Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell won the award for Original Song for a Comedy or Musical for their Oscar-nominated “Barbie” tune “What Was I Made For?” while past Academy Award winner and 2024 nominee Ludwig Göransson took home the Original Score for a Studio Film honor for “Oppenheimer” to pace the Society of Composers & Lyricists Scl Awards tonight at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles in a ceremony hosted by singer-songwriter Siedah Garrett.
Also picking up trophies were Olivia Rodrigo and Dan Nigro for Original Song for a Drama or Documentary for their tune “Can’t Catch Me Now” from “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” while John Powell was awarded the prize for Original Score for an Independent Film for scoring the documentary feature “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.”
SEE5th Annual Scl Awards Nominations: Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo and Lenny Kravitz among contenders [Full List]
Director...
Also picking up trophies were Olivia Rodrigo and Dan Nigro for Original Song for a Drama or Documentary for their tune “Can’t Catch Me Now” from “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” while John Powell was awarded the prize for Original Score for an Independent Film for scoring the documentary feature “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.”
SEE5th Annual Scl Awards Nominations: Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo and Lenny Kravitz among contenders [Full List]
Director...
- 2/14/2024
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
Billie Eilish, Finneas, Ludwig Göransson and Nicholas Britell were among the winners Tuesday evening at the 5th annual Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards.
Eilish and Finneas took home the award for outstanding original song for a comedy or musical for “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie.” The win continued their sweep of the season from the Golden Globes and the Grammy Awards.
Olivia Rodrigo and Dan Nigro won outstanding original song for a drama or documentary for “Can’t Catch Me Now” from “Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.” Britell took home the prize for outstanding original score for a television production for “Succession.”
Göransson, who was honored with Variety’s Artisans Award in Santa Barbara this past weekend, won outstanding original score for a studio film for “Oppenheimer.” John Powell won outstanding original score for an independent film, “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” and Stephen Barton...
Eilish and Finneas took home the award for outstanding original song for a comedy or musical for “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie.” The win continued their sweep of the season from the Golden Globes and the Grammy Awards.
Olivia Rodrigo and Dan Nigro won outstanding original song for a drama or documentary for “Can’t Catch Me Now” from “Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.” Britell took home the prize for outstanding original score for a television production for “Succession.”
Göransson, who was honored with Variety’s Artisans Award in Santa Barbara this past weekend, won outstanding original score for a studio film for “Oppenheimer.” John Powell won outstanding original score for an independent film, “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” and Stephen Barton...
- 2/14/2024
- by Jazz Tangcay and Diego Ramos Bechara
- Variety Film + TV
Emilia Jones in Winner.Heather McIntosh: 'We're exploring her obsessive nature and it does cover a pretty big range, the Ocd that Reality’s navigating, her time in prison. It does sort of ride this wave, very anxietal stuff but also up' Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute Reality Winner might sound like a description of the latest Big Brother finale but it’s the genuine name of a US whistleblower who, while working as a National Security Agency leaked a document showing Russian interference in the 2016 elections. She is played by Emilia Jones, who is reteaming with director Susanna Fogel after last year’s Cat Person. Rather than the usual shadowy dramas, along the lines of Official Secrets, Fogel, working from a script from Kerry Howley, instead presents the action through a brightly coloured lens. The scoring, too, from Heather McIntosh - who is also reteaming with Fogel after Cat Person...
- 1/28/2024
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Lenny Kravitz, Diane Warren and Jon Batiste are among the nominees announced Thursday morning for the Fifth Annual Scl Awards from the Society of Composers & Lyricists honoring scores and songs in visual media. The five music titans were all nominated in the Best Song categories for Drama/Documentary or Comedy/Musical, Eilish with her brother Finneas for their tune “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie,” Rodrigo along with Dan Nigro for “Can’t Catch Me Now” from “The Hunger Games: Ball of Songbirds and Snakes,” Kravitz for “Road to Freedom” from “Rustin,” Warren for “The Fire Inside” from “Flamin’ Hot” and Batiste along with Dan Wilson for “It Never Went Away” from “American Symphony.”
