Playing in competition in Annecy after premiering in Cannes, Jérémie Périn’s sci-fi thriller “Mars Express” offers an uncommon spin on modern anxieties — particularly when it comes to AI.
“We so often imagine that if robots became sentient, they’ll kill us,” Périn tells Variety. “Or we see many sci-fi films where robots want to become human. In short, humans are always the point of reference – so mysterious and strange and interesting, such an amazing species. We’re a bit pretentious, and I didn’t want to play on that.”
Written by Périn and Laurent Sarfati, “Mars Express” serves a heady pop-culture cocktail, mixing hard-boiled fiction with science-fantasy comix, riffing on Philip Marlow and Philip K. Dick (with winks to “Watchmen” and “Robocop” and oh so many more) with a mystery yarn that places humans and cyborgs on equal footing.
“The film says robots and human are different, so we have to accept those differences.
“We so often imagine that if robots became sentient, they’ll kill us,” Périn tells Variety. “Or we see many sci-fi films where robots want to become human. In short, humans are always the point of reference – so mysterious and strange and interesting, such an amazing species. We’re a bit pretentious, and I didn’t want to play on that.”
Written by Périn and Laurent Sarfati, “Mars Express” serves a heady pop-culture cocktail, mixing hard-boiled fiction with science-fantasy comix, riffing on Philip Marlow and Philip K. Dick (with winks to “Watchmen” and “Robocop” and oh so many more) with a mystery yarn that places humans and cyborgs on equal footing.
“The film says robots and human are different, so we have to accept those differences.
- 6/12/2023
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
We’re on the road again with a pair of eccentric new-age hobos, the kind that just can’t hack it in polite society. Gene Hackman and Al Pacino’s conflicting acting styles get a workout in Jerry Schatzberg’s tale of drifters cursed with iffy goals; Vilmos Zsigmond’s Panavision cinematography helped it earn a big prize at Cannes.
Scarecrow
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1973 / Color / 2:40 widescreen / 112 min. / Street Date October 31, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Gene Hackman, Al Pacino, Dorothy Tristan, Ann Wedgeworth, Richard Lynch, Eileen Brennan, Penny Allen, Richard Hackman, Al Cingolani, Rutanya Alda.
Cinematography: Vilmos Zsigmond
Film Editor: Evan Lottman, Craig McKay
Production Design: Albert Brenner
Original Music: Fred Myrow
Written by Garry Michael White
Produced by Robert M. Sherman
Directed by Jerry Schatzberg
Movie-wise, everything was up in the air in the early 1970s. The view from Westwood in West Los Angeles, then the place to go see a film,...
Scarecrow
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1973 / Color / 2:40 widescreen / 112 min. / Street Date October 31, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Gene Hackman, Al Pacino, Dorothy Tristan, Ann Wedgeworth, Richard Lynch, Eileen Brennan, Penny Allen, Richard Hackman, Al Cingolani, Rutanya Alda.
Cinematography: Vilmos Zsigmond
Film Editor: Evan Lottman, Craig McKay
Production Design: Albert Brenner
Original Music: Fred Myrow
Written by Garry Michael White
Produced by Robert M. Sherman
Directed by Jerry Schatzberg
Movie-wise, everything was up in the air in the early 1970s. The view from Westwood in West Los Angeles, then the place to go see a film,...
- 11/25/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Dear Michael,
Can we call you Michael? Mike? No? Mr. Fassbender it is. So, we've seen your new movie The Snowman, and we should start off by saying we're big fans of your work. The political prisoner on a hunger strike, the sex addict in a downward spiral, the slave owner that's emblematic of a whole 360-degree dehumanizing institution, the mutant guy, the android guy, the guy who gets the shit kicked out of him by Gina Carano, the shirtless sword-and-sandal dude, the other shirtless sword-and-sandal dude – it's a solid resumé,...
Can we call you Michael? Mike? No? Mr. Fassbender it is. So, we've seen your new movie The Snowman, and we should start off by saying we're big fans of your work. The political prisoner on a hunger strike, the sex addict in a downward spiral, the slave owner that's emblematic of a whole 360-degree dehumanizing institution, the mutant guy, the android guy, the guy who gets the shit kicked out of him by Gina Carano, the shirtless sword-and-sandal dude, the other shirtless sword-and-sandal dude – it's a solid resumé,...
- 10/20/2017
- Rollingstone.com
Everyone notices the eyes first, languid, those of a somnambulist. Robert Mitchum, calm and observant, is a presence that, through passivity, enamors a viewer. His face is as effulgent as moonlight. The man smolders, with that boozy, baritone voice, seductive and soporific, a cigarette perched between wispy lips below which is a chin cleft like a geological fault. He’s slithery with innuendo. There’s an effortless allure to it all, a mix of malaise and braggadocio, a cocksure machismo and a hint of fragility. He’s ever-cool, a paradox, “radiating heat without warmth,” as Richard Brody said. A poet, a prodigious lover and drinker, a bad boy; his penchant for marijuana landed him in jail, and in the photographs from his two-month stay he looks like a natural fit. He sits, wrapped in denim, legs spread wide, hair shiny and slick, holding a cup of coffee. His mouth is...
- 9/29/2017
- MUBI
Ryan Lambie Oct 2, 2017
We talk to director Ridley Scott about Blade Runner 2049, the lasting influence of the 1982 original, ancient aliens, flutes, and more...
It's mid-September, and a rug-thick layer of secrecy lies over Blade Runner 2049, the belated sequel to Ridley Scott's 1982 classic. Before our interview with Scott, who executive produces, we're shown approximately half an hour of footage: Ryan Gosling trudging moodily through futuristic landscapes as a new Replicant hunter, K; glimpses of Jared Leto as a new creator of artificial life, named Niander Wallace.
