News

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Film at Lincoln Center

The new 4K restoration of Sergei Parajanov’s Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is now playing.

Bam

Robert Frank and Rudy Wurlitzer’s Candy Mountain begins screening in a new restoration. (Watch our exclusive trailer debut.)

Museum of the Moving Image

Monsters Inc. and What About Bob? play in a Frank Oz retrospective; Chantal Akerman’s American Stories: Food, Family and Philosophy screens on Sunday; The Texas Chain Saw Massacre shows throughout the weekend.

Metrograph

The Decameron, Fellini Satyricon, In America, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Legend of Suram Fortress, Corpse Bride, All the President’s Men, The Candidate, We Won’t Grow Old Together, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, and Momma’s Man show on 35mm; an Azazel Jacobs series and Follow the Money: Kimberly Reed Selects begin; The Phantom of Ester Krumbachová, Rabbit on the Moon,...

Ridley Scott's 2001 horror thriller "Hannibal" was a long-in-the-tooth sequel to "The Silence of the Lambs," both of them based on the works of author Thomas Harris. "Silence of the Lambs" was a boffo blockbuster when it came out in 1991, winning many Oscars and making millions. Anthony Hopkins took the world by storm with his lip-smacking performance as Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist with a penchant for mutilating, killing, and often eating his victims. At the end of "Lambs," Hannibal escapes his high-security prison and proceeds to wreak havoc in the world.

In "Hannibal," however, we learn that Dr. Lecter left one of his victims alive. Mason Verger (Gary Oldman) was a child stalker who, years ago, fell into Lecter's psychiatric care. Lecter, being a brilliant manipulator of minds, convinced Mason to use his autoerotic asphyxiation noose while slicing off his own face and feeding it to nearby dogs.

Having established himself with a string of low-budget, transgressive films, New Queer Cinema luminary Gregg Araki expanded his budgetary and artistic palette with his so-called Teen Apocalypse Trilogy, a series of narratively unrelated but thematically linked features about LGBTQ youths living on the margins of a Los Angeles redolent of the desiccated outskirts of the city as seen in Alex Cox’s Repo Man. Like that film, 1993’s Totally F***ed Up, 1995’s The Doom Generation, and 1997’s Nowhere are informed by the legacy and aesthetics of punk, but Araki builds on that foundation with styles drawn from the queer underground, as well as the rise of ’90s alternative music in its myriad forms of noise.

Totally F***ed Up sets the general narrative tone and atmosphere for all three features in the trilogy. Though it does have certain narrative through lines, the most significant of which is telegraphed by...

An eventful week in the waning days of a medieval English village provides the narrative backbone for Harvest, Athina Rachel Tsangari’s moody-verging-on-mopish adaptation of Jim Crace’s novel of the same name. The book is written in a bewitching prose style somewhere between a monologue and a first-person essay. Dialogue is sparse, much of it denoted as overheard half-phrases, and the overall ambience alien, which is more than apt for a setting—a lord-of-the-manor-ruled agricultural collective—effectively lost to time.

Tsangari, who co-wrote the screenplay with Joslyn Barnes, finds her own way into this foreign land by accentuating the grit and the grime. This is evident in everything from Sean Price Williams’s grainy 16mm cinematography (some sort of crud is always visible at the edges of the frame) to the lead casting of Caleb Landry Jones, a performer who often seems like he’s just emerged dazed and confused from primordial sludge.

The utter weirdness of Alex Cox’s remarkable debut—a document of L.A.’s hardcore punk scene that’s also an ode to its car culture, a critique of the American middle class, and a kind-of sci-fi comedy about a radioactive Chevy Malibu—would seem to preclude its existence. And yet here it is. Forty years later, Repo Man is no worse for the wear. Not so much ahead of its time as outside of it, the film’s L.A. punk particularities have broadened over the years. Its ennui has endured not just as a portrait of a certain generation of angry adolescents, but as one of angry adolescence writ large. In a way, the film’s timelessness has always been assured by Cox’s restless protagonist, Emilio Estevez’s suburban punk-cum-repossession agent Otto, who’s always seemed like a bit of a nonentity.

As much as Repo Man...

For those who like a good dose of honesty and chaos, the 1984 punk cult classic debut from Alex Cox, Repo Man is out in a 4K/Blu-ray combo. The release is beautiful; from the physical booklet to the actual restoration, this is a release you’ll want to pick up. Repo Man follows the raucous Bud, played by the legendary Harry Dean Stanton, Rip. He takes young punk Otto (a young Emilio Estevez) under his wing, and together, the two of them are nihilistic urban cowboys on the brink of annihilation, of both themselves and the other criminals and punks they collide with in Los Angeles. Otto and Bud get into trouble ¾ a lot. They fight...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Mafia: The Old Country, the highly anticipated fourth installment in the beloved series, is set to take players on a thrilling journey through the gritty underworld of early 20th-century Italy.

