watch over the elderly as they become no longer fit to be on their own. Frank Langella (seasoned thespian and recently seen in The Box and Starting Out in the Evening) plays a man unable to let go of his glory years as a suave cat burglar. In and out of prison for most of his life, he was an absent father focused on short term gains from jewelry heists. Now his children (James Marsden, Liv Tyler) are grown and have become independent people with legitimate careers that carry them away from their estranged father. Deteriorating from old age, Frank’s isolating situation threatens to depress him into an early grave.
Directed by Jack Schreier
Screenplay by Christopher D. Ford
2012, USA
Director Jake Schreier’s Robot and Frank is a tale set sometime in the near future when robots will be at our beck and call for menial tasks or even to watch over the elderly as they become no longer fit to be on their own. Frank Langella (seasoned thespian and recently seen in The Box and Starting Out in the Evening) plays a man unable to let go of his glory years as a suave cat burglar. In and out of prison for most of his life, he was an absent father focused on short term gains from jewelry heists. Now his children (James Marsden, Liv Tyler) are grown and have become independent people with legitimate careers that carry them away from their estranged father. Deteriorating from old age, Frank’s isolating situation threatens to depress him into an early grave.
- 2/4/2012
- by Lane Scarberry
- SoundOnSight
Here is a preview at the upcoming films being distributed by Roadside Attractions this year. They have some pretty fantastic things lined up. Take a peek!
Project Nim
In Theatres June 10th
From the Oscar-winning team behind Man On Wire comes the story of Nim, the chimpanzee who in the 1970s became the focus of a landmark experiment which aimed to show that an ape could learn to communicate with language if raised and nurtured like a human child. Following Nim’s extraordinary journey through human society, and the enduring impact he makes on the people he meets along the way, the film is an unflinching and unsentimental biography of an animal we tried to make human. What we learn about his true nature – and indeed our own . is comic, revealing and profoundly unsettling.
The Future
In Theatres July 29th
The Future tells the story of a thirty-something couple who,...
Project Nim
In Theatres June 10th
From the Oscar-winning team behind Man On Wire comes the story of Nim, the chimpanzee who in the 1970s became the focus of a landmark experiment which aimed to show that an ape could learn to communicate with language if raised and nurtured like a human child. Following Nim’s extraordinary journey through human society, and the enduring impact he makes on the people he meets along the way, the film is an unflinching and unsentimental biography of an animal we tried to make human. What we learn about his true nature – and indeed our own . is comic, revealing and profoundly unsettling.
The Future
In Theatres July 29th
The Future tells the story of a thirty-something couple who,...
- 5/16/2011
- by Melissa Howland
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Visionary film-maker at the forefront of American cinema's digital revolution
The director and producer Gary Winick, who has died of brain cancer aged 49, was at the forefront of American cinema's adoption of digital video (Dv), along with more high-profile names such as Steven Soderbergh and David Fincher. Winick believed that the discreet, lightweight equipment involved, and the flexibility it afforded film-makers, could lead to more direct and emotionally authentic movies, citing "the intimacy that occurs with the actors because of the small cameras". His own work, notably the 2002 coming-of-age story Tadpole, provided some persuasive evidence. His Dv-oriented production company, InDigEnt (Indpendent Digital Entertainment), gave others the funds and encouragement to experiment for themselves. While he insisted on preparation and professionalism ("Don't think that going digital means you can just 'wing it'," he advised newcomers), spontaneity lay at the heart of his approach: "One of the things I always say is:...
The director and producer Gary Winick, who has died of brain cancer aged 49, was at the forefront of American cinema's adoption of digital video (Dv), along with more high-profile names such as Steven Soderbergh and David Fincher. Winick believed that the discreet, lightweight equipment involved, and the flexibility it afforded film-makers, could lead to more direct and emotionally authentic movies, citing "the intimacy that occurs with the actors because of the small cameras". His own work, notably the 2002 coming-of-age story Tadpole, provided some persuasive evidence. His Dv-oriented production company, InDigEnt (Indpendent Digital Entertainment), gave others the funds and encouragement to experiment for themselves. While he insisted on preparation and professionalism ("Don't think that going digital means you can just 'wing it'," he advised newcomers), spontaneity lay at the heart of his approach: "One of the things I always say is:...
- 3/3/2011
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
Director and producer Gary Winick, a friend and mentor to many in the independent film community, died Sunday afternoon in New York at the age of 49. The cause was brain cancer, a friend told Indiewire.
As the comments in that Indiewire piece — “an amazing mentor,” “a generous visionary,” “one of the finest human beings in our industry”— attest, Winick was a rare soul in the world of independent film. He was a smart, compassionate and truly giving person, and, even as his Hollywood career took off, he never forgot his roots. While he was crafting smart and heartfelt mainstream movies, he continued to advise, nurture and be a resource to a younger community of filmmakers who were still awaiting their own breaks.
Winick’s films include the tough and nuanced addiction drama Sweet Nothing, with Michael Imperioli and Mira Sorvino; the witty and improbably charming Tadpole, with Aaron Stanford, Sigourney Weaver...
As the comments in that Indiewire piece — “an amazing mentor,” “a generous visionary,” “one of the finest human beings in our industry”— attest, Winick was a rare soul in the world of independent film. He was a smart, compassionate and truly giving person, and, even as his Hollywood career took off, he never forgot his roots. While he was crafting smart and heartfelt mainstream movies, he continued to advise, nurture and be a resource to a younger community of filmmakers who were still awaiting their own breaks.
Winick’s films include the tough and nuanced addiction drama Sweet Nothing, with Michael Imperioli and Mira Sorvino; the witty and improbably charming Tadpole, with Aaron Stanford, Sigourney Weaver...
- 3/2/2011
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Indie filmmaker Gary Winick died over the weekend after losing a bout with brain cancer. He was 49.