See related Bunny And The Bull interview with Paul King, Simon Farnaby and Edward Hogg Brendan Gleeson interview: The Guard, Don Cheadle, Crocodile Dundee and more
Directed by Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Sicario, Arrival), Blade Runner 2049 looks spectacular, with the same measured, ethereal pace that made the original film such a masterpiece. Exactly what K's mission is - and how it ties...
We talk to director Ridley Scott about Blade Runner 2049, the lasting influence of the 1982 original, ancient aliens, flutes, and more...
It's mid-September, and a rug-thick layer of secrecy lies over Blade Runner 2049, the belated sequel to Ridley Scott's 1982 classic. Before our interview with Scott, who executive produces, we're shown approximately half an hour of footage: Ryan Gosling trudging moodily through futuristic landscapes as a new Replicant hunter, K; glimpses of Jared Leto as a new creator of artificial life, named Niander Wallace.
See related Bunny And The Bull interview with Paul King, Simon Farnaby and Edward Hogg Brendan Gleeson interview: The Guard, Don Cheadle, Crocodile Dundee and more
Directed by Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Sicario, Arrival), Blade Runner 2049 looks spectacular, with the same measured, ethereal pace that made the original film such a masterpiece. Exactly what K's mission is - and how it ties...
- 9/18/2017
- Den of Geek
Arthur Penn’s detective movie is one of the best ever in the genre, one that rewards repeat viewings particularly well. Gumshoe Harry Moseby compartmentalizes his marriage, his job, his past and the greedy Hollywood has-beens he meets, not realizing that everything is interconnected, and fully capable of assembling a world-class conspiracy. Gene Hackman tops a sterling cast in the film that introduced most of us to Melanie Griffith.
Night Moves
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1975 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 100 min. / Street Date August 15, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, Melanie Griffith, Susan Clark, Edward Binns, Harris Yulin, Kenneth Mars, Janet Ward, James Woods, Anthony Costello.
Cinematography: Bruce Surtees
Production Designer: George Jenkins
Film Editor: Dede Allen
Original Music: Michael Small
Written by Alan Sharp
Produced by Robert M. Sherman
Directed by Arthur Penn
Night Moves is a superb detective thriller that plays with profound ideas without getting its fingers burned.
Night Moves
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1975 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 100 min. / Street Date August 15, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, Melanie Griffith, Susan Clark, Edward Binns, Harris Yulin, Kenneth Mars, Janet Ward, James Woods, Anthony Costello.
Cinematography: Bruce Surtees
Production Designer: George Jenkins
Film Editor: Dede Allen
Original Music: Michael Small
Written by Alan Sharp
Produced by Robert M. Sherman
Directed by Arthur Penn
Night Moves is a superb detective thriller that plays with profound ideas without getting its fingers burned.
- 8/15/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
No genre illustrates the evolution of cinema better than the crime film. As recently as the ’90s, Hollywood regularly released stories of cops-and-robber showdowns and mystery-thrillers based on best-selling novels — but as the middle class continues to disappear from Hollywood films, smart crime stories moved to television (see: “The Sopranos,” “The Wire,” “Breaking Bad,” “The Night Of,” et. al.).
Outside the studios, there is a longstanding tradition – from the B-movies to the Coen brothers – of new directors showcasing their filmmaking chops with dark, stylish, and intense crime sagas. A surge of new filmmakers in the ’90s brought fresh interpretations to the genre, from the pastiche of “Reservoir Dogs” to the unnerving realism in “Boyz n the Hood.”
Read MoreThe 50 Best Films of the ’90s, From ‘Pulp Fiction’ to ‘Groundhog Day’
These days, many of the best contemporary directors — including Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, Mann, the Coens, Park Chan-wook and Spike Lee – still love the genre,...
Outside the studios, there is a longstanding tradition – from the B-movies to the Coen brothers – of new directors showcasing their filmmaking chops with dark, stylish, and intense crime sagas. A surge of new filmmakers in the ’90s brought fresh interpretations to the genre, from the pastiche of “Reservoir Dogs” to the unnerving realism in “Boyz n the Hood.”
Read MoreThe 50 Best Films of the ’90s, From ‘Pulp Fiction’ to ‘Groundhog Day’
These days, many of the best contemporary directors — including Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, Mann, the Coens, Park Chan-wook and Spike Lee – still love the genre,...
- 8/11/2017
- by Chris O'Falt, Kate Erbland, David Ehrlich, Zack Sharf, Jamie Righetti, Michael Nordine, Steve Greene and Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Mubi is presenting the world premiere of James N. Kientiz Wilkins' The Republic from July 4 - August 3, 2017.The cinema of James N. Kienitz Wilkins occupies an unusual space in the contemporary art scene. Most of his films are the result of some sort of conceptual procedure, a decision either to treat his original footage according to some abstract system or to apply his own logic to found material. And yet, there is a plainspoken quality to Kienitz Wilkins’ work that smooths out any potential “art damage” or intimidation factor. Kienitz Wilkins has successfully adapted some of the most critical weapons in the arsenal of experimental cinema to produce a stark poetry of the everyday.Kienitz Wilkins’ newest “film,” The Republic, is quite possibly his most radical effort to date. For starters, you will notice that I put the word “film” in quotation marks, since it is no easy matter to...
- 7/4/2017
- MUBI
Powers Boothe Powers Boothe never really got his due. A character actor par excellence, I’m sure that for awhile there it looked like he would become a full-fledged leading man. He made a big impression playing Jim Jones in “Guyana Tragedy”, for which he won an Emmy, and later starred in one of the first ever HBO series, “Philip Marlowe: Private Eye”.... Read More...
- 6/5/2017
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Screen legend Powers Boothe died on Sunday. He was 68.
Boothe, best known for his powerhouse performances in westerns like Tombstone and the HBO original series Deadwood, died of natural causes in his sleep Sunday morning, the actor's rep confirmed to Et.