But while the game promises to be a masterclass in storytelling and immersive gameplay, there’s one country where the Mafia franchise is more than just a popular video game series—it’s a matter of national pride!

Over time, the series has developed a global fan base. | Image Credit: Hangar 13

That’s right, we’re talking about Czechia (also known as the Czech Republic)—the birthplace of the series and a country where the games are celebrated as a “national institution.” But what is it about this Central European nation that makes it such a hotbed for Mafia fandom?

A Homegrown Franchise with a Global Reach

The Mafia series has come a long way since its humble beginnings in the Czech Republic.

Is there a more entertainingly batshit movie from the ‘80s than Repo Man?

English filmmaker Alex Cox’s 1984 directorial debut is a satirical black comedy set in a version of Los Angeles (undoubtedly inspired by Cox’s years studying film at UCLA) where the food—even the alcohol—is blandly,...

Stars: Alex Cox, Niketa Roman, Satish Ratakonda, Harper Taylor, Brynn Taylor | Written and Directed by Phil Tippett

Mad God is a stop-motion, post-industrial, post-apocalyptic fever dream. It was brought to us via crowdfunding by Phil Tippett, a man who has Star Wars, Robocop and Jurassic Park in his resume. I assume Phil is the titular Mad God, rather than any of the monsters on display.

Visually, as grim as the views here are, the talent and craft on display here are incredible. The monster design, and the stop motion is all top-notch. There aren’t conventional acts in this film. As I sit here, I am not sure if moving scenes around, at random, twisting the mad rubrics cube would have made any difference. It is an hour and 20 minutes of grim suffering that has little of a linear path (that I can see).

We kick off, with an incredibly compelling opening.

Alex Cox's 1984 punk rock sci-fi riot "Repo Man" is one of the defining films of its decade. It follows a disaffected punker named Otto who resents that he has to take a wage-slave job in the blasted-open, comedically meaningless landscape of Reagan's America. He finds solace and job satisfaction as a repo man, serving as the angry inversion of consumer culture. If we are defined by what we consume, then the repo man robs us of meaning, laying bare the fragility of modern economics. Also, be sure to keep your middle fingers highly raised at all times. 

The magical McGuffin of "Repo Man" is an elusive 1964 Chevy Malibu, marked for repossession. The driver, however, is J. Frank Parnell (Fox Harris), and he seems to be unbalanced, having had a lobotomy at some point. Also, his trunk contains the corpse of a radioactive alien. Whenever someone tries looking in the trunk,...

23 years into his film career, Tom Hardy is still impossible to pin down. Is he a leading man? A full-on movie star? A character actor? Would he be perfectly happy to just make Venom movies until he retires?

Here's what we do know about Hardy: he's handsome, he loves trying on weird accents (which we ranked here at /Film), and he commits fully to every role whether it's a prestige picture or a superhero flick. Critics dig him (even if they do not dig the "Venom" movies at all), and he's tremendously respected by his fellow actors. He's one of the best we've got. But it's been 16 years since his breakthrough bravura performance in Nicolas Winding Refn's "Bronson," and, for whatever reason, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' membership has only managed to nominate him for one measly Oscar.

What gives?

While he's been magnificent in very...

For this week’s column, I spoke to Dawn Baillie, who is responsible for, or who has collaborated on, some of the most iconic American movie posters of the last four decades, from The Silence of the Lambs (1991) to Barbie (2023). Her work is currently the focus of an extraordinary ongoing exhibition at Poster House in New York City.I asked her if she would humor me by selecting her top ten movie posters of all time, now a tradition for this column. She most graciously accepted the challenge. Baillie’s top ten and comments are listed below in descending order. She explained that these are all posters she “refers to often,” and presents her selection with the caveat that she could easily list 50 more. Dawn Baillie’S Top Ten Favorite Movie POSTERS1. USA one-sheet by Erik Nitsche for All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, USA, 1950)When we talk about encapsulating...

Our ideas about the future, technology, and space are changing with us. The last two decades have seen a boom in sci-fi movies — big, auteur, ambitious, and even just overlooked.

You can find many of them on Netflix, and to help you navigate the sea of sci-fi projects, we selected only those with high Rotten Tomatoes scores.

1. Upgrade, 2018

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%

In the near future, various technologies are involved in all aspects of human life. But in this technological world, Grey is one of the few people who likes to work with his hands. He restores and repairs old cars.

One day, while returning from a client, Grey and his wife are involved in an accident and then fall into the hands of a gang of thugs, leaving the woman dead and Grey paralyzed from the neck down. A wealthy client offers the man an experimental Stem implant that can completely restore his mobility.

Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products announced each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.

Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga 4K Uhd from Warner Bros.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga drives onto home video on August 13 via Warner Bros. The fifth installment in the post-apocalyptic action franchise is presented on 4K Ultra HD with Dolby Vision/Hdr and Dolby Atmos audio.

Mad Max creator George Miller directs from a script he co-wrote with Nico Lathouris (Mad Max: Fury Road). Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Alyla Browne, and Lachy Hulme star.

Five featurettes are included: Highway to Valhalla: In Pursuit of Furiosa, Stowaway to Nowhere, Metal Beasts & Holy Motors, Darkest Angel: Anya Taylor-Joy as Furiosa, and Motorbike Messiah: Chris Hemsworth as Dementus.

The Toxic Avenger Figure from Super...

Marking one of their biggest 4K months yet, Criterion has announced a September lineup led by Gregg Araki’s Teen Apocalypse trilogy of The Doom Generation, Nowhere, and Totally F***ed Up in a rather full set, and all but the last in 4K. One of Criterion’s earliest titles, John Mackenzie’s The Long Good Friday, is receiving a sizable 480-to-2,160 upgrade; a more recent addition, Repo Man, also gets upgraded, hopefully fueling further interest for Alex Cox’s recently announced sequel.

On the new-film front, Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers makes the most-enviable home debut possible. And with regard to films I never thought would be presented in such profound resolution, Todd Solondz’s Happiness is given the 4K treatment, at long last supplying a companion to Life During Wartime.

See artwork below and find more details at Criterion:

The post The Criterion Collection’s September Lineup Includes Gregg Araki,...

Eulogizing the 1960s in a haze of marijuana smoke, psychotropic apparitions, ether vapors, and coke sweats, Terry Gilliam’s adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s brilliant, notorious 1971 novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas has aged startlingly well. Picked up by Gilliam when fellow cinematic madman Alex Cox dropped out, the project was long thought to be the most preposterous screen adaptation ever mounted—an impossibly addled switchback ride through the death rattles of the 1960s, compacted and then stretched out like silly putty over a three-day fever dream in the heart of Sin City.

For Gilliam, the sheer outrageousness of the dystopian Freedomland that Thompson had found or hallucinated about out in the desert while covering the Mint 400 motorcycle race for Sports Illustrated presented a perfect outlet for his giddy, often disturbing brand of inventiveness, and, indeed, Fear and Loathing stands as the Monty Python alum’s last completely successful work.

Chad Daybell was sentenced to death Saturday, two days after an Idaho jury found him guilty in the 2019 murders of his former wife Tammy Daybell and two children of his current wife, Lori Vallow Daybell.

On Thursday, Daybell was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy charges — including insurance fraud and grand theft — in connection to the 2019 killings. The jury began weighing Daybell’s punishment on Friday, and after about eight hours of deliberation, recommended the death penalty.

Judge Steven Boyce formally imposed the sentence of death Saturday, saying it was appropriate under the law,...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Film Forum

Films by Oshima, Tony Scott, Alex Cox, John Carpenter, Abel Ferrara, and Tobe Hooper play in “Out of the 80s“; Le Samouraï continues in a new 4K restoration; Back to the Future plays on Sunday.

Museum of Modern Art

A massive overview of Bulle Ogier has its final weekend with two films by Rivette.

Museum of the Moving Image

The Thin Red Line, The Big Lebowski, and Defending Your Life all play on 35mm as part of “See It Big at the ’90s Multiplex.”

Bam

The rarely screened films of György Pálfi are given a retrospective.

Metrograph

Films by Haneke, Kiarostami, and more play in an mk2 retrospective; Saturday brings Three Days of the Condor on 35mm; ’90s Noir, Euro-Heists, Dream with Your Eyes Open, and Ethics of Care, continue, while a Chris Marker series includes Sans Soleil and a shorts program.

Chad Daybell, the Idaho man charged with the 2019 killings of his former wife, Tammy Daybell, and two children of his current wife, Lori Vallow Daybell, was found guilty of first-degree murder by an Idaho jury on Thursday, CBS reported.

Daybell was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in his former wife’s death, conspiracy to commit murder and grand theft by deception in the deaths of Lori’s seven-year-old son “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old daughter Tylee Ryan, and insurance fraud. The prosecution requested the death penalty, and the...

Richard Foronjy, who spent more than eight years in prison before he turned to acting and appeared in such films as Serpico, Midnight Run, Repo Man and Carlito’s Way, died Sunday, his family announced. He was 86.

Foronjy said he was arrested more than 20 times for “forgery, bank robbery, credit card rip-offs, assorted crimes and skullduggery … [guilty of] almost everything except drugs and homicide,” he said in a 1987 interview with Upi’s Vernon Scott.

