Back to the Future Day & Films That Got the Future Right
As we’re sure you’re aware, today, Wednesday October 21, 2015, is the very day in the future that Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) traveled to in Back to the Future Part II. At the time of filming, 2015 was more than a quarter-century away, yet the vision of the future writer/director Robert Zemeckis and screenwriter Bob Gale envisioned hasn’t turned out to be total bunk, despite Zemeckis’s misgivings.
"I always hated —
IMAX Reveals Star Wars: The Force Awakens Poster + Screening Info
We knew that this Monday and Tuesday would be all about Star Wars: The Force Awakens. You've seen the new poster, you've watched the new trailer (and watched, and watched) and now, you're looking at IMAX's very own The Force Awakens art made exclusively for those who watch the film in its biggest, most astounding version—on IMAX screens. Fans should know that J.J.
There is Only Fast and Slow in Thrilling new Race Trailer
“Out there, there ain’t no black and white, there’s only fast and slow. Nothing matters, not color, not money, not even hate. For those 10 seconds you are completely – free,” says Jesse Owens (Stephan James), the subject of Stephen Hopkins' biopic Race. James was memorable as the young John Lewis in Selma. Here, playing another transformative 20th century figure, he'll be unforgettable.
On Tuesday Focus Features released a 15-second teaser trailer –
Writer/Director James Vanderbilt on Turning Recent History Into Truth
In Truth, opening Friday, writer and first time director James Vanderbilt, who wrote, among other scripts, the screenplay for Zodiac, has taken a tough, hard, look at the behind-the-scenes story of the CBS 60 Minutes II news staff that reported on President George W. Bush’s late 60’s and early 70’s National Guard duty in the run up to his re-election in 2004. It’s a compelling procedural which dramatizes the personal and professional costs of news reporting in the already fast paced TV news cycle at the historical moment when Internet blogging entered the political and cultural arena.
Director Cary Fukunaga on Filming the Haunting Beasts of No Nation
Although he's probably best known for directing the first season of True Detective, Cary Fukunaga is most likely to be found making movies on the front lines of contemporary conflicts. The California-bred Japanese-American filmmaker's first feature, Sin Nombre, chronicled the quest of Central American immigrants to reach the United States. His latest is Beasts of No Nation, set during a civil war in an unnamed West African country,
Watch Beasts of No Nation‘s Final, Gut-Wrenching Trailer
Netflix has released the final Beasts of No Nation trailer, and it’s as riveting as you’d expect a Cary Fukunaga directed, Idris Elba lead film would be. Based on the book by Uzodinma Iweala, the story centers on Agu (Abraham Attah), a child who becomes a soldier under the command of the beguiling, brutal Commandant (Idris Elba). Beasts of No Nation premiered at Venice, then went on to play in Telluride and Toronto,
The Coen Brothers Return to Comedy With Hail, Caesar!
Joel and Ethan Coen are probably best known for their dark, twisting crime dramas like the impeccable western No Country For Old Men and their brilliant, snowbound Fargo. But as many fans know, and as the enduring legacies of The Big Lebowski and O Brother Where Art Thou? attests, they excel at comedy, too. Particularly comedy with a bit of screwball menace baked in,
NYFF: In Where to Invade Next Michael Moore Picks Flowers, Not Weeds
After a six year hiatus, documentary filmmaker Michael Moore is back with a kind of travel journal – Where to Invade Next. Moore’s mission was to find the best ideas from each country he visited, claim them as his own, and bring them home to America to help solve some of our biggest problems. The film is not about pointing finger or placing certain nations on a pedestal – its purpose is to serve as idea factory and catalyst for change.
Danny Boyle, Aaron Sorkin & Walter Isaacson Talk Steve Jobs at NYFF
This past weekend we attended a panel discussion of Steve Jobs at the 53rd New York Film Festival (NYFF). Steve Jobs, like The Social Network (about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg), is a masterfully crafted story of one of the most influential men of the last fifty years. The film, directed by Academy Award winner Danny Boyle, written by Academy Award winner Aaron Sorkin (who also wrote the The
Here’s How They Created the Ingenious Structure of Steve Jobs
One of the difficulties of making a film about historical figures or events can be deciding how to remain faithful to the subject but still tell a good story. Real life doesn’t always follow a neat narrative arc. In fact it almost never does. Danny Boyle’s latest film Steve Jobs is an interesting example of a way to approach that predicament.