Photos: Stars We've Lost In Recent Years
Boothe's death was first announced on Twitter by his friend and colleague, Beau Bridges, who wrote, "It's with great sadness that I mourn the passing of my friend Powers Boothe. A dear friend, great actor, devoted father & husband."
The actor made his film debut in the 1977 film The Goodbye Girl, and built a career on playing mainly darker, villainous roles. Recently, he starred as the sinister Senator Roark in 2005's Sin City and its sequel, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, in 2014.
Boothe also worked extensively on a number of TV shows, including Philip Marlow, Private Eye in the 1980s and the political thriller 24. Most recently, he had a recurring...
Boothe, best known for his powerhouse performances in westerns like Tombstone and the HBO original series Deadwood, died of natural causes in his sleep Sunday morning, the actor's rep confirmed to Et.
Photos: Stars We've Lost In Recent Years
Boothe's death was first announced on Twitter by his friend and colleague, Beau Bridges, who wrote, "It's with great sadness that I mourn the passing of my friend Powers Boothe. A dear friend, great actor, devoted father & husband."
The actor made his film debut in the 1977 film The Goodbye Girl, and built a career on playing mainly darker, villainous roles. Recently, he starred as the sinister Senator Roark in 2005's Sin City and its sequel, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, in 2014.
Boothe also worked extensively on a number of TV shows, including Philip Marlow, Private Eye in the 1980s and the political thriller 24. Most recently, he had a recurring...
- 5/15/2017
- Entertainment Tonight
Powers Boothe, best known for his role as Cy Tolliver on HBO’s critically acclaimed Deadwood, has died. He was 68.
Boothe died in his sleep of natural causes Sunday morning, his publicist confirms to TVLine. Word of his passing was first reported by actor Beau Bridges, who took to Twitter on Sunday afternoon to eulogize his “dear friend.”
It's with great sadness that I mourn the passing of my friend Powers Boothe. A dear friend, great actor, devoted father & husband.
— Beau Bridges (@MrBeauBridges) May 14, 2017
Boothe first broke out as the title character in the 1980 miniseries Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones,...
Boothe died in his sleep of natural causes Sunday morning, his publicist confirms to TVLine. Word of his passing was first reported by actor Beau Bridges, who took to Twitter on Sunday afternoon to eulogize his “dear friend.”
It's with great sadness that I mourn the passing of my friend Powers Boothe. A dear friend, great actor, devoted father & husband.
— Beau Bridges (@MrBeauBridges) May 14, 2017
Boothe first broke out as the title character in the 1980 miniseries Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones,...
- 5/15/2017
- TVLine.com
This London-set crime drama looks to classic noir cinema for its cues, but gets overwhelmed by its own sense of style
Not even the reassuring presence of Riz Ahmed can prevent this London-set thriller from becoming another addition to that burgeoning sub-genre: the underwhelming gritty British crime drama. Ahmed plays whisky-supping, nocturnally inclined private dick Tommy, a Marylebone Philip Marlowe tasked with hunting down a missing person after a prostitute comes knocking at his door. Cue a sprawling investigation that takes Tommy to the darkest corners of the capital, where he finds an old schoolfriend turned business mogul, and a fundamentalist imam. All the while, Tommy is haunted by a harrowing incident from his teenage years, thanks to the reappearance of femme fatale-y old flame Shelley (an underused Billie Piper).
Related: Riz Ahmed: ‘We have to be vocal. We’re living in scary times’
Continue reading...
Not even the reassuring presence of Riz Ahmed can prevent this London-set thriller from becoming another addition to that burgeoning sub-genre: the underwhelming gritty British crime drama. Ahmed plays whisky-supping, nocturnally inclined private dick Tommy, a Marylebone Philip Marlowe tasked with hunting down a missing person after a prostitute comes knocking at his door. Cue a sprawling investigation that takes Tommy to the darkest corners of the capital, where he finds an old schoolfriend turned business mogul, and a fundamentalist imam. All the while, Tommy is haunted by a harrowing incident from his teenage years, thanks to the reappearance of femme fatale-y old flame Shelley (an underused Billie Piper).
Related: Riz Ahmed: ‘We have to be vocal. We’re living in scary times’
Continue reading...
- 4/7/2017
- by Gwilym Mumford
- The Guardian - Film News
Melding together genres seldom works. It’s a delicate balancing act; tone is key, and when either (or both) are off the whole thing can come crashing down. By 1991, HBO was already offering up original programming and decided to create a whole new sub genre – horror noir. The result was Cast a Deadly Spell, a very entertaining and perfectly concocted mixture of 1940s detective story and supernatural terror. And when the balance is right, like it is here, the results are sublime.
Originally airing on HBO on Saturday, September 7th, CaDS was met with critical acclaim as a riotous mashup of Bogart and the Dark Arts, treating audiences to a unique blend of murder and magic.
Let’s open up our sacred book of incantations, TV Guide, and see what we’re in for:
Cast A Deadly Spell (HBO, Sept. 7th)
L.A., 1948. Private eye Harry Philip Lovecraft is hired...
Originally airing on HBO on Saturday, September 7th, CaDS was met with critical acclaim as a riotous mashup of Bogart and the Dark Arts, treating audiences to a unique blend of murder and magic.
Let’s open up our sacred book of incantations, TV Guide, and see what we’re in for:
Cast A Deadly Spell (HBO, Sept. 7th)
L.A., 1948. Private eye Harry Philip Lovecraft is hired...
- 3/12/2017
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Mildred Pierce
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 860
1945 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 111 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date , 2017 /
Starring Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden, Ann Blyth, Bruce Bennett, Lee Patrick, Moroni Olsen, Veda Ann Borg, Jo Ann Marlowe, Butterfly McQueen.