The Brooklyn native was convicted only once, but that got him an 8½-year stretch in the New York prisons Sing Sing and Attica before he was released when he was 32.

In Hollywood, not surprisingly, Foronjy specialized in portraying cops and crooks.

He was a cop killer in his screen debut, Serpico (1973), and cops in The Morning After (1986) and Prince of the City (1981), all for Sidney Lumet. “I was especially good at playing cops, no doubt because I got to...

To celebrate the release of Once Upon a Time in the West on 4K Ultra HD today, as part of a 4K Uhd & Blu-Ray Collector’s Edition, we have a Collector’s Edition to give away to a lucky winner!

Director Sergio Leone’s monumental Western classic Once Upon A Time In The West celebrates its 55th anniversary this year and to mark the occasion Paramount Home Entertainment will release the fully restored film for the first time on 4K Ultra HD on May 13, 2024, as part of a 4K Uhd & Blu-ray Collector’s Edition.

One of the most iconic and influential movies ever made, Once Upon A Time In The West has been restored from the original 35mm Techniscope camera negative by Paramount’s archive team, L’Immagine Ritrovata and The Film Foundation. This restoration honours the 2007 Film Foundation photochemical restoration overseen by legendary director Martin Scorsese by matching its build and colour palette.

Stars: Cedric Jonathan, Kennedy Wilson, Jaqueline McNulty, Craig Nigh, Van Quattro, Brenna Jones, Nik L. Guerra, Larissa Dali, Gary Kent, Don Daro, Michael L Garcia Jr. | Written by Stefan Ruf, John Herndon | Directed by Stefan Ruf

Stefan Ruf says that Coyote Woman, his follow-up to Motorpsycho Maniacs aka Sex Terrorists on Wheels, was inspired by both Ralph Nelson’s Soldier Blue and Bruno Mattei’s Scalps. That combination of critically acclaimed sadism and grindhouse sleaze certainly caught my attention and all but demanded I give it a review.

Deep Water and his warriors attack a family of settlers, scalping the parents and abducting the two daughters Iris who escapes on the way back to their village, and Cynthia (Jaqueline McNulty; The Great Turkey Miracle) who is adopted into the tribe.

Ten years later, J.J. Glanton and his right-hand man Judge Holden decide they’ve had enough of the Texas Rangers...

Eight months after his second wife, Lori Vallow, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders of her seven-year-old son “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old daughter Tylee Ryan, as well as conspiring to kill his first wife, Tammy Daybell, Chad Daybell is standing trial in Idaho for the same crimes.

Daybell is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, three counts of conspiracy to commit murder, grand theft, and insurance fraud. If convicted of the murder charges, he faces the death penalty — a possibility dismissed...

Dynamite Entertainment’s “King Kong: The Great War” #5, is written by Alex Cox and illustrated by Tommaso Bianchi, with covers by Jae Lee, Jackson Guice and Joe DeVito:

“…our heroes finally reach the safety of high ground as they scale the deadly island’s skull-shaped mountain. Safe from ‘Kong, they can see human civilization in the distance. But will the cave in which they have taken refuge prove to be a sanctuary — or a mortuary?!?…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

Ethan Coen's queer roadtrip film "Drive-Away Dolls" is set in 1997, and feels like an escapee from that era, for better and for worse. On the one hand, it possesses all the impish, make-the-straights-squirm energy of a legit '90s indie lesbian farce. It is not just upfront about its queerness, but confrontationally playful about it. "Drive-Away Dolls" unapologetically and cartoonishly plunges audiences into lesbian basement make-out parties and rowdy gay bars, flinging about cunnilingus jokes, masturbation scenes, and multiple on-screen dildos with gleeful impunity. It's a lightweight, weirdly teen-friendly (but very R-rated) slumber party movie with an upbeat and liberating "be gay, do crime" vibe. It's a queer, hand grenade-shaped squeak toy. 

On the other hand, however, "Drive-Away Dolls" is being released in 2024, and the very fact that it depicts queer characters having queer sex and talking about queer issues isn't nearly as confrontational as it once was. There...

Get ready to dive back into the punk rock sci-fi wasteland of 1984’s Repo Man — a sequel, titled Repo Man 2: The Wages of Beer, has been announced, with the original writer and director, Alex Cox, set to return.

The story was first reported by Variety, who confirmed that Cox would be in the director’s chair, with Kiowa Gordon (Twilight) starring as the punk-turned-repo-man, Otto, portrayed by Emilio Estevez in the original. Plot-wise, the new film will pick up right where the original left off, following Otto after a brief trip “across the infinities of time and space,” which has only aged him “exactly 90 minutes.”