One way the film avoids the dangers of becoming a plodding account of history is that it’s only loosely based on real events: “We’re deeply indebted to Walter Isaacson’s [biography of Jobs] and the depth of his research,
The Explosive New The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 Trailer
Lionsgate is releasing trailers and posters in a furious run-up to the premiere of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 on November 20. Director Francis Lawrence's final dash through the districts and towards the Capitol is one of the most eagerly anticipated films of the fall, and the latest trailer is surely the most explosive yet.
"He turns the best of us against each other" Katniss says of President Snow (Donald Sutherland) in a voice over.
HBO’s New Vinyl Trailer is Fast, Dirty, and Smashes You Over the Head
Back in September we interviewed Boardwalk Empire’s production designer Bill Groom, who was nominated for his fourth Emmy in a row for Terrence Winter’s prohibition era gangland drama. When we spoke, Groom was hard at work on HBO’s and Winter’s next big project, Vinyl, starring Boardwalk Empire alum Bobby Canavale as Richie Finestra, a hard charging music executive in 1970’s New York.
Raging Storm Sets Arlo on his Path in New The Good Dinosaur Trailer
The underlying conceit in The Good Dinosaur is that the asteroid that struck the earth and killed the dinosaurs missed, meaning dinosaurs and humans would walk the earth together. When the young Aapotosaurs Arlo (voiced by Raymond Ochoa) is separated from his father by a wicked storm, he’s united with a young human named Spot (voiced by Jack Bright), who quickly becomes his best friend. This much we already knew,
The Legendary Roger Deakins: A Director’s Cinematographer
In 1995, cinematographer Roger Deakins — a man who had been working in the business for two decades — earned his first Oscar nomination for his work on the beloved Frank Darabont drama, The Shawshank Redemption. Now, twenty years later, Deakins has established himself as one of the most well-known and respected cinematographers in the world.
In the past two decades, he has been nominated for twelve Academy Awards for films as varied as Fargo,
Sicario Reunites Director Denis Villeneuve & Cinematographer Roger Deakins
In Sicario, director Denis Villenueve and cinematographer Roger Deakins have re-teamed after their successful first collaboration on Prisoners (2013). In that film, Villeneuve extended his explorations of morality and violence seen in his earlier Canadian films, but integrated them into conventions of the Hollywood child kidnapping sub-genre. The result was a disturbing and frightening movie that gave equal focus to the semi-abstract, atmospheric environment as it did to the stand out performances of its cast.
A Game of Thrones Movie? Rumors, Rumors…
Editor's note: we were excited by the news reported by The Daily Star that George R. R. Martin had confirmed a Game of Thrones movie was in the works—alas, it looks like that might not be the case. Variety reported this morning that Martin to took his Livejournal to debunk this rather juicy rumor. Below is the initial story, which got our hopes up a tad too much.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula: Francis Ford Coppola on Finding Vlad the Impaler’s Grave
Sony Home Entertainment is releasing the Blu-ray DVD of Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula on October 6. With that release come some juicy behind-the-scenes footage of the legendary director talking about his beautiful, beastly 1992 film. Here's a refresher for those of you who don't remember (or never saw) this great film:
Starring Gary Oldman as Dracula, it should come as no surprise that the man who brought us
Why is Everyone Dancing on the set of Pan?
Why couldn’t Hugh Jackman cut through this sheet?
And why is everybody dancing on the set of Pan? These are the questions that arise when watching these two 15 second teasers of outtakes from the set of Pan, which opens on October 9.
Directed by Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride & Prejudice),
Watch a Brutal Bear Attack inThe Revenant’s New Trailer
At 50 seconds into The Revenant's new trailer, you see the moment that changes everything for trapper Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio). Glass and his fellow trappers, including John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) and Jim Bridger (Will Poulter), are moving through the forest when a huge grizzly attacks, crashing atop Glass. The moment is thrilling, terrifying, and very realistic. Grievously wounded and therefore a burden, Fitzgerald decides to bury Glass alive rather than care for him until he's healed.
New Photos of Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy in The Revenant
As we wrote back in July, there is just a ton of reasons to be very, very excited for The Revenant. The film's director, Alejandro González Iñárritu, and cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki (we've interviewed both, you can read our chat with Iñárritu here, and and Lubezki here), both took home Academy Awards last year for their work on Birdman (which also won Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay).