Cinematography: Ernest Haller
Art Direction: Anton Grot
Film Editor: David Weisbart
Original Music: Max Steiner
Written by: Ranald MacDougall from the novel by James M. Cain
Produced by: Jerry Wald, Jack L. Warner
Directed by Michael Curtiz
James M. Cain’s 1941 novel Mildred Pierce offers a venal and self-destructive view of America not with a story of respectable bourgeois society, not the criminal underworld. A de-classed, suburb-dwelling nobody fights her way onto the social register by using men and by hard work… and then watches as her obsessive goals blow up in her face In Cain’s worldview it’s every woman for herself. He drags in an odd personal theme,...
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 860
1945 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 111 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date , 2017 /
Starring Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden, Ann Blyth, Bruce Bennett, Lee Patrick, Moroni Olsen, Veda Ann Borg, Jo Ann Marlowe, Butterfly McQueen.
Cinematography: Ernest Haller
Art Direction: Anton Grot
Film Editor: David Weisbart
Original Music: Max Steiner
Written by: Ranald MacDougall from the novel by James M. Cain
Produced by: Jerry Wald, Jack L. Warner
Directed by Michael Curtiz
James M. Cain’s 1941 novel Mildred Pierce offers a venal and self-destructive view of America not with a story of respectable bourgeois society, not the criminal underworld. A de-classed, suburb-dwelling nobody fights her way onto the social register by using men and by hard work… and then watches as her obsessive goals blow up in her face In Cain’s worldview it’s every woman for herself. He drags in an odd personal theme,...
- 1/28/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
He's created a series of performances that have taken advantage of his intensity, his brutish physique and his way around a multi-syllable sentence – and now, Tom Hardy has somehow created a role for himself that feels more Tom Hardy than almost anything else he's done. In Taboo, the new FX series the actor co-created with father Chips Hardy and Peaky Blinders showrunner Steven Knight, he plays gruff protagonist James Delaney, an early 19th-century explorer who returns home to London to find out he's inherited land sought after by the East India Company.
- 1/17/2017
- Rollingstone.com
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Sometimes funny, often poignant, narration can be hugely effective when deployed successfully. Ryan picks a few great examples...
“God help you if you use voice-over in your work my friends! God help you. That’s flaccid, sloppy writing. Any idiot can use narration to explain the thoughts of a character.”
So says screenwriting coach Robert McKee in Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman’s 2002 film, Adaptation. Well, not the real screenwriting coach Robert Mckee, but the one played in superbly aggressive style by actor Brian Cox, who stomps about on stage at a writing seminar like an angry bull. Brilliantly, McKee’s condemnation of voice-overs interrupts the interior thoughts, as narrated by Nicolas Cage’s fictionalised version of Charlie Kaufman - a terminally anxious screenwriter with an Everest-sized case of writer’s block.
It’s an example of the quirky, hall-of-mirrors kind of humour that courses through Adaptation,...
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Sometimes funny, often poignant, narration can be hugely effective when deployed successfully. Ryan picks a few great examples...
“God help you if you use voice-over in your work my friends! God help you. That’s flaccid, sloppy writing. Any idiot can use narration to explain the thoughts of a character.”
So says screenwriting coach Robert McKee in Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman’s 2002 film, Adaptation. Well, not the real screenwriting coach Robert Mckee, but the one played in superbly aggressive style by actor Brian Cox, who stomps about on stage at a writing seminar like an angry bull. Brilliantly, McKee’s condemnation of voice-overs interrupts the interior thoughts, as narrated by Nicolas Cage’s fictionalised version of Charlie Kaufman - a terminally anxious screenwriter with an Everest-sized case of writer’s block.
It’s an example of the quirky, hall-of-mirrors kind of humour that courses through Adaptation,...
- 6/7/2016
- Den of Geek
By John M. Whalen
Howdy, pardners. It’s western movie roundup time at Cinema Retro today. Here are a handful of oldie westerns recently released on DVD by the Warner Archive- and which are now available in the Cinema Retro Movie Store. And a rootin’, tootin’, downright interesting bunch of movies they are.
Station West
First up, “Station West” with Dick Powell and Jane Greer. Ever wonder what would happen if private dick Philip Marlowe traveled back in time to the old west and tried to solve a murder case? That’s essentially what you have with Station West, an offbeat western filmed in black and white that plays like film noir, except all the men wear wide-brimmed Stetsons instead of Fedoras, and shoot Colt Peacemakers and Winchesters instead of snubbed nosed .38s. To further mix up the western and detective genres Jane Greer, the most fatale of all femme fatales,...
Howdy, pardners. It’s western movie roundup time at Cinema Retro today. Here are a handful of oldie westerns recently released on DVD by the Warner Archive- and which are now available in the Cinema Retro Movie Store. And a rootin’, tootin’, downright interesting bunch of movies they are.
Station West
First up, “Station West” with Dick Powell and Jane Greer. Ever wonder what would happen if private dick Philip Marlowe traveled back in time to the old west and tried to solve a murder case? That’s essentially what you have with Station West, an offbeat western filmed in black and white that plays like film noir, except all the men wear wide-brimmed Stetsons instead of Fedoras, and shoot Colt Peacemakers and Winchesters instead of snubbed nosed .38s. To further mix up the western and detective genres Jane Greer, the most fatale of all femme fatales,...
- 6/3/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
When a film shot in Buffalo, NY co-written and starring a native of the city comes across you’re desk you look upon it with a certain level of skepticism. I’ve lived here almost my entire life and I’m still guilty of seeing my hometown as a B-level sector in comparison to New York City or Hollywood. This year has changed that thought-process for locals and the industry with two effective genre works exiting the Queen City with aspirations for the big time. Against all odds I have to admit they both deserve every accolade bestowed upon them. Horror flick Emelie came out of the gate first with success and now The American Side hits theaters with a chance at earning more. This hard-boiled noir is the real deal.
Written by lead actor Greg Stuhr and director Jenna Ricker, this adventure of a yokel private investigator is full of MacGuffins and shady characters.