Winick first emerged as a director on the indie film scene in the 90's before selling 2002's "Tadpole" to Miramax for $6 million at the 2002 Sundance film Festival.
He went on to helm several studio films including "Charlotte's Web," "13 Going on 30," "Bride Wars" and most recently "Letters to Juliet". He also produced such features as "Starting Out in the Evening," "Pieces of April," "Uptown Girls," "Lonesome Jim" and "Puccini for Beginners".
Winick first emerged as a director on the indie film scene in the 90's before selling 2002's "Tadpole" to Miramax for $6 million at the 2002 Sundance film Festival.
He went on to helm several studio films including "Charlotte's Web," "13 Going on 30," "Bride Wars" and most recently "Letters to Juliet". He also produced such features as "Starting Out in the Evening," "Pieces of April," "Uptown Girls," "Lonesome Jim" and "Puccini for Beginners".
- 2/28/2011
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
By Sean O’Connell
Hollywoodnews.com: Filmmaker Gary Winick passed away Sunday evening. He was 49.
“Gary Winick died today,” Matt Dentler Tweeted during the Oscar telecast. “Too late to make the Oscars tribute, but way too early. He leaves behind a legacy of supporting indie film and NYC.”
A producer and director, Winick crossed most people’s radars when he directed the indie hit “Tadpole” in 2002. He quickly moved to mainstream success with Jennifer Garner’s “13 Going on 30” and the live-action updated of “Charlotte’s Web.” His last picture was the romantic drama “Letters to Juliet,” with Amanda Seyfried.
“By luring the likes of Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke and then-budding auteurs like Rodrigo Garcia and Rebecca Miller, Winick gave digital filmmaking credibility at a time when it didn’t seem like the inevitability it is today and, better yet, produced 19 films between 2001 to 2007 that included gems such as Linklater’s ‘Tape,...
Hollywoodnews.com: Filmmaker Gary Winick passed away Sunday evening. He was 49.
“Gary Winick died today,” Matt Dentler Tweeted during the Oscar telecast. “Too late to make the Oscars tribute, but way too early. He leaves behind a legacy of supporting indie film and NYC.”
A producer and director, Winick crossed most people’s radars when he directed the indie hit “Tadpole” in 2002. He quickly moved to mainstream success with Jennifer Garner’s “13 Going on 30” and the live-action updated of “Charlotte’s Web.” His last picture was the romantic drama “Letters to Juliet,” with Amanda Seyfried.
“By luring the likes of Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke and then-budding auteurs like Rodrigo Garcia and Rebecca Miller, Winick gave digital filmmaking credibility at a time when it didn’t seem like the inevitability it is today and, better yet, produced 19 films between 2001 to 2007 that included gems such as Linklater’s ‘Tape,...
- 2/28/2011
- by Sean O'Connell
- Hollywoodnews.com
As Cinetic's Matt Dentler sadly noted in his tweet announcing the passing of Gary Winick last night, the timing was "too late to make the Oscar [in memorium] tribute, but way too early." In a cruel twist of fate, it wasn't unusual for the writer/director, who was set to turn 50 next month, to be ahead of his time.
Winick was of course a filmmaker first, leaving behind a dozen films that grew from small-scale indie dramas to crowdpleasers such as "Charlotte's Web" and "Letters to Juliet" that charmed audiences by the millions. Yet his most enduring legacy is likely the one he left on a smaller community, the thousands of filmmakers who have and will continue to benefit from his work as a digital pioneer at the turn of the century as the founder of InDigEnt, the collective he created with Cinetic's John Sloss and IFC Films [our corporate sibling] to make films for under $100,000 on digital video.
Winick was of course a filmmaker first, leaving behind a dozen films that grew from small-scale indie dramas to crowdpleasers such as "Charlotte's Web" and "Letters to Juliet" that charmed audiences by the millions. Yet his most enduring legacy is likely the one he left on a smaller community, the thousands of filmmakers who have and will continue to benefit from his work as a digital pioneer at the turn of the century as the founder of InDigEnt, the collective he created with Cinetic's John Sloss and IFC Films [our corporate sibling] to make films for under $100,000 on digital video.
- 2/28/2011
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
Frank Langella, Michael Sheen in Ron Howard's Frost/Nixon (top); Mickey Rourke in Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler (bottom) Colin Firth, Sandra Bullock, Christopher Plummer: Oscar Veterans 2009 Frank Langella Frank Langella was nominated in the Best Actor category for Ron Howard's Frost/Nixon. Langella lost to Sean Penn in Gus Van Sant's Milk. That was Langella's first Oscar nod in a film career that spanned 38 years, from his debut in Frank Perry's Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970) and Mel Brooks' The Twelve Chairs (also 1970) to George Clooney's Good Night and Good Luck. (2005) and Andrew Wagner's Starting Out in the Evening (2007). Mickey Rourke Mickey Rourke was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler. As mentioned above, Sean Penn was that year's winner for Milk. That was Rourke's first nomination. Rourke began his film career in a small supporting...
- 2/18/2011
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
Chicago – “A Dog Year” flew under everyone’s radar when it debuted on HBO in September 2009, mere months before its lead actor went on to win the Oscar for Best Actor. Now headlining two of the most anticipated films of the 2010 winter movie season, Jeff Bridges is bigger than ever. But will that make audiences any more interested in checking out this forgotten “Dog”?
It’s difficult to believe this gentle drama was originally televised on HBO, since it’s hardly up to the channel’s formidable quality standards. This picture would feel more at home on a “Lifetime for Men” channel featuring feel-good bromances, tear-jerking sports dramas, and the occasional dose of Betty White. With its overly polished cinematography and blatantly manipulative score, this project could’ve become a mawkish dud in the hands of a lesser actor.
DVD Rating: 3.0/5.0
Though Bridges has turned in decades of great work,...