Rounding out the Drama/Documentary nominees are Nicholas Britell and Laura Stinson for “Slip Away” from “Carmen” along with Sharon Farber and Noah Benshea for “Better Times” from “Jacob the Baker.
Rounding out the Drama/Documentary nominees are Nicholas Britell and Laura Stinson for “Slip Away” from “Carmen” along with Sharon Farber and Noah Benshea for “Better Times” from “Jacob the Baker.
- 12/22/2023
- by Denton Davidson
- Gold Derby
The Society of Composers and Lyricists (Scl) has announced the nominees for the 2024 Scl Awards, including songwriters Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Lenny Kravitz, Diane Warren, and Jon Batiste, all who earned spots on the Academy Awards shortlist for Best Original Song.
Also among the dual nominees are composers Anthony Willis for Saltburn, Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt for Barbie, Laura Karpman for American Fiction, the late Robbie Robertson for Killers of the Flower Moon, and Mica Levi for The Zone of Interest.
The awards will be presented on February 13, 2024, at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.
Other categories still to be announced include the Spirit of Collaboration Award which honors the long relationship between a composer and a director.
The Society of Composers & Lyricists is for professional film, television, video game, and musical theater composers and songwriters. The 78-year-old organization is focused on education and addressing the creative, technological...
Also among the dual nominees are composers Anthony Willis for Saltburn, Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt for Barbie, Laura Karpman for American Fiction, the late Robbie Robertson for Killers of the Flower Moon, and Mica Levi for The Zone of Interest.
The awards will be presented on February 13, 2024, at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.
Other categories still to be announced include the Spirit of Collaboration Award which honors the long relationship between a composer and a director.
The Society of Composers & Lyricists is for professional film, television, video game, and musical theater composers and songwriters. The 78-year-old organization is focused on education and addressing the creative, technological...
- 12/22/2023
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
“It has this anthemic quality to it,” declares Heather McIntosh about the show-stopping song “All About Me” from “The L Word: Generation Q,” for which McIntosh, co-composer Allyson Newman and collaborator, lyricist Taura Stinson have scored an Emmy nomination for Best Music and Lyrics. For our recent webchat Stinson adds, “it was just like it is serendipitous for all of us. We all have a cord attached to this and the visceral emotions that are interwoven in the song.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
See 2023 Emmys: Complete list of nominees
“The L Word: Generation Q” is the sequel series to “The L Word,” set 10 years later, with several actors from the original series reprising their roles alongside a new ensemble of actors. The series follows a diverse group of queer characters experiencing the highs and lows of life in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles. During the show...
See 2023 Emmys: Complete list of nominees
“The L Word: Generation Q” is the sequel series to “The L Word,” set 10 years later, with several actors from the original series reprising their roles alongside a new ensemble of actors. The series follows a diverse group of queer characters experiencing the highs and lows of life in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles. During the show...
- 8/16/2023
- by Rob Licuria
- Gold Derby
Despite all the musical superstars who entered this year’s Emmy competition, only one – Ed Sheeran – managed to score when the 75th annual Emmy Award nominations were announced Wednesday.
Sheeran was nominated (along with co-writers Max Martin and Foy Vance) for the song “A Beautiful Game” for the season 3 finale of “Ted Lasso,” one of two songs from the popular Apple TV+ series that made it into the music-and-lyrics category.
Emmy’s 550-member music peer group ignored the original songs entered by Dolly Parton, David Byrne, Steve Martin, Kid Cudi, Donald Glover and Lainey Wilson, as well as those from such Oscar-winning tunesmiths as Alan Menken, Steven Schwartz, Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.
Among the seven music categories, a surprising number of first-time nominees was recognized, and more than one-fourth of all the nominees in the five composition and songwriting categories are women, another positive sign of change in the Hollywood musical landscape.