Written by lead actor Greg Stuhr and director Jenna Ricker, this adventure of a yokel private investigator is full of MacGuffins and shady characters.
- 4/20/2016
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
Oh my god - it's full of stars! Photo: Jassy Earl
Day seven of the Glasgow Film Festival began with classic film noir The Big Sleep, starring Humphrey Bogart as detective Philip Marlowe pitched against Lauren Bacall’s sultry femme fatale. There was a chance to catch up with films that had proved a hit with audiences earlier in the festival, such as Demolition and The Pearl Button, before the evening introduced an older classic. Part of the festival’s retrospective look at the work of Jules Duvivier, Panique, which features a superb performance by Michel Simon as the misfit made a scapegoat after a murder is committed, and which would go on to inspire Patrice Leconte’s much admired Monsieur Hire, proved a hit with cineastes and the curious alike. The print isn’t in great condition these days but it’s still a stunning film and its final...
Day seven of the Glasgow Film Festival began with classic film noir The Big Sleep, starring Humphrey Bogart as detective Philip Marlowe pitched against Lauren Bacall’s sultry femme fatale. There was a chance to catch up with films that had proved a hit with audiences earlier in the festival, such as Demolition and The Pearl Button, before the evening introduced an older classic. Part of the festival’s retrospective look at the work of Jules Duvivier, Panique, which features a superb performance by Michel Simon as the misfit made a scapegoat after a murder is committed, and which would go on to inspire Patrice Leconte’s much admired Monsieur Hire, proved a hit with cineastes and the curious alike. The print isn’t in great condition these days but it’s still a stunning film and its final...
- 2/25/2016
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Ever since the overrated phenomena that was The Blair Witch Project (1999), low budget horror filmmakers have capitalised on the increasing use of modern and now easily accessible technology to add a different slant to the genre; The lack of money being a probable factor in the making of these films, but at least it gives them a documentary style lacking in more mainstream efforts.
But it is fair to say that the bulk of the films produced by these budding Camcorder Coppelas are nothing short of dire. And for my own personal point of view, I do not care for this type of filmmaking. Cloverfield (2008) gave me a headache and George Romero’s Diary of the Dead (2007) falls way short of being good. Let’s face it, if you are being menaced by a zombie, and alien or a serial killer, would you really lug around a camera and film...
But it is fair to say that the bulk of the films produced by these budding Camcorder Coppelas are nothing short of dire. And for my own personal point of view, I do not care for this type of filmmaking. Cloverfield (2008) gave me a headache and George Romero’s Diary of the Dead (2007) falls way short of being good. Let’s face it, if you are being menaced by a zombie, and alien or a serial killer, would you really lug around a camera and film...
- 2/22/2016
- Shadowlocked
Army investigator John Haven is out to catch some crooks using stealth, his wits and a limitless supply of marvelous hardboiled dialogue. Dick Powell trades a trench coat for a cowboy hat, while luscious Jane Greer swaps a .38 snubnose for a dance hall dress. A great cast, a witty script and Burl Ives' singing voice make this a delightfully different noir-inflected oater. Station West DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1948 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 80 min. / Street Date January 12, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Dick Powell, Jane Greer, Agnes Moorehead, Burl Ives,Tom Powers, Gordon Oliver, Steve Brodie, Guinn Williams, Raymond Burr, Regis Toomey, Olin Howlin, John Kellogg, Charles Middleton, John Doucette . Cinematography Harry J. Wild Film Editor Frederic Knudtson Original Music Heinz Roemheld Written by Frank Fenton, Winston Miller Produced by Robert Sparks Directed by Sidney Lanfield
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Want to discover a 'different,' fun '40s western with clever plotting?...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Want to discover a 'different,' fun '40s western with clever plotting?...
- 2/6/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“She tried to sit in my lap while I was standing up!”
The Big Sleep screens this Saturday morning, January 9th at The Hi-Pointe Theater (1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, Mo 63117) as part of their Classic Film Series.
Director Howard Hawks’ The Big Sleep (1946) is one of the best Humphrey Bogart movies, one with more twists and turns than a pretzel factory. As Philip Marlowe, Bogie gives one of his best performances as the honest Private Eye up against the corruption and deceit of the Sternwood family and their “acquaintances”. Lauren Bacall is charming and sexy as Vivian, Bogies main love interest. But whose side is she on? Martha Vickers effectively plays Bacall’s younger spoiled sister whom Marlowe frequently encounters in his quest for the truth.
John Ridgely appears as Eddie Mars the chief villain of the piece. Veterans Elisha Cook Jr. (Harry Jones), Regis Toomey (Bernie) and Louis Jean Heydt...
The Big Sleep screens this Saturday morning, January 9th at The Hi-Pointe Theater (1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, Mo 63117) as part of their Classic Film Series.
Director Howard Hawks’ The Big Sleep (1946) is one of the best Humphrey Bogart movies, one with more twists and turns than a pretzel factory. As Philip Marlowe, Bogie gives one of his best performances as the honest Private Eye up against the corruption and deceit of the Sternwood family and their “acquaintances”. Lauren Bacall is charming and sexy as Vivian, Bogies main love interest. But whose side is she on? Martha Vickers effectively plays Bacall’s younger spoiled sister whom Marlowe frequently encounters in his quest for the truth.
John Ridgely appears as Eddie Mars the chief villain of the piece. Veterans Elisha Cook Jr. (Harry Jones), Regis Toomey (Bernie) and Louis Jean Heydt...