It’s difficult to believe this gentle drama was originally televised on HBO, since it’s hardly up to the channel’s formidable quality standards. This picture would feel more at home on a “Lifetime for Men” channel featuring feel-good bromances, tear-jerking sports dramas, and the occasional dose of Betty White. With its overly polished cinematography and blatantly manipulative score, this project could’ve become a mawkish dud in the hands of a lesser actor.
DVD Rating: 3.0/5.0
Though Bridges has turned in decades of great work,...
- 12/8/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
No one knows movies like Leonard Maltin. As the decade winds down, we asked him to name his favorite hidden gems from the past 10 years. As he put things:
I've never been a fan of "10 best" lists; they're too arbitrary for my taste. And besides, if there were only 10 outstanding hidden gems over the past decade I wouldn't have nearly enough material to fill my weekly show, Secret's Out. So let's refer to these as "10 Really Good Movies of the PastDecade" or "10 Hidden Gems You Really Ought to See." That way I'll have less guilt about the titles I had to leave out!
Check out Maltin's full list here, and check back every weekday through Jan. 1 for another 10 movies that made the ReelzChannel 100.
Next Showing:
Link | Posted 12/21/2009 by reelz
Leonard Maltin | My Architect | The Dish | Brothers | The Band's Visit | Frozen River | Songcatcher | Dirty Pretty Things | Starting Out in the Evening...
I've never been a fan of "10 best" lists; they're too arbitrary for my taste. And besides, if there were only 10 outstanding hidden gems over the past decade I wouldn't have nearly enough material to fill my weekly show, Secret's Out. So let's refer to these as "10 Really Good Movies of the PastDecade" or "10 Hidden Gems You Really Ought to See." That way I'll have less guilt about the titles I had to leave out!
Check out Maltin's full list here, and check back every weekday through Jan. 1 for another 10 movies that made the ReelzChannel 100.
Next Showing:
Link | Posted 12/21/2009 by reelz
Leonard Maltin | My Architect | The Dish | Brothers | The Band's Visit | Frozen River | Songcatcher | Dirty Pretty Things | Starting Out in the Evening...
- 12/21/2009
- by reelz reelz
- Reelzchannel.com
'Frank Langella's role in The Box could easily win an Oscar for best 10-minute performance in a film with no other redeeming feature'
Frank Langella will be 72 on New Year's Day, and he is ready. I was going to add "at last". Because for decades he seemed an uneasy actor on screen. His stage reputation was beyond dispute, and people said that he looked the part – tall, dark and thirsty – when he did Dracula (1979). But he wasn't ready. Something in his lofty mien suggested that he scorned movies, or simply didn't know how to behave in them. But now … well, if the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences goes on changing its own rules the way they seem inclined, Langella's role in The Box could easily win an Oscar for best 10-minute performance in a film with no other redeeming feature.
The Box is opening, as they say,...
Frank Langella will be 72 on New Year's Day, and he is ready. I was going to add "at last". Because for decades he seemed an uneasy actor on screen. His stage reputation was beyond dispute, and people said that he looked the part – tall, dark and thirsty – when he did Dracula (1979). But he wasn't ready. Something in his lofty mien suggested that he scorned movies, or simply didn't know how to behave in them. But now … well, if the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences goes on changing its own rules the way they seem inclined, Langella's role in The Box could easily win an Oscar for best 10-minute performance in a film with no other redeeming feature.
The Box is opening, as they say,...
- 11/19/2009
- by David Thomson
- The Guardian - Film News
If you happen to be an aspiring director then this is for you. Film Independent, the non-profit devoted to artists and independent filmmaking is now accepting applications for its 9th Annual Director’s Lab, an eight-week course designed to help directors who are in the midst of prepping films. Sound good? Well, read on to get all the latest details on the program, how to apply and other goodies.
Film Independent Now Accepting Applications
For 2010 Directors Lab
* Deadline is October 5, 2009 -
Film Independent’s 9th Annual Directors Lab is an intensive eight-week incubator designed to help directors who are prepping their feature films, and is sponsored by Kodak.
Taking place in Los Angeles during the winter, the Lab assists directors with strong, original voices develop new narrative feature films, improve their craft, and advance their filmmaking careers in a nurturing, yet challenging creative environment.
To apply, please visit: http://filmindependent.
Film Independent Now Accepting Applications
For 2010 Directors Lab
* Deadline is October 5, 2009 -
Film Independent’s 9th Annual Directors Lab is an intensive eight-week incubator designed to help directors who are prepping their feature films, and is sponsored by Kodak.
Taking place in Los Angeles during the winter, the Lab assists directors with strong, original voices develop new narrative feature films, improve their craft, and advance their filmmaking careers in a nurturing, yet challenging creative environment.
To apply, please visit: http://filmindependent.
- 8/28/2009
- by Joe Gillis
- The Flickcast
There's a great piece in USA Today about Frank Langella, one of the most criminally underappreciated actors of the past thirty years. He's riding high on critical acclaim in his role as Richard Nixon in "Frost/Nixon," with talk of an Oscar nomination in the air. Langella's an actor who seemed on the verge of breaking out throughout much of the 1970s, best known for his star turn in the John Badham-directed version of "Dracula." If you ignore the fact that Dracula has Tony Manero's hair and none of his shirts button, the film is a fun piece of psychosexualized late-70s horror. By Langella's own admission he lanquished through much of the 1980s, in film roles that did little to showcase his talent, though he did find success on Broadway (he is a three-time Tony winner). His best known work in the 1980s is probably Skeletor in the...
- 12/29/2008
- by Chad
- Planetallstar.com
As the awards season begins, no less than four critics' groups announced their awards over the past two days, with the highest-profile group, the New York Film Critics Circle, giving its top honor to emerging favorite No Country for Old Men. Quickly turning into the movie to beat this season, the Coen brothers movie also won the Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem) awards from the Gotham critics. Top acting honors went to Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood) and Julie Christie (Away From Her), with the supporting actress award going to Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone), who is appearing on as many winners' lists as the Coen brothers. Other winners included The Lives of Others (Foreign Language Film), Persepolis (Animated Film), and No End in Sight (Documentary).