According to filmmakers, Repo Man 2 will “deliver an enthralling mix of punk energy, existential comedy, and unconventional storytelling, navigating the absurd and chaotic world of repo men into a new age of nuclear brinkmanship and driverless cars.”

Repo Man 2: The Wages of Beer...

“It’s a mystery… it’s a comedy… it’s a chase… it’s the forces of law against the representatives of discontented youth… against the finest minds in government… and they’re all in pursuit of a ’64 Chevy Malibu from… who knows where,” the original theatrical trailer for 1984’s Repo Man previewed. A fitting description for an oddball cult classic that’s… getting a sequel?!

40 years later, director Alex Cox is returning to the world of Repo Man with sequel Repo Man 2: The Wages of Beer, and Indiewire broke the news of the project this week.

According to the site, the upcoming sequel Repo Man 2 will “take place in a world of self-driving cars and an even more pressing threat of global destruction.”

“The advent of incredible technology means, for the repo man, that everything has changed — and nothing has changed,” Cox explained to Indiewire in an email this week.

Alex Cox’s 1984 “Repo Man” was a Reagan-era satire about consumerism and the Atomic Age. Its punk rock soundtrack transformed it into a cult hit, but its funny and strange combination of sci-fi, workplace comedy, and the fear of nuclear annihilation made it an enduring classic.

Forty years later, Cox will revisit the repo man and the world of bland, generic grocery store clerks stocking and selling “Food” and “Beer” day in and day out. He has written and will direct a sequel, “Repo Man 2: The Wages of Beer,” and he told IndieWire why this film will embody “the repo world of 2024.”

Cox said “The Wages of Beer” will take place in a world of self-driving cars and an even more pressing threat of global destruction. “The advent of incredible technology means, for the repo man, that everything has changed — and nothing has changed,” he said via email.

Alex Cox is finally getting Repo Man 2 off the ground, and it’s set to be called Repo Man 2: The Wages Of Beer – more here.

It’s been seven years since British director Alex Cox’s last feature – Tombstone Rashomon – was released. But in a surprise piece of news, he’s heading back behind the camera again, for a project he previously tried to get going in the 1990s.

It’s a sequel to his 1984 cult favourite Repo Man, a film that starred Harry Dean Stanton and Emilio Estevez. It’s a satirical science fiction thriller, set in 1960s America, that never set the box office alight, but has earned its audience over time.

Now comes the news that Alex Cox has written the script for Repo Man 2: The Wages Of Beer, that he’s raising funds for at the European Film Market over the next week or so.

Marking an incredible escape from director jail, Alex Cox is ramping up his first feature in seven years (and perhaps the first well-financed project in 20-plus). At this year’s Berlinale and European Film Market he’ll shop Repo Man 2: The Wages of Beer, which continues directly from his 1984 cult classic as Otto, having aged a total of 90 minutes, boards “his trusty 1967 Chevy Malibu to journey across the infinities of time and space.” [Variety]

Cox has mostly laid low in recent years, directing the odd microbudget project here and there––among them a spiritual sequel, Repo Chick, that looks more like a Tim and Eric sketch than studio production––making this return to feature filmmaking quite notable. Though primarily known for Repo Man or Sid and Nancy, his filmography’s studded with treasures: Walker, Straight to Hell, and (personal favorite) Three Businessmen boast a punk-with-classicism sensibility that is simply non pareil.

Per Variety, Alex Cox is ready to return to the bizarre world of car repossession and extraterrestrials. The outlet reports that the director is set to helm Repo Man 2: The Wages of Beer, a long-belated sequel to the 1984 cult classic.

The original movie starred Emilio Estevez as Otto, a young punk who is recruited by a car repossession agency and finds himself in pursuit of a Chevrolet Malibu that is wanted for a $20,000 bounty – and has something otherworldly stashed in its trunk. The sequel will pick up “after Otto has boarded his trusty 1967 Chevy Malibu to journey across the infinities of time and space. In that time, he has aged exactly 90 minutes.” As Estevez is naturally a little too old to reprise the role, Kiowa Gordon has stepped in to play Otto in the sequel.

Related Rip: Harry Dean Stanton has passed away at 91

Gordon is best known for...

Alex Cox is getting back behind the wheel.

The “Repo Man” director is revisiting the off-kilter world of extraterrestrials and car repossession that he mined so memorably in the 1984 cult classic in a new sequel that is being introduced to buyers at the Berlin Film Festival and European Film Market. Entitled “Repo Man 2: The Wages of Beer,” the film is being backed by Buffalo 8 Productions, a film and media company best known for the critically acclaimed work on Netflix series “The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes.” Cox wrote the script along with directing the film.