- 1/8/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
This is a Great film noir. A straying husband's 'innocent' dalliance wrecks lives and puts his marriage in jeopardy. Been there, done that? Dick Powell and Lizabeth Scott are menaced by Raymond Burr, while wife Jane Wyatt is kept in the dark. Andre de Toth's direction puts everyone through the wringer, with a very adult look at the realities of the American marriage contract, circa 1948. Pitfall Blu-ray Kino Lorber Studio Classics 1948 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 86 min. / Street Date November 17, 2015 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Dick Powell, Lizabeth Scott, Jane Wyatt, Raymond Burr, John Litel, Byron Barr, Jimmy Hunt. Cinematography Harry Wild Art Direction Arthur Lonergan Film Editor Walter Thompson Written by Karl Kamb from the novel by Jay Dratler Produced by Samuel Bischoff Directed by André De Toth
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Is 'domestic noir' even a category? I think so. Some of the creepiest late- '40s noir pictures take intrigue,...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Is 'domestic noir' even a category? I think so. Some of the creepiest late- '40s noir pictures take intrigue,...
- 11/17/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Nutmeg #4
Written by James F. Wright
Art by Jackie Crofts
Published by Action Lab
Like a tasty brownie, cake, or other dessert, the ingredients and the way they are mixed make all the difference. Now substitute “influences” for ingredients, and you’ve got Nutmeg, which is a combination of great works of pop culture from teen dramas (Mean Girls) to teen “noirs” (Veronica Mars, Rian Johnson’s Brick) and others, like Breaking Bad and omnipresent Nancy Drew detective novels. Nutmeg especially leans on Breaking Bad and Nancy Drew this issue with the increased role of a pair of fast talking girl detectives named Anise and Ginger, who calls themselves the Vista Vale Vixens and know something is up with the Brownie Brawl, the annual fundraiser for the main characters’ school. However, writer James Wright and artist Jackie Crofts dress up these crime and detective tropes in a cheery outer shell...
Written by James F. Wright
Art by Jackie Crofts
Published by Action Lab
Like a tasty brownie, cake, or other dessert, the ingredients and the way they are mixed make all the difference. Now substitute “influences” for ingredients, and you’ve got Nutmeg, which is a combination of great works of pop culture from teen dramas (Mean Girls) to teen “noirs” (Veronica Mars, Rian Johnson’s Brick) and others, like Breaking Bad and omnipresent Nancy Drew detective novels. Nutmeg especially leans on Breaking Bad and Nancy Drew this issue with the increased role of a pair of fast talking girl detectives named Anise and Ginger, who calls themselves the Vista Vale Vixens and know something is up with the Brownie Brawl, the annual fundraiser for the main characters’ school. However, writer James Wright and artist Jackie Crofts dress up these crime and detective tropes in a cheery outer shell...
- 9/17/2015
- by Logan Dalton
- SoundOnSight
Whether from those who defended it upon a truncated 1991 release, the lucky few present for a rare screening of the mythologized directors cut, or even the frustrated auteur himself, Janus Films’ restoration of the five-hour version of Wim Wenders’ Until The End of the World would seem to provide ample opportunity for an I Told You So emerging from the cinematic choir. An I Told You this needed 295 minutes to really work. I Told You contemporary geopolitical anxieties are directly tied to a culture of oversaturated images. I Told You we’d have Gps in our car and that U2 would still be making music at the turn of the century.
None of which says really anything about the film, of course. As with any other ‘lost’ film circulating in cinephilic chatter, Wenders’ masterpiece has spent the better part of the last two decades as more myth than movie, its...
None of which says really anything about the film, of course. As with any other ‘lost’ film circulating in cinephilic chatter, Wenders’ masterpiece has spent the better part of the last two decades as more myth than movie, its...
- 9/7/2015
- by Matthias Ellis
- CriterionCast
Note to haters of season 2 of HBO's True Detective: You have a point.
The series heads into its 90-minute finale Sunday with none of the intense anticipation that preceded the conclusion of season 1 in March 2014. Dissatisfaction with this sprawling but tepid L.A. noir – set not in Los Angeles proper but a scummy neighboring municipality called Vinci – has been voiced so clearly, HBO's programming president recently assured the conference of the Television Critics Association that TD2's conclusion will be very satisfying.
However, a bright silk bow isn't much good when it's tied around an old cardboard shoebox.
As has been observed elsewhere,...
The series heads into its 90-minute finale Sunday with none of the intense anticipation that preceded the conclusion of season 1 in March 2014. Dissatisfaction with this sprawling but tepid L.A. noir – set not in Los Angeles proper but a scummy neighboring municipality called Vinci – has been voiced so clearly, HBO's programming president recently assured the conference of the Television Critics Association that TD2's conclusion will be very satisfying.
However, a bright silk bow isn't much good when it's tied around an old cardboard shoebox.
As has been observed elsewhere,...
- 8/7/2015
- by Tom Gliatto, @gliattoT
- People.com - TV Watch
It’s always a treat to hear what the Coen Brothers are up to. With their latest film Hail, Caesar! having just wrapped, it’s no surprise that the famous duo are looking for a new project. According to Deadline, the Coen Brothers are set to write and possibly direct an adaptation of Kenneth Millar’s crime novel Black Money (which he wrote under the pseudonym Ross Macdonald) for Warner Bros.
The novel itself is part of a series of crime stories centering on Lew Archer, a private detective working out of Southern California (think Philip Marlowe as played by Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep). In this story, Archer is hired by a man rejected by his girlfriend who wants Archer to investigate the man she has run off with, leading Archer into a world of money schemes. While having written many stories with Lew Archer as the main character,...
The novel itself is part of a series of crime stories centering on Lew Archer, a private detective working out of Southern California (think Philip Marlowe as played by Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep). In this story, Archer is hired by a man rejected by his girlfriend who wants Archer to investigate the man she has run off with, leading Archer into a world of money schemes. While having written many stories with Lew Archer as the main character,...
- 8/6/2015
- by Sarah Pearce Lord
- SoundOnSight
The first of Timothy Dalton's pair of James Bond 007 adventures. We look back at The Living Daylights...