In Los Angeles on Sunday, there was blood -- and lots of it -- as Paul Thomas Anderson's historical epic There Will Be Blood swept the awards, taking Best Picture, Director, and Lead Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis) honors. Marion Cotillard of La Vie En Rose was named Best Actress, Vlad Ivanov of the Romanian abortion drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days was the surprise supporting actor winner, and -- yes -- Amy Ryan was named best supporting actress for Gone Baby Gone as well as Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days also won the foreign language film award, and Tamara Jenkins's The Savages received best screenplay honors. No End in Sight was the documentary winner, with Ratatouille and Persepolis sharing the animated feature award.
Also handing out awards on Sunday was the Boston Society of Film Critics, which jumped on the No Country for Old Men bandwagon, naming it their best picture and Javier Bardem as the supporting actor winner. While Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose) was the lead actress winner, the group threw a couple curveballs with awards to lead actor Frank Langella for the acclaimed but little-seen drama Starting Out in the Evening, and to director Julian Schnabel for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (which also won cinematography and foreign language film honors). Once again, Amy Ryan won the supporting actress award for Gone Baby Gone. Other winners included Ratatouille (screenplay) and Crazy Love (documentary).
And sharing in the fun was the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association, which along with Boston and New York named No Country for Old Men as their Best Picture, and giving the Coen brothers directing honors and Javier Bardem the supporting actor award; to exacerbate the sense of deja vu, Amy Ryan was again the supporting actress winner for Gone Baby Gone. A bevy of usual suspects rounded out the DC awards, with George Clooney (Michael Clayton) and Julie Christie (Away From Her) nabbing lead acting awards, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly taking the foreign language film honor. Other winners included Michael Moore's Sicko (documentary), Ratatouille (animated film), Charlie Wilson's War (adapted screenplay) and Juno (original screenplay and breakthrough performance for Ellen Page).
Following up these critical honors will be the announcement of the Golden Globe nominations this Thursday morning; the Academy Award nominations will be unveiled next month on Tuesday, January 22. --Mark Englehart, IMDb staff...
In Los Angeles on Sunday, there was blood -- and lots of it -- as Paul Thomas Anderson's historical epic There Will Be Blood swept the awards, taking Best Picture, Director, and Lead Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis) honors. Marion Cotillard of La Vie En Rose was named Best Actress, Vlad Ivanov of the Romanian abortion drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days was the surprise supporting actor winner, and -- yes -- Amy Ryan was named best supporting actress for Gone Baby Gone as well as Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days also won the foreign language film award, and Tamara Jenkins's The Savages received best screenplay honors. No End in Sight was the documentary winner, with Ratatouille and Persepolis sharing the animated feature award.
Also handing out awards on Sunday was the Boston Society of Film Critics, which jumped on the No Country for Old Men bandwagon, naming it their best picture and Javier Bardem as the supporting actor winner. While Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose) was the lead actress winner, the group threw a couple curveballs with awards to lead actor Frank Langella for the acclaimed but little-seen drama Starting Out in the Evening, and to director Julian Schnabel for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (which also won cinematography and foreign language film honors). Once again, Amy Ryan won the supporting actress award for Gone Baby Gone. Other winners included Ratatouille (screenplay) and Crazy Love (documentary).
And sharing in the fun was the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association, which along with Boston and New York named No Country for Old Men as their Best Picture, and giving the Coen brothers directing honors and Javier Bardem the supporting actor award; to exacerbate the sense of deja vu, Amy Ryan was again the supporting actress winner for Gone Baby Gone. A bevy of usual suspects rounded out the DC awards, with George Clooney (Michael Clayton) and Julie Christie (Away From Her) nabbing lead acting awards, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly taking the foreign language film honor. Other winners included Michael Moore's Sicko (documentary), Ratatouille (animated film), Charlie Wilson's War (adapted screenplay) and Juno (original screenplay and breakthrough performance for Ellen Page).
Following up these critical honors will be the announcement of the Golden Globe nominations this Thursday morning; the Academy Award nominations will be unveiled next month on Tuesday, January 22. --Mark Englehart, IMDb staff...
- 12/10/2007
- IMDb News
UPDATED 6:36 p.m. PT Nov. 27
Film Independent's 2008 Spirit Awards took on an international accent as nominees were announced Tuesday.
Best feature noms went to the French-language "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" and the Pakistan-set "A Mighty Heart", while the starring duo of Tony Leung and Tang Wei of the Shanghai drama "Lust, Caution" both figure in the top acting categories.
But Americana also ruled as "I'm Not There", Todd Haynes' kaleidoscope deconstruction of the work of Bob Dylan, led the field. With four nominations, including best feature, director and supporting noms for Cate Blanchett and Marcus Carl Franklin, it also was named the inaugural winner of the Robert Altman Award, recognizing Haynes, casting director Laura Rosenthal and the ensemble cast.
While the Spirit Awards focus on American independent film, a film can qualify if at least one U.S. citizen or permanent resident is credited in two or more of the categories of writer, director or producer, which opened the door for this year's globetrotting noms.
In addition to "I'm Not There", "Diving Bell", a film told from the point of view of a stroke victim, and "Mighty Heart", the dramatization of the search for kidnapped journalist Daniel Pearl, the other contenders in the best feature category are "Juno", a comedy about an unintended pregnancy, and "Paranoid Park", the account of a teen who accidentally kills a man.
Four of the best film nominees saw their helmsman nominated for best director: Haynes ("I'm Not There"), Jason Reitman ("Juno"), Julian Schnabel ("Butterfly") and Gus Van Sant ("Paranoid"). But instead of Michael Winterbottom for "Mighty Heart", the fifth slot went to Tamara Jenkins -- who also was nominated for best screenplay -- for the family drama "The Savages".
