Polite Society Meets the Undead in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Trailer
Opening with a tinkling piano and images of England’s landed gentry doing their thing (horseback riding, chastely dancing, etc.), Pride and Prejudice and Zombies appears perfectly pleasant, as if the title didn't include the last conjunction and noun and what you were actually watching was the opening title sequence to Downton Abbey. But the final conjunction and noun are the film's reason for existing, as this is mashup of Jane Austen’s beloved novel with horror’s hottest villains (sorry,
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,
Watch How Filmmakers Use Color to Elicit Specific Emotions
Filmmakers are expert emotional manipulators. Nearly every decision made during the production of a film, from wardrobe to lighting to set design, is done to convey, and manipulate, emotions. The same is true during post production, when editors, sound designers and color graders shape the film into it’s final, and hopefully most moving, iteration.
When it comes to color grading, it’s probably the least understood and most subtlety effective means of making an audience feel a certain way.
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.
Batman v Superman: Check Out Lex Luthor’s New Operating System
Lex Luthor Jr. is really implementing an aggressive media campaign lately. First, there was the fawning profile of the young genius in Fortune Magazine, and now there’s this—LexCorp released an ad announcing their brand new “LexOS…the world’s most private and secure operating system.” The ad is hilariously spot-on, from the smoky, so-earnest-it’s-weirdly-threatening voiceover to the geometric nonsense of the visuals, Warner Bros. is crushing the tech company parodies in these last two viral marketing promos for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
How Joseph Gordon-Levitt Followed Impossible Footsteps in The Walk
When Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis prepared for their performances in the 2010 psychological thriller Black Swan, they trained intensely to take on the dual roles of battling ballerinas. Every movement during their performances had to be meticulously choreographed. One misstep could’ve ruined their entire routine.
The same could be said for Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s latest performance, which he too had to meticulously prepare his body for.
NYFF: Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet & More Talk Steve Jobs
Last Saturday we attended the New York Film Festival’s (NYFF) powerful panel discussion on and screening of Steve Job in anticipation of the film’s wide release on October 23. Earlier today, as part of our coverage of the Festival, we focused on the insights of screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, director Danny Boyle and author Walter Isaacson.
Today we are turning to the actors – their thoughts in their words.
Benedict Cumberbatch is Back as Sherlock in 19th Century Special
Dr. Holmes (Cumberbatch) and Watson (Martin Freeman) are back at 221B Baker Street, only they’ve given up their contemporary garb and technology’s trappings in the special, Victorian-era Sherlock. Our favorite obsessive sleuth and his indefatigable partner are now plying their trade in the 19th century, which is interesting considering it’s the era when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was living in when he wrote Holmes and Watson into existence. Everything’s different (especially Watson’s facial hair),
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
Everything That Happened Last Season on The Walking Dead in 3 Minutes
AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead, a riveting look at a few families in Los Angeles just as the world's becoming aware of the horror to come, recently ended it's first season. Knowing what we do of that future from The Walking Dead, Fear packed an extra layer of despair into the viewing experience. The conceit of showing the first days of the zombie apocalypse could have felt unnecessary,
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,
Batman v Superman: Lex Luthor Jr. Grants an Interview to Fortune Mag
It’s a pretty clever piece of viral marketing: Fortune Magazine has published an exclusive interview with Lex Luthor Jr. , the “31-year-old wunderkind who transformed an aging petrochemical and heavy machinery dinosaur into a tech darling of the Fortune 500 in what some call a superhuman feat.” There were rumors that Warner Bros. was going to drop a new trailer for Batman v Superman on us sometime this month,
Costume Designer Kate Hawley Talks Crimson Peak
Costume Designer Kate Hawley knew what she was getting into when director Guillermo Del Toro hired her for his cheeky horror film Crimson Peak, which he described to her as just a little Victorian-era film. Having first worked with him on pre-production concept work when he was attached to direct The Hobbit series, Hawley and Del Toro connected over some of the 600 books she travels with,
Kathleen Kennedy Reveals Star Wars: The Force Awakens Continues Skywalker Saga
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy dropped a few very interesting tidbits in a recent interview with Costco Connection magazine about Star Wars: The Force Awakens. When George Lucas handpicked Kennedy to succeed him after the sale of Lucasfilm to The Walt Disney Company in 2012, Kennedy was stunned. “When George asked me I was completely unprepared and surprised because we had just gone out to have lunch together, I thought,”
The First Clip From The Night Before Recalls Iconic Scene From ’80s
Three lifelong best friends, Ethan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Isaac (Seth Rogen) and Chris (Anthony Mackie) have a tradition—they go out and cause mayhem on Christmas Eve. To get a sense of how wild Jonathan Levine’s film might be, take a look at the cast—along with the aforementioned leads, you’ve got the always great Lizzy Caplan and Michael Shannon, Miley Cyrus and Kayne West, and for good measure, Mindy Kaling. That’s a ludicrously potent list of personalities for
Watch the Final Spectre Trailer
In a compact 75 seconds, the final Spectre trailer gives us James Bond (Daniel Craig) at his most decisive. Whether by helicopter, foot, fist or gun, James is prepared to do what he must to bring down Franz Oberhausen (Christoph Waltz) and the Spectre organization.
Craig recently said that he would be willing to play Bond for as long as he’s physically able. At 47 and in great physical shape,