This one's strong, if uneven. The Living Daylights has a lot going for it, not least a lean, sharkish Timothy Dalton, tight of smile and cold of eye. Other strengths include a plot that actually goes places (even if they aren’t always the right ones), a great soundtrack, a palpably menacing hitman and the enjoyably retro prominence of the Cold War. All well and good. However, the central villains are a weakness, neither really working alone or as a duo. The girl is admirable but a little trying. The pace sometimes flags and the stakes never rise. Despite a standout fight aboard an aeroplane (as good as Bond gets) the film never quite takes off.
The Villains: A three-in-one deal. Never a great sign: quality is rarely offered in quantity. Georgi Koskov is a cheerful,...
This one's strong, if uneven. The Living Daylights has a lot going for it, not least a lean, sharkish Timothy Dalton, tight of smile and cold of eye. Other strengths include a plot that actually goes places (even if they aren’t always the right ones), a great soundtrack, a palpably menacing hitman and the enjoyably retro prominence of the Cold War. All well and good. However, the central villains are a weakness, neither really working alone or as a duo. The girl is admirable but a little trying. The pace sometimes flags and the stakes never rise. Despite a standout fight aboard an aeroplane (as good as Bond gets) the film never quite takes off.
The Villains: A three-in-one deal. Never a great sign: quality is rarely offered in quantity. Georgi Koskov is a cheerful,...
- 6/21/2015
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
All week our writers will debate: Which was the greatest film year of the past half century. Click here for a complete list of our essays. It’s perhaps a little quaint to choose a year that I wasn’t even alive during to represent the best year of cinema. I was not there to observe how any of these films conversed with the culture around them when they were first screened. So, although I am choosing the glorious year of 1973, I am choosing not just due to a perusal of top ten lists that year—but because the films that were released that year greatly influenced how I engage with movies now, in 2015. Films speak to more than just the audiences that watch them—they speak to each other. Filmmakers inspire each other. Allusions are made. A patchwork begins. These are the movies of our lives. Having grown up with cinema in the 90s,...
- 4/30/2015
- by Brian Formo
- Hitfix
Its down to the wire! In just 48 hours, voting will close on Round 1 of the Hitfix 2nd Annual March Mayhem Tournament of Heroes vs. Villains, and results are looming that could turn the world of fandom on its head. Overall, the fan groups have been turning out in droves for this second year: the votes in the first week alone will likely match last year’s entire tournament. And thanks to this voter surge, our reigning titans are getting a real run for their money. Let’s look across the divisions: In the Movie Heroes Division, the two top-ranked heavyweights – Batman and Han Solo are both easily holding up their first round matches, fending off Philip Marlowe and Flash Gordon without hardly breaking a sweat. They better not think they can coast all the way to the division finals however, because right in the middle, Black Widow’s fanbase has been pouring in,...
- 3/21/2015
- by Richard Rushfield
- Hitfix
And they’re off! We are just 48 hours into Hitifx’s Second Annual March Madness Tournament of Heroes vs. Villains, and the races are already heating up. The champions of each of the four divisions are back on the field defending their titles, and the returning gaints are mostly looking strong. Some newcomers however have come charging out of the gate looking ready to go all the way. Across the field, we’ve got some very tough battles brewing. In the Movie Heroes division, Batman is the heavy favorite against longshot private dick Philip Marlowe, and fans are turning out in force to prop up The Dark Knight. But Marlowe is a saavy player who may just be waiting for his moment. He’s had decades to build up a following: will Marlowe’s people come to the rescue? Elsewhere in the division, a couple of match-ups that looked lopsided...
- 3/19/2015
- by Richard Rushfield
- Hitfix
So, Castle viewers, it appears we are 2-for-2 thus far in the private eye arc.
Because whereas last week’s episode found much merriment in Rick’s very first case, one which pitted him against Beckett and the boys, this time around there was the entertaining wrinkle of him working his own case — the search for a telenovela star’s valuable purse — which was at first only tangentially, but then directly, related to the murder at hand.
Sure, Rick’s P.I. business has yet to take off, website revamp or not. (Did anyone else freeze-frame the screen to search...
Because whereas last week’s episode found much merriment in Rick’s very first case, one which pitted him against Beckett and the boys, this time around there was the entertaining wrinkle of him working his own case — the search for a telenovela star’s valuable purse — which was at first only tangentially, but then directly, related to the murder at hand.
Sure, Rick’s P.I. business has yet to take off, website revamp or not. (Did anyone else freeze-frame the screen to search...
- 1/20/2015
- TVLine.com
Inherent Vice
Written for the screen and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
USA, 2014
Even if you were not around during the 1970s, Inherent Vice comes across as a faded, nostalgic memory. Being a faithful adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel, the film recounts the dying days of the free love era, laced with the look, feel and paraphernalia of the subculture. Anderson’s comedic thriller peppers itself with restless, almost out of place laughter, while dedicating itself to the themes of the early Seventies. One is reminded of private-eye classics such as Roman Polanski’s Chinatown and Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye, with traces of Zucker-Abrahams comedies like Airplane! and The Naked Gun. For many, the homage to 1970s filmmaking will be a very real and thrilling look down memory lane. For others, it’ll be a history lesson like no other found in modern day filmmaking.
Larry ‘Doc...
Written for the screen and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
USA, 2014
Even if you were not around during the 1970s, Inherent Vice comes across as a faded, nostalgic memory. Being a faithful adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel, the film recounts the dying days of the free love era, laced with the look, feel and paraphernalia of the subculture. Anderson’s comedic thriller peppers itself with restless, almost out of place laughter, while dedicating itself to the themes of the early Seventies. One is reminded of private-eye classics such as Roman Polanski’s Chinatown and Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye, with traces of Zucker-Abrahams comedies like Airplane! and The Naked Gun. For many, the homage to 1970s filmmaking will be a very real and thrilling look down memory lane. For others, it’ll be a history lesson like no other found in modern day filmmaking.
Larry ‘Doc...