"There wasn't a dominant genre or even a film. It was a mix of emerging filmmakers and veteran filmmakers like Gus Van Sant and Todd Haynes. I felt like it was a wide spectrum of talent in all areas," FIND exec director Dawn Hudson said at the ceremonies that Lisa Kudrow and Zach Braff hosted at the Sofitel Hotel in Los Angeles.
"You want all these films to gain some momentum," she added. "There's such a glut of films this season that you hope that this will shine a spotlight on these lower-budgeted films that are so deserving."
The best actress contenders are Angelina Jolie for portraying Mariane Pearl in "Mighty Heart"; Sienna Miller, seen as a soap actress facing off with a journalist in "Interview"; Ellen Page, who appears as the pregnant teen in "Juno"; Parker Posey, who finds herself embarking on an affair in "Broken English"; and Tang, who becomes entangled in love and espionage in "Lust".
Nominated as best actor are Pedro Castaneda, who plays an undocumented farm worker "August Evening"; Don Cheadle, who stars as a radio host in "Talk to Me"; Philip Seymour Hoffman, whose character struggles with an ailing father in "Savages"; Frank Langella, who appears as the older half of a May-December relationship in "Starting Out in the Evening"; and Leung, who plays a spy in "Lust".
Still, several performances that have excited critics failed to make the cut: Among the missing were Ryan Gosling ("Lars and the Real Girl"), Laura Linney ("Savages"), Nicole Kidman ("Margot at the Wedding"), Keri Russell ("Waitress") and John Cusack ("Grace is Gone").
Along with Blanchett, who channels Dylan in "Not There", the nominees for best supporting female are Anna Kendrick ("Rocket Science"), Jennifer Jason Leigh ("Margot"), Tamara Podemski ("Four Sheets to the Wind") and Marisa Tomei ("Before the Devil Knows You're Dead").
Best supporting male nominee Franklin plays a young musician who calls himself Woody Guthrie in "Not There". In the nominees circle, he joins Chiwetel Ejiofor ("Talk to Me"), Kene Holliday ("Great World of Sound"), Irfan Khan ("The Namesake") and Steve Zahn ("Rescue Dawn").
Screenplay nominees are Ronald Harwood ("Butterfly"), Jenkins ("Savages"), Fred Parnes & Andrew Wagner ("Starting Out"), the late Adrienne Shelly ("Waitress") and Mike White ("Year of the Dog").
In the adjoining category of best first screenplay, the nominees are Jeffrey Blitz ("Rocket Science"), Zoe Cassavetes ("Broken English"), Diablo Cody ("Juno"), Kelly Masterson ("Devil") and John Orloff ("Mighty Heart").
The Spirits also recognize films made for less than $500,000 with its John Cassavetes Award.
Film Independent's 2008 Spirit Awards took on an international accent as nominees were announced Tuesday.
Best feature noms went to the French-language "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" and the Pakistan-set "A Mighty Heart", while the starring duo of Tony Leung and Tang Wei of the Shanghai drama "Lust, Caution" both figure in the top acting categories.
But Americana also ruled as "I'm Not There", Todd Haynes' kaleidoscope deconstruction of the work of Bob Dylan, led the field. With four nominations, including best feature, director and supporting noms for Cate Blanchett and Marcus Carl Franklin, it also was named the inaugural winner of the Robert Altman Award, recognizing Haynes, casting director Laura Rosenthal and the ensemble cast.
While the Spirit Awards focus on American independent film, a film can qualify if at least one U.S. citizen or permanent resident is credited in two or more of the categories of writer, director or producer, which opened the door for this year's globetrotting noms.
In addition to "I'm Not There", "Diving Bell", a film told from the point of view of a stroke victim, and "Mighty Heart", the dramatization of the search for kidnapped journalist Daniel Pearl, the other contenders in the best feature category are "Juno", a comedy about an unintended pregnancy, and "Paranoid Park", the account of a teen who accidentally kills a man.
Four of the best film nominees saw their helmsman nominated for best director: Haynes ("I'm Not There"), Jason Reitman ("Juno"), Julian Schnabel ("Butterfly") and Gus Van Sant ("Paranoid"). But instead of Michael Winterbottom for "Mighty Heart", the fifth slot went to Tamara Jenkins -- who also was nominated for best screenplay -- for the family drama "The Savages".
"There wasn't a dominant genre or even a film. It was a mix of emerging filmmakers and veteran filmmakers like Gus Van Sant and Todd Haynes. I felt like it was a wide spectrum of talent in all areas," FIND exec director Dawn Hudson said at the ceremonies that Lisa Kudrow and Zach Braff hosted at the Sofitel Hotel in Los Angeles.
"You want all these films to gain some momentum," she added. "There's such a glut of films this season that you hope that this will shine a spotlight on these lower-budgeted films that are so deserving."
The best actress contenders are Angelina Jolie for portraying Mariane Pearl in "Mighty Heart"; Sienna Miller, seen as a soap actress facing off with a journalist in "Interview"; Ellen Page, who appears as the pregnant teen in "Juno"; Parker Posey, who finds herself embarking on an affair in "Broken English"; and Tang, who becomes entangled in love and espionage in "Lust".
Nominated as best actor are Pedro Castaneda, who plays an undocumented farm worker "August Evening"; Don Cheadle, who stars as a radio host in "Talk to Me"; Philip Seymour Hoffman, whose character struggles with an ailing father in "Savages"; Frank Langella, who appears as the older half of a May-December relationship in "Starting Out in the Evening"; and Leung, who plays a spy in "Lust".
Still, several performances that have excited critics failed to make the cut: Among the missing were Ryan Gosling ("Lars and the Real Girl"), Laura Linney ("Savages"), Nicole Kidman ("Margot at the Wedding"), Keri Russell ("Waitress") and John Cusack ("Grace is Gone").