Kiowa Gordon, best known for his role as Embry Call in “The Twilight Saga” and for his work in the AMC series “Dark Winds,” is set to lead the cast as Otto. Emilio Estevez played Otto in the 1984 original. The film picks up after Otto has boarded his trusty 1967 Chevy Malibu to journey across the infinities of time and space.

The 4K remasters of James Cameron’s The Abyss, True Lies and Aliens are coming in for criticism – and AI is getting some of the blame.

James Cameron has long been one of my favourite directors, and I’m not alone. I can still remember where I saw many of his films for the first time, especially the early titles, as I was growing up.

The Terminator premiered on BBC2 in a series called Moviedrome where the film was introduced by director Alex Cox. The Abyss I saw on a Sunday evening as it premiered on Channel 4, an infamous broadcast where the uncut version was mistakenly screened.

Being a fan, I have always purchased the latest physical media edition of Cameron’s films. I even bought into the UK laserdisc market at the wrong time, six months before the launch of DVD (I had no idea!), and purchased Terminator 2...

Robby Müller: Living The Light director Claire Pijman will do a Q&a with Andrea Müller-Schirmer following the 2:30pm screening at Metrograph on Sunday, October 1 Photo: Claire Pijman

Claire Pijman’s resourceful and enlightening documentary, Robby Müller: Living The Light (with a score by Jim Jarmusch and Carter Logan’s Sqùrl), is a big part of the series, Robby Müller: Remain in Light, at Metrograph that celebrates the legendary cinematographer, who died in 2018. Films by Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch, Sara Driver’s When Pigs Fly, Andrzej Wajda’s Korczak, Alex Cox’s Repo Man, Peter Bogdanovich’s Saint Jack, William Friedkin’s To Live And Die In LA, and Michael Winterbottom’s 24 Hour Party People will all be shown.

Claire Pijman with Anne-Katrin Titze on Robby Müller and Wim Wenders’ Buena Vista Social Club: “That’s how I got to know him, and since then we stayed...

The list of directors who put their trust in Robby Müller could constitute a nice history of post-war cinema. A retrospective of films on which he served as Dp reflects accordingly––so’s the case with Metrograph’s “Robby Müller: Remain in Light,” which starts on Friday, September 29, and for which we’re glad to debut the trailer.

Contained therein are bits and pieces of what Metrograph attendees can anticipate. The series will offer a chance to see (among others) 24 Hour Party People, Alice in the Cities, The American Friend, Barfly, Breaking the Waves, Dead Man, Down by Law, Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai, Kings of the Road, Korczak, Living the Light – Robby Müller, Mystery Train, Repo Man, Saint Jack, To Live and Die in L.A., When Pigs Fly, The Wrong Move, and Paris, Texas. The opening night will be anchored by “a panel on Müller’s continued influence on filmmaking,...

Cars, it’s often been observed, offer a sort of contradiction of motion: They allow us to move around while sitting still. It only makes sense, then, that the movies have for so long been attracted to the allure of the automobile, for surely the appeal of the cinema lies in its capacity to take us from the comfort of the theater or living room to adventures around the world. The greatest car movies—movies about cars, largely set in cars, or otherwise significantly concerned with them—understand that our affection for our vehicles has as much to do with the possible freedoms they promise as the routines they let us uphold. Cars drive us to and from work every day, keeping our lives precisely ordered. But they also suggest escape: We’re always aware, faintly, that we could drive away from it all at any moment, out and off...

Ray Price, the respected indie film innovator who served as president of American Zoetrope and First Look Pictures and as a marketing and distribution executive for companies including Landmark Theatres and Trimark Pictures, has died. He was 75.

Price died Sunday at Whittier Hospital Medical Center from heart failure after a long battle with cancer, his longtime partner, Meg Madison, said.

Throughout his career, Price displayed an encyclopedic knowledge of film, mentored generations of executives and leaned toward the outrageous in the ways he lured audiences to sample challenging movies.

Along the way, he championed filmmakers including Carl Franklin (1992’s One False Move), Allison Anders (1992’s Gas Food Lodging), Tran Anh Hung (1993’s The Scent of Green Papaya), Gurinder Chadha (1993’s Bhaji on the Beach) and John Sayles (1994’s The Secret of Roan Inish).

“Ray, while being a defiantly singular individual, was also emblematic of a bygone age of independent film,...

After a grueling month-long trial and seven hours of jury deliberations at a Boise courthouse, Lori Vallow has been found guilty of a conspiracy to murder her children, Tylee Ryan and J.J. Vallow, with husband Chad Daybell. She was also found guilty of a conspiracy to murder Daybell’s previous wife, Tammy Daybell. Vallow, who showed no emotion as the verdict was read, faces up to life in prison when sentenced, which Judge Steven Boyce said could be in about three months.

“Everything aligned in the universe, and this is what you call poetic justice,...