- 1/13/2015
- by Christopher Clemente
- SoundOnSight
This morning's "Better Call Saul" panel isn't the first time Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould have come to press tour to discuss the "Breaking Bad" prequel, but their panel back at summer tour was incredibly light on details and didn't feature any actors. So this session — featuring Gilligan, Gould, "Breaking Bad" alums Bob Odenkirk and Jonathan Banks, plus fellow "Saul" castmembers Michael McKean, Rhea Seehorn, Patrick Fabian and Michael Mando — should be much livelier, and not just because critics have now seen the first two "Saul" episodes(*). (*) Reviews are embargoed until closer to the Feb. 8 premiere, but I can say that I enjoyed both episodes, even though I have some reservations. As I did in the summer, I'll be live-blogging the panel as frequently as my fingers and the ballroom wifi will allow, so check back frequently for updates. (And I'll be doing the same in a little bit for...
- 1/10/2015
- by Alan Sepinwall
- Hitfix
In 1947, MGM tried a new narrative trick. The studio wanted a way to mimic the first-person narration of Raymond Chander's Philip Marlowe novels, so it hit upon the idea of shooting an entire film from the detective's perspective. The result was Robert Montgomery's The Lady in the Lake, and it's an odd watch. We're seeing the mystery from Marlowe's eyes, but we're not really Marlowe; our eyes don't see in black-and-white, for one, and they don't see in the Academy ratio. Watching it, you get the sense that there's always something you're missing, lurking just outside the frame.In the decades since, other films have borrowed the first-person conceit, but none have been able to perfect it. Take Hardcore (currently crowd-funding on Indiegogo), which bills itself as "the world's first ever action Pov feature film." The concept is cool — what if Crank had been filmed on a GoPro? — and...
- 12/15/2014
- by Nate Jones
- Vulture
When you think of noir, you probably think of darkness: the shadowed alleyways, the mean city at midnight, the gunshots that sound unseen just outside the spill of the street lamp. But there’s a sun-bleached counter-narrative in noir — actually, it’s arguably the main narrative, once you consider that Chandler’s Philip Marlowe stalked the streets of Los Angeles, The Maltese Falcon takes place in San Francisco, and James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice unfolds in rural California. Noir itself was largely a counter-narrative, of course, and not primarily to the starchy history of the tradition-choked East Coast. So much classic noir, instead, is about the underbelly of the American frontier — which, in the 20th century, meant California. It’s the dark side of the sunny side, as it were.So it’s especially thrilling to see that Brooklyn’s Bam Cinematek has collected 21 classic Cali-noir...
- 11/26/2014
- by Adam Sternbergh
- Vulture
Clinton Moisey (Fran Kranz), the man-child in Murder of a Cat, calls his sleuthing alter ego Doghouse Reilly, after Philip Marlowe's jokey alias in The Big Sleep. This choice sums up the tone of Christian Magalhaes and Bob Snow's screenplay (on the 2010 Black List), which sprinkles hard-boiled detective jargon onto a comic mystery that mostly reveals Clinton's obliviousness to the world outside his mother's basement. Director Gillian Greene's debut feature plays up these elements with Deborah Lurie's full-throttle film noir score, but she never gets heavy-handed, even when things take a dangerous turn. The death of his beloved Mouser (played by a cat named Bogart) triggers Clinton to leave his comfort zone and begin investigating, albeit in a bathrobe instead of a tre...
- 11/26/2014
- Village Voice
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Baw Waw Waw Waw snurfle Waw Waw Waw Waw Waw Waw Waw Waw Waw
But enough about the election. Let’s go to Gotham City.
Some 25 years ago there was this big hit movie, Batman, directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton, set in the fictitious Gotham City. You knew that, right? What you maybe didn’t know, unless you’re the kind of kid whose mother is forever telling him to go outdoors and get some fresh air, for pity sake, is that we who were charged with producing the comic book versions of Batman very much admired the set design of Anton Furst. Yes – this was Gotham! Ugly and foreboding, its walls high, windows few, designed to keep nature outside, out there,...
Baw Waw Waw Waw snurfle Waw Waw Waw Waw Waw Waw Waw Waw Waw
But enough about the election. Let’s go to Gotham City.
Some 25 years ago there was this big hit movie, Batman, directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton, set in the fictitious Gotham City. You knew that, right? What you maybe didn’t know, unless you’re the kind of kid whose mother is forever telling him to go outdoors and get some fresh air, for pity sake, is that we who were charged with producing the comic book versions of Batman very much admired the set design of Anton Furst. Yes – this was Gotham! Ugly and foreboding, its walls high, windows few, designed to keep nature outside, out there,...
- 11/13/2014
- by Dennis O'Neil
- Comicmix.com
Booze and crime goes hand in hand like booze and being hugely attractive and winning in life. I am drinking while writing this, because something something simpatico and shit. After speaking with my editor about the topic of this week’s column, I was told “Liam, you’re a pathetic drunk, either clean up your act, or write about it!”
And here we are.
Looking at crime fiction, alcohol near always plays a part, be it a devil, or a welcome, numbing relief. For me, I always think of Philip Marlowe, from Chandler’s books, and Marlowe as the “moral man in an amoral world,” who’s what was referred to as a “hard drinking” man. I always saw these guys as people who drank as a way to cope – when you’re a true noir loser, and fuck, to be the last moral man makes you a loser – you gotta drink.
And here we are.
Looking at crime fiction, alcohol near always plays a part, be it a devil, or a welcome, numbing relief. For me, I always think of Philip Marlowe, from Chandler’s books, and Marlowe as the “moral man in an amoral world,” who’s what was referred to as a “hard drinking” man. I always saw these guys as people who drank as a way to cope – when you’re a true noir loser, and fuck, to be the last moral man makes you a loser – you gotta drink.
- 9/26/2012
- by Liam Jose
- Boomtron
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