Along with Blanchett, who channels Dylan in "Not There", the nominees for best supporting female are Anna Kendrick ("Rocket Science"), Jennifer Jason Leigh ("Margot"), Tamara Podemski ("Four Sheets to the Wind") and Marisa Tomei ("Before the Devil Knows You're Dead").
Best supporting male nominee Franklin plays a young musician who calls himself Woody Guthrie in "Not There". In the nominees circle, he joins Chiwetel Ejiofor ("Talk to Me"), Kene Holliday ("Great World of Sound"), Irfan Khan ("The Namesake") and Steve Zahn ("Rescue Dawn").
Screenplay nominees are Ronald Harwood ("Butterfly"), Jenkins ("Savages"), Fred Parnes & Andrew Wagner ("Starting Out"), the late Adrienne Shelly ("Waitress") and Mike White ("Year of the Dog").
In the adjoining category of best first screenplay, the nominees are Jeffrey Blitz ("Rocket Science"), Zoe Cassavetes ("Broken English"), Diablo Cody ("Juno"), Kelly Masterson ("Devil") and John Orloff ("Mighty Heart").
The Spirits also recognize films made for less than $500,000 with its John Cassavetes Award.
- 11/28/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Director Todd Haynes' quirky, all-star Bob Dylan-inspired movie I'm Not There is set to be the toast of the IFC Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Los Angeles in February, after landing the event's first Robert Altman Award. Announced at the Spirit Awards last year, the honor is given to the director, casting agent and cast of an outstanding indie movie. In I'm Not There, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere and Cate Blanchett are among the actors who conjure up the spirit of Dylan at different stages of his life for the offbeat biopic. The movie was also nominated for the Spirits' Best Film prize, where it will compete with Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, Juno, A Mighty Heart and Paranoid Park. Blanchett and Marcus Carl Franklin earned Best Supporting Actress and Actor nods respectively for their portrayals of Dylan, and Todd Haynes is a Best Director nominee. Other four-film nominees are acclaimed coming-of-age film Juno, The Diving Bell And The Butterfly and The Savages. Meanwhile, Ang Lee's controversial Lust, Caution is also a multi-nominee; the film's stars Tony Leung and Tang Wei are up for Best Actor and Actress honors, while Rodrigo Prieto's cinematography is also under consideration. French actress Julie Delpy's 2 Days In Paris earned her a First Feature nomination; she'll be up against Jeffrey Blitz's Rocket Science, which garnered three nominations. In the lead acting categories, Angelina Jolie is an immediate favorite for her role as grieving Mariane Pearl in A Mighty Heart. Jolie will compete against Sienna Miller (Interview), Parker Posey (Broken English), Ellen Page (Juno) and Tang Wei. Leung will be up against Pedro Castaneda (August Evening), Don Cheadle (Talk To Me), Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Savages) and Frank Langella (Starting Out In The Evening) in the Best Actor category. The nominations were announced on Tuesday morning by Lisa Kudrow and Zach Braff.
- 11/28/2007
- WENN
NEW YORK -- Roadside Attractions has acquired worldwide rights to the drama Starting Out in the Evening, starring Frank Langella, Lauren Ambrose and Lili Taylor.
Roadside, which recently parted ways with IDP Distribution, is staffing a 14-member internal domestic distribution arm to release upcoming features. It plans a November stateside release and an awards campaign for Langella. Roadside will work with sales agent Robbie Little of the Little Film Co. on sales of the film to international distributors.
Andrew Wagner's film, which premiered to positive reviews at January's Sundance Film Festival, stars Langella as a once-acclaimed New York novelist whose books are out of print. Aside from a close relationship with his daughter (Taylor), he has led a cloistered life, spending a decade working on a book, until a grad student (Ambrose) approaches him to work on her thesis.
Langella won a Tony Award on Sunday for his performance as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's play Frost/Nixon, and he will begin shooting the just-announced corporate whistleblower thriller On the Hook next week.
Roadside, which recently parted ways with IDP Distribution, is staffing a 14-member internal domestic distribution arm to release upcoming features. It plans a November stateside release and an awards campaign for Langella. Roadside will work with sales agent Robbie Little of the Little Film Co. on sales of the film to international distributors.
Andrew Wagner's film, which premiered to positive reviews at January's Sundance Film Festival, stars Langella as a once-acclaimed New York novelist whose books are out of print. Aside from a close relationship with his daughter (Taylor), he has led a cloistered life, spending a decade working on a book, until a grad student (Ambrose) approaches him to work on her thesis.
Langella won a Tony Award on Sunday for his performance as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's play Frost/Nixon, and he will begin shooting the just-announced corporate whistleblower thriller On the Hook next week.
- 6/12/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- Freshly minted Tony Award winner Frank Langella, Elliott Gould and Laura Harring will star in Richard Ledes' corporate thriller On the Hook.
Langella, who won a Tony on Sunday night for his role as Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon, will play an energy company whistleblower who hires a private eye (Gould) to protect him from killers and tell his story. Harring plays his jazz singer ex-girlfriend.
The indie feature is produced by Linda Moran and Rene Bastian for Belladonna Prods. from a screenplay by Alan Didier-Weill and Ledes. It will shoot beginning in New York next week and wrap July 27, accommodating Langella's theater schedule.
Hook is Ledes' sophomore feature. He wrote and directed the comedy A Hole in One starring Michelle Williams and Meat Loaf, which received a limited theatrical release last year.
Langella starred in the Sundance Film Festival entry Starting Out in the Evening, which was just acquired by Roadside Attractions for theatrical release in November. Gould appears in Warner Bros.' Ocean's Thirteen. Harring starred in David Lynch's Mulholland Dr. and will appear in the upcoming films Bitter Grapes, Nancy Drew and Love in the Time of Cholera.