The closely followed month-long trial of Lori Vallow for an alleged conspiracy to murder her children, J.J. Vallow and Tylee Ryan, with husband Chad Daybell, neared its conclusion on Thursday, as attorneys made their closing arguments to a jury in Boise, Idaho.

Madison County prosecutor Rob Wood addressed the court first, laying out what he said was a calculated plan by Vallow and Daybell, who were having an affair, to remove people who stood in the way of their life together — and profit from it.

“Money, power, and sex. Beginning...

They say “sex sells” in Hollywood, right? But what about drugs? After all, once the production code was lifted, successful counterculture drug movies like Easy Rider gave way to the indie auteur movement in American cinema in the 1960s and 70s, where Hollywood renegades like Brian De Palma and Martin Scorsese picked up the mantle and went on to make all-time classics like Scarface and Goodfellas decades later. In the interim, there has been no shortage of critical and commercial drug movie successes, be they Blow, Sicario, Traffic, The Wolf of Wall Street, you name it.

So then, Wtf Happened to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? Seriously. How does such an authentic movie from the altered mindstate of Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, one directed by the venerated filmmaker Terry Gilliam and featuring unforgettable performances by Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro… how does a movie like that stumble...

After days of testimony from acquaintances about Lori Vallow‘s fringe religious beliefs, seen as a motivating factor in the alleged conspiracy with husband Chad Daybell to murder her children Tylee Ryan and J.J. Vallow, an Idaho jury heard testimony from her surviving adult son, Colby Ryan.

“Oh my baby,” Vallow, 49, reportedly mouthed as Ryan, 27, entered the Boise courtroom. According to East Idaho News reporter Nate Eaton, Ryan mostly avoided eye contact with his mother during his appearance on the witness stand, even as she stared at him.

Vallow has...

Some context might help. Between 1988 and 1997 the Baltimore-based filmmaker Rob Tregenza directed three features that amassed a small, enviable group of admirers. If it’s one thing to secure bookings at arthouses and galleries, it’s quite another for your debut film to be anointed some groundbreaking moment in American movies by Jonathan Rosenbaum and Dave Kehr. It is simply beyond precedent to attract the interest of Jean-Luc Godard: the two met during distribution of 1996’s For Ever Mozart and amassed enough kinship for Godard to extend favors to Tregenza’s 1997 feature Inside/Out, the sole feature he produced without directing.

What almost anyone sees of Tregenza’s work are cinematographer duties for Alex Cox (Three Businessmen) and Béla Tarr (Werckmeister Harmonies). His own films, meanwhile, struggled to endure: in all my travels he only came to attention with Godard’s passing and word of that producing credit, and...

Out on the edge of the Mojave Desert, a cop pulls over a speeder. Arrogantly approaching the apprehended speeder's car, he casually asks the driver what's in the trunk. The driver (Fox Harris) ominously replies, "You don't want to look in there." This, of course, makes the cop suspicious, so he decides to look anyway. When the trunk swings open, a horrifying red light spills out. The cop attempts to shield his eyes, but the red light quickly vaporizes his body. Only the cop's boots are left behind, his smoking remains dispersing into the desert breezes. The speeder pulls away.

So begins Alex Cox's seminal 1984 punk rock epic "Repo Man," one of the best movies ever made. "Repo Man" stands in deliberate, wrathful defiance of capitalism, a big F.U. to the almighty dollar. Like a punk ballad itself, "Repo Man" is a ball of concentrated rage, designed to...

Wow, a ‘new’ Sam Peckinpah western! While we await the rumored Blu-ray of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid to surface (or was Alex Cox misinformed?), correspondent Darren Gross has come across a watchable web encoding of a Peckinpah TV drama that seems to be more or less ‘lost.’ Good star performances and intense characterizations prove once again that Peckinpah could deliver superior dramatics. The home video companies should do some investigating — there’s a market out there for this one.

The Lady Is My Wife

TV episode of Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater

CineSavant Revival Screening Review

1967 / Color / 1:33 TV / 47 min. / first Aired February 1, 1967 / Not on Home Video

Starring: Jean Simmons, Bradford Dillman, Alex Cord, Begoña Palacios, L.Q. Jones, Roberto Contreras, Alan Baxter, Jim Boles, Billy M. Greene, E.J. André, Billy M. Greene.

Cinematography: Dale Deverman

Art Director: Lloyd S. Papez

Costumes: Kay Hayden

Film Editor: Edward Biery...

These days he's known as one of the finest actors in the industry for his almost unmatched versatility and range. Gary Oldman is frequently unrecognizable from role to role. Not only has he built a respected career as a result, but back in the mid-80s — before his appearances in the Harry Potter franchise or Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight" trilogy — Oldman was coming off an acclaimed run in the theater and was yet to make his name in the film industry.

