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- Fangs for the bloody memories, Dario
Fri, May 18, 2012So there are new films by Abbas Kiarostami and Michael Haneke in the competition? Big deal. Walter Salles’s version of On the Road is finally with us. Fair enough. But those blood-suckers among us are almost as excited by the appearance of the indomitable Dario Argento. - Stirred, not shaken at CannesFri, May 18, 2012Cannes has always balanced high art with raw commerce. It is, thus, surprising, to learn that James Bond has never before been honoured at the event. This changes this year, when Cannes lowers itself to celebrate 50 years of 007 on film. Five of the most admired Bond films are to play at the Cinema de la Plage (that’s the Cinema on the Beach to you and me).
- Penn throws a bash for HaitiFri, May 18, 2012What would the universe do without Sean Penn? It seems that the angry actor got himself nominated as roving ambassador for Haiti earlier this year. Tonight Mr Penn will be the guest of honour at a fund-raising gala to support his J/P Haitian Relief Organization. The bash also honours Paul Haggis’s Artists for Peace and Justice and Petra Nemcova’s Happy Heart’s Fund. It all sounds rather wonderful. Giorgio Armani is to be master of ceremonies and music will be by the RAM band. Oh well. I suppose there are worse ways of spending your time.
- Quentin’s Django unchains RussellFri, May 18, 2012It looks as if there may be trouble in Tarantino City. News reaches us that Sacha Baron Cohen and Kurt Russell have both dropped out of the director’s upcoming Django Unchained. The offbeat western stars Jamie Foxx as a freed slave wandering America who teams up with a bounty hunter, played by Tarantino discovery Christoph Waltz.
- Heroes hitting the all-time highsFri, May 18, 2012How high could (let’s forget that stupid fake title) The Avengers go? The superhero ensemble piece has, just three weeks into its run, already passed $1 billion at the world’s box office. Only 11 other films have managed that feat. It, therefore, seems inevitable that that The Avengers will creep into the all-time top five. Boosted by a recent re-release, Titanic seems out of reach at No 2. Avatar is miles ahead in the top spot. But The Avengers could well make it to No 3.
- As Zsa Zsa fades, her loved ones squabble
Fri, May 11, 2012As the great Zsa Zsa Gabor continues to decline, the Hungarian actor’s relatives are already creating an undignified hubbub. Prince Frederic von Anhalt, her ninth and current husband, is engaged in an unseemly squabble with Constance Francesca Hilton, Zsa Zsa’s daughter, over control of her fortune and aspects of her medical care. Ms Gabor, now 95, has been confined to bed for some time and, heavily sedated, may not be aware of what is going on. - Something for the bloody ladiesFri, May 11, 2012We can think of few better causes than promoting the efforts of female film-makers in the world of horror cinema. Raise a bloodied fist to the good people at the (nicely named) Viscera Film Festival and Symposium. Hosted at University College Dublin by Dr Emma Radley, lecturer at that place, and Viscera founder Shannon Lark, the event runs May 17th and 18th.
- 2 accuse Travolta of assaultFri, May 11, 2012Let’s tread very carefully here. John Travolta is facing allegations of sexual assault against a pair of male masseurs. The first claimant suggests that Travolta tried to initiate sex in the Beverly Hills Hotel on January 16th. A second accuser then popped up to allege that Travolta tried it on with him in Atlanta 10 days later.
- There goes the NeighbourhoodFri, May 11, 2012A few weeks ago we reported on the understandable nervousness surrounding the release of 20th Century Fox’s Neighbourhood Watch. Following the killing of Trayvon Martin by a neighbourhood watch operative in Florida, the studio pulled all trailers from that state. The studio has now been announced that the title is being changed to simply The Watch
- Fans make like Gollum over Hobbit footage
Fri, May 4, 2012When was the last time that a movie’s frames-per-second ratio triggered worldwide controversy? Hard to believe, but this very issue has now become the major talking point among those waiting expectantly for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. - LA still good enough for OscarFri, May 4, 2012The Oscars are set to remain in Hollywood. Following the financial collapse of Kodak – whose titular auditorium hosted the ceremony for the past 10 years – it had been suggested that the awards might move from that surprisingly sleazy corner of Los Angeles.
- Green, mean and here to stayFri, May 4, 2012You can’t kill The Hulk. The most troubled of the Marvel franchises is not going away.
- Movie immersion courtesy of CokeFri, May 4, 2012Get ready for the Coca-Cola Cinemagic International Film Television Festival for Young People.
- Trouble at the Mouse House
Fri, Apr 27, 2012It was all change at the Mouse House this week as, following the failure of John Carter, Rich Ross, chairman of Disney Studios, announced his resignation. - Bealtaine screeningsFri, Apr 27, 2012The 2012 Bealtaine Festival, which seeks to celebrate “creativity as we age”, has announced a series of film screenings to be carried out in cooperation with our friends at Access Cinema. The movies in this year’s season are Last Chance Harvey, in which Dustin Hoffman chats up Emma Thompson; My House in Umbria, featuring the indomitable Maggie Smith; and one of the most poetic of all musicals, Vincente Minnelli’s An American in Paris. The season kicks off at the Irish Film Institute on May 2nd and then moves on to such locations as Cabra Library, the Bluebell Community Centre in Dublin 12 and the Seamus Ennis Cultural Centre in Naul. See bealtaine.com.
- Cannes titles are in the canFri, Apr 27, 2012The final few films in the chief races at Cannes have been announced. Fans of the extraordinary Kill List will be happy to hear that Ben Wheatley’s new film, Sightseers, is to receive a special screening in the Director’s Fortnight. That quasi-official sidebar opens with Michel Gondry’s The We and the I, which many observers had expected to turn up in the main competition or in Un Certain Regard. Also playing is Rodney Ascher’s Room 237, a documentary about the making of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.
- Swift as Joni Lindsay as LizFri, Apr 27, 2012It’s been a week of weird casting news. Variety reports that Taylor Swift, wide-eyed country-and-western superstar, is set to play Joni Mitchell, grumpy Canadian genius, in an adaptation of Sheila Weller’s book Girls Like Us. Well, I suppose if Swift straightens her hair she might get away with it.
- Charlie Kauffman gets chaoticFri, Apr 27, 2012Now here’s another weird one. While everyone was distracted by chatter as to who was to take over from director Gary Ross on the Hunger Games franchise (it looks to be I Am Legend’s Francis Lawrence), Charlie Kauffman has been hired to write an adaptation of the first book in Patrick Ness’s bestselling Chaos Walking trilogy. Lions Gate, the studio behind The Hunger Games, hopes that the series will be itsnext big smash.
- Mad Mel under fire over historical Jewish project
Fri, Apr 20, 2012Will we ever be set free from Mel Gibson news? Earlier this month Joe Eszterhas, the volatile screenwriter, released a letter repeating claims that Gibson was an aggressive anti-Semite. The two had fallen out when Mel rejected Joe’s script for his proposed film called The Maccabees, about a second- century Jewish revolt. - Cannes readies the red carpetFri, Apr 20, 2012There were few enormous surprises when the competition line-up for next month’s Cannes Film Festival was announced yesterday.