Langella is repped by Innovative Artists.
Langella, who won a Tony on Sunday night for his role as Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon, will play an energy company whistleblower who hires a private eye (Gould) to protect him from killers and tell his story. Harring plays his jazz singer ex-girlfriend.
The indie feature is produced by Linda Moran and Rene Bastian for Belladonna Prods. from a screenplay by Alan Didier-Weill and Ledes. It will shoot beginning in New York next week and wrap July 27, accommodating Langella's theater schedule.
Hook is Ledes' sophomore feature. He wrote and directed the comedy A Hole in One starring Michelle Williams and Meat Loaf, which received a limited theatrical release last year.
Langella starred in the Sundance Film Festival entry Starting Out in the Evening, which was just acquired by Roadside Attractions for theatrical release in November. Gould appears in Warner Bros.' Ocean's Thirteen. Harring starred in David Lynch's Mulholland Dr. and will appear in the upcoming films Bitter Grapes, Nancy Drew and Love in the Time of Cholera.
Langella is repped by Innovative Artists.
- 6/12/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARK CITY -- At a time when directors are falling over each other to scramble the medium's form, it is reassuring and invigorating to see a film like "Starting Out in the Evening" that succeeds so beautifully because of a compelling story, great acting, intelligent writing and sensitive direction. Andrew Wagner's portrait of an aging writer and his adrift daughter cuts across generational lines, capped by an astounding performance by Frank Langella. This is a picture with real boxoffice potential for a selective audience.
The film opens with Leonard Schiller (Langella) staring at the blank page, hands on his chin. He is a once-acclaimed novelist, now out-of-print, who has been working on his latest book for ten years. He is from the generation of '50s New York intellectuals who are faithful to a code of behavior. His life is structured and joyless, but he is not unkind; he has a loving relation with his daughter Ariel (Lili Taylor).
Schiller's orderly life is shattered by the arrival of the brash and beautiful graduate student Heather Wolfe (Lauren Ambrose) who is writing her Master's thesis on him. Not wanting to disrupt his writing routine, he at first declines to cooperate, but changes his mind and gradually opens up to her.
Watching Langella struggle with the character's resistance is to observe a pro at work. He totally inhabits the character with his voice, gestures and erect posture. And Ambrose almost keeps pace with him. Her character is a piece of work -- smart but also cunning (hence her name, Wolfe) and ambitious. Her intimacy with Schiller is at once a schoolgirl crush, an admiring fan and an opportunistic writer.
She goads Schiller by telling him that he's "using his age to mask a deeper conflict," and proceeds to pick at the scabs of his life, including the long-ago death of his wife. Her candor and optimism is both refreshing and frightening to a man who is not accustomed to expressing his feelings and wears a tie to breakfast. In a quiet but startling moment near the end of the film, he slaps Heather lightly, and in that gesture one can read all of his conflicting feelings.
At the same time Heather is invading Leonard's world, Ariel is struggling with her own issues. Close to 40 and desperate to have a child, she is nonetheless deeply in love with a man (Adrian Lester) who doesn't want to have children. Having chosen someone who lives in his head much like her father, she must now figure out her own life. An ex-dancer-turned-Pilates-teacher, she is a touching and believable character, thanks to the warmth and vitality Taylor brings to the role. It's a terrific performance in a film filled with them.
"Starting Out in the Evening" could easily have tipped over into the maudlin and sentimental were it not for Wagner's precise direction and his succinct script, written with Fred Parnes (based on a novel by Brian Morton). Beautifully shot on locations in New York in an unbelievable 18 days by Harlan Bosmajian, the film manages to keep its balance, aided by a lovely and restrained score by Adam Gorgoni.
In the end, Schiller, his health deteriorating, is faced with the same blank page. Confronting the madness of art and the cruelty of old age, he must decide to start out again in the evening. Like a Beckett character, he can't go on, he goes on.
STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING
Cinetic Media, InDigEnt
Credits:
Director: Andrew Wagner
Writers: Fred Parnes, Andrew Wagner
Producers: Nancy Israel, Fred Parnes, Gary Winick, Jake Abraham
Executive Producers: John Sloss, Gregory Moyer, Douglas Harmon, Allen Myerson
Director of Cinematography: Harlan Bosmajian
Production Designer: Carol Strober
Music: Adam Gorgoni
Costume Designer: Claudia Brown
Editor: Gena Bleier
Cast:
Leonard Schiller: Frank Langella
Ariel Schiller: Lili Taylor
Heather Wolfe: Lauren Ambrose
Casey Davis: Adrian Lester
Victor: Michael Cumpsty
Running time: 105 minutes
No MPAA rating...
The film opens with Leonard Schiller (Langella) staring at the blank page, hands on his chin. He is a once-acclaimed novelist, now out-of-print, who has been working on his latest book for ten years. He is from the generation of '50s New York intellectuals who are faithful to a code of behavior. His life is structured and joyless, but he is not unkind; he has a loving relation with his daughter Ariel (Lili Taylor).
Schiller's orderly life is shattered by the arrival of the brash and beautiful graduate student Heather Wolfe (Lauren Ambrose) who is writing her Master's thesis on him. Not wanting to disrupt his writing routine, he at first declines to cooperate, but changes his mind and gradually opens up to her.
Watching Langella struggle with the character's resistance is to observe a pro at work. He totally inhabits the character with his voice, gestures and erect posture. And Ambrose almost keeps pace with him. Her character is a piece of work -- smart but also cunning (hence her name, Wolfe) and ambitious. Her intimacy with Schiller is at once a schoolgirl crush, an admiring fan and an opportunistic writer.
She goads Schiller by telling him that he's "using his age to mask a deeper conflict," and proceeds to pick at the scabs of his life, including the long-ago death of his wife. Her candor and optimism is both refreshing and frightening to a man who is not accustomed to expressing his feelings and wears a tie to breakfast. In a quiet but startling moment near the end of the film, he slaps Heather lightly, and in that gesture one can read all of his conflicting feelings.