Having starred in 1982's "Remembrance," the actor wouldn't appear in another film until 1986 when he had to be talked into playing Sid Vicious. By his own admission, Oldman had little to no interest in the Sex Pistols bassist (or punk in general), but was convinced by director Alex Cox to take on the lead role in his retelling of Vicious' dysfunctional relationship with Nancy Spungen. Almost 30 years later,...

Courtney Love said she was offered the role of Janis Joplin in a movie about the classic rock musician’s life. Here’s what Love said about Joplin and some of the Hole singer’s acting highlights.

(L-r) Courtney Love and Janis Joplin | Darren Gerrish/WireImage; Paul Ryan/Michael Ochs Archives Courtney Love said she was chosen to play Janis Joplin in a movie

Singer Courtney Love revealed she was once offered to play Janis Joplin in a movie while discussing the possibility of a biopic about her late husband, Kurt Cobain.

“There was talk of a biopic a few years back,” she told HuffPost in July 2013. “I think I changed my mind about it, but I did do a deal with Universal.” Love named some of the actors considered to portray her in the film. “Scarlett Johansson was into it; I was also into Michelle Williams. These were the...

The prolific producer of more than 90 movies across seven decades, it’s being reported today that Edward R. Pressman passed away on Tuesday in Los Angeles at the age of 79.

Edward Pressman’s notable genre credits include American Psycho and The Crow, as well as genre-spanning films including Conan the Barbarian, Judge Dredd, Bad Lieutenant, Phantom of the Paradise, Sisters, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and the slasher Christmas Evil.

Pressman also produced films including Crimewave, Masters of the Universe, Wall Street, Blue Steel, Street Fighter, Wendigo, Party Monster, Thank You for Smoking, and She Will (2022).

Variety notes, “Pressman was born in New York to Jack and Lynn Pressman, the founders of Pressman Toy. After studying philosophy at Stanford, he went to grad school at the London School of Economics, where he met director Paul Williams. The filmmakers came to Hollywood, where they secured a two-picture deal from United Artists.

Maverick independent producer Edward R. “Ed” Pressman, who shepherded more than 90 movies including “Wall Street,” “Badlands,” “Bad Lieutenant,” “Conan the Barbarian” and “American Psycho,” died Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 79.

The fiercely independent producer had an impressive track record for discovering new talent, having worked with an array of notable filmmakers including Oliver Stone, Werner Herzog, Kathryn Bigelow, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Alex Cox, Brian De Palma, Abel Ferrara, Terrence Malick, John Milius and Mary Harron.

Pressman shepherded De Palma’s early films “Sisters” and “Phantom of the Paradise,” as well as Malick’s directorial debut “Badlands” with Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen.

His longtime collaboration with Oliver Stone started with the filmmaker’s directing debut “The Hand,” and Pressman met his future wife, actor Annie McEnroe, on the set of that film. Pressman went on to produce Stone’s “Talk Radio” and “Wall Street,” and the sequel “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.

Chapo Trap House listeners—of which there are, by magnitudes, more than nearly any podcast that has ever existed—know host Will Menaker as progenitor of Movie Mindset, with which Film Stage readers could hardly be more simpatico. His Twitter is as likely to sound off about something recently watched as it is the latest antics and horrors of contemporary America—two things sometimes inseparable, of course, but Menaker’s enthusiasms are well-stated and direct enough to take wholesale. Peep his Letterboxd and it’s a whole other ballgame: a clear statement on Movie Mindset as the finest way to live.

As a longtime Chapo listener I could hardly have been happier to talk with Menaker about his favorite films of 2022, the lines between political thought and pure enjoyment, and his fascinating, Philip K. Dick-like theory on how art shapes the world around us.

So said Menaker as we...

For the season 5 season finale, Writer/Director/Producer Adam McKay returns to the podcast to discuss movies from his favorite year of cinema… 1987.

The Movies That Made Me will return with Season 6 in January. Happy Holidays! Thank you for listening!

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Tin Men (1987)

Billy Jack (1971)

The Menu (2022)

Boyz N The Hood (1991) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Menace II Society (1991)

Straight Out Of Brooklyn (1991)

Do The Right Thing (1989) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

School Daze (1988)

The Swarm (1978) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The Squeeze (1987)

Squeeze Play (1979) – Lloyd Kaufman’s trailer commentary

Diner (1982)

Robocop (1987) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray reviews

The Evil Dead (1983) – Fede Alvarez’s trailer commentary

Evil Dead II (1987) – Mike Mendez’s trailer commentary, Alex Kirschenbaum’s review

Broadcast News (1987)

Raising Arizona (1987)

The Princess Bride (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

This Is Spinal Tap (1984) – John Landis’s...