At the same time Heather is invading Leonard's world, Ariel is struggling with her own issues. Close to 40 and desperate to have a child, she is nonetheless deeply in love with a man (Adrian Lester) who doesn't want to have children. Having chosen someone who lives in his head much like her father, she must now figure out her own life. An ex-dancer-turned-Pilates-teacher, she is a touching and believable character, thanks to the warmth and vitality Taylor brings to the role. It's a terrific performance in a film filled with them.
"Starting Out in the Evening" could easily have tipped over into the maudlin and sentimental were it not for Wagner's precise direction and his succinct script, written with Fred Parnes (based on a novel by Brian Morton). Beautifully shot on locations in New York in an unbelievable 18 days by Harlan Bosmajian, the film manages to keep its balance, aided by a lovely and restrained score by Adam Gorgoni.
In the end, Schiller, his health deteriorating, is faced with the same blank page. Confronting the madness of art and the cruelty of old age, he must decide to start out again in the evening. Like a Beckett character, he can't go on, he goes on.
STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING
Cinetic Media, InDigEnt
Credits:
Director: Andrew Wagner
Writers: Fred Parnes, Andrew Wagner
Producers: Nancy Israel, Fred Parnes, Gary Winick, Jake Abraham
Executive Producers: John Sloss, Gregory Moyer, Douglas Harmon, Allen Myerson
Director of Cinematography: Harlan Bosmajian
Production Designer: Carol Strober
Music: Adam Gorgoni
Costume Designer: Claudia Brown
Editor: Gena Bleier
Cast:
Leonard Schiller: Frank Langella
Ariel Schiller: Lili Taylor
Heather Wolfe: Lauren Ambrose
Casey Davis: Adrian Lester
Victor: Michael Cumpsty
Running time: 105 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 1/23/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- Donovan, Terence Blanchard, Ron Sexsmith, Jill Sobule and Simon Townshend are some of the artists bringing music to next month's Sundance Film Festival, where organizers will hold a series of concerts and related panels.
Film directors Justin Theroux (Dedication), Tom DiCillo (Delirious), Andrew Wagner (Starting Out in the Evening) and Mike Chaill (King of California) will participate in a round-table discussion Jan. 24 with such composers as Blanchard, Peter Golub, Adam Hollander, Dave Robbins and Anton Sanko on the creative process of film scoring.
Later that day, Victor Krauss, Keb Mo, Michael Penn and Blanchard will perform in a special music showcase.
The special music events, sponsored by Sundance Institute's Film Music Program and music publisher BMI, also will include the "Sundance Celebrates Music and Film" and Film2Music, exploring the cinematic and music mediums.
In what has become a Sundance tradition, the fest's Music Cafe will host afternoon performances programmed by ASCAP, featuring such artists as Sobule with Julia Sweeney, A Fine Frenzy, Sexsmith, Donovan and Townshend throughout the festival.
Film directors Justin Theroux (Dedication), Tom DiCillo (Delirious), Andrew Wagner (Starting Out in the Evening) and Mike Chaill (King of California) will participate in a round-table discussion Jan. 24 with such composers as Blanchard, Peter Golub, Adam Hollander, Dave Robbins and Anton Sanko on the creative process of film scoring.
Later that day, Victor Krauss, Keb Mo, Michael Penn and Blanchard will perform in a special music showcase.
The special music events, sponsored by Sundance Institute's Film Music Program and music publisher BMI, also will include the "Sundance Celebrates Music and Film" and Film2Music, exploring the cinematic and music mediums.
In what has become a Sundance tradition, the fest's Music Cafe will host afternoon performances programmed by ASCAP, featuring such artists as Sobule with Julia Sweeney, A Fine Frenzy, Sexsmith, Donovan and Townshend throughout the festival.
- 12/22/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- Donovan, Terence Blanchard, Ron Sexsmith, Jill Sobule and Simon Townshend are some of the artists bringing music to next month's Sundance Film Festival, where organizers will hold a series of concerts and related panels.
Film directors Justin Theroux (Dedication), Tom DiCillo (Delirious), Andrew Wagner (Starting Out in the Evening) and Mike Chaill (King of California) will participate in a round-table discussion Jan. 24 with such composers as Blanchard, Peter Golub, Adam Hollander, Dave Robbins and Anton Sanko on the creative process of film scoring.
Later that day, Victor Krauss, Keb Mo, Michael Penn and Blanchard will perform in a special music showcase.
The special music events, sponsored by Sundance Institute's Film Music Program and music publisher BMI, also will include the "Sundance Celebrates Music and Film" and Film2Music, exploring the cinematic and music mediums.
In what has become a Sundance tradition, the fest's Music Cafe will host afternoon performances by such artists as Sobule with Julia Sweeney, A Fine Frenzy, Sexsmith, Donovan and Townshend throughout the festival.
Film directors Justin Theroux (Dedication), Tom DiCillo (Delirious), Andrew Wagner (Starting Out in the Evening) and Mike Chaill (King of California) will participate in a round-table discussion Jan. 24 with such composers as Blanchard, Peter Golub, Adam Hollander, Dave Robbins and Anton Sanko on the creative process of film scoring.
Later that day, Victor Krauss, Keb Mo, Michael Penn and Blanchard will perform in a special music showcase.
The special music events, sponsored by Sundance Institute's Film Music Program and music publisher BMI, also will include the "Sundance Celebrates Music and Film" and Film2Music, exploring the cinematic and music mediums.
In what has become a Sundance tradition, the fest's Music Cafe will host afternoon performances by such artists as Sobule with Julia Sweeney, A Fine Frenzy, Sexsmith, Donovan and Townshend throughout the festival.
- 12/21/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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