Sheeran was nominated (along with co-writers Max Martin and Foy Vance) for the song “A Beautiful Game” for the season 3 finale of “Ted Lasso,” one of two songs from the popular Apple TV+ series that made it into the music-and-lyrics category.
Emmy’s 550-member music peer group ignored the original songs entered by Dolly Parton, David Byrne, Steve Martin, Kid Cudi, Donald Glover and Lainey Wilson, as well as those from such Oscar-winning tunesmiths as Alan Menken, Steven Schwartz, Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.
Among the seven music categories, a surprising number of first-time nominees was recognized, and more than one-fourth of all the nominees in the five composition and songwriting categories are women, another positive sign of change in the Hollywood musical landscape.
- 7/12/2023
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
Like most viral internet obsessions heralded as evidence of the zeitgeist, Kristen Roupenian’s “Cat Person” was more cultural litmus test than anything else.
The short story, published in The New Yorker during the winter of 2017, was met with almost vertiginous levels of fanfare and debate. On one side: applause for Roupenian’s blunt portrayal of 21st-century dating, which mirrored the confessional verve of a New York Magazine “Sex Diaries” column. On the other: eye-rolls directed at the hype machine, criticisms aimed at the writer’s style, complaints filed from offended parties.
The story, a provocative tale of a curdling romance between a college sophomore and a man more than a decade her senior, was obscured in the cacophony of the discourse. The conversation — on the merits of the story, on why it elicited such a strong reaction, on what it says about communication — spiraled, and the plot was lost.
The short story, published in The New Yorker during the winter of 2017, was met with almost vertiginous levels of fanfare and debate. On one side: applause for Roupenian’s blunt portrayal of 21st-century dating, which mirrored the confessional verve of a New York Magazine “Sex Diaries” column. On the other: eye-rolls directed at the hype machine, criticisms aimed at the writer’s style, complaints filed from offended parties.
The story, a provocative tale of a curdling romance between a college sophomore and a man more than a decade her senior, was obscured in the cacophony of the discourse. The conversation — on the merits of the story, on why it elicited such a strong reaction, on what it says about communication — spiraled, and the plot was lost.
- 1/22/2023
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
For the first time in Oscar history, four women are running for governor of the music branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Variety has learned.
Lesley Barber, Sharon Farber, Heather McIntosh and Taura Stinson are vying for the seat that will shortly be vacated by composer Michael Giacchino, who has been an Academy governor since 2015.
Laura Karpman became the first woman to serve as a music-branch governor in 2016, and she continues in that role. Charles Bernstein, who has served several terms as a music-branch governor, also continues to serve.
Canadian composer Barber is best known for her music for “Manchester by the Sea,” “Mansfield Park,” “You Can Count on Me” and “Late Night.” She recently collaborated with Mindy Kaling on the TV adaptation of “Four Weddings and a Funeral.”
Israeli-born Farber divides her time between concert music and film. A four-time Emmy nominee, she has scored both...
Lesley Barber, Sharon Farber, Heather McIntosh and Taura Stinson are vying for the seat that will shortly be vacated by composer Michael Giacchino, who has been an Academy governor since 2015.
Laura Karpman became the first woman to serve as a music-branch governor in 2016, and she continues in that role. Charles Bernstein, who has served several terms as a music-branch governor, also continues to serve.
Canadian composer Barber is best known for her music for “Manchester by the Sea,” “Mansfield Park,” “You Can Count on Me” and “Late Night.” She recently collaborated with Mindy Kaling on the TV adaptation of “Four Weddings and a Funeral.”
Israeli-born Farber divides her time between concert music and film. A four-time Emmy nominee, she has scored both...
- 6/2/2021
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
Newly expanded advisor roster spans filmmaking disciplines.
Projects from South Africa, China and Turkey are among 10 selected for the 2020 Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs, which have been reconfigured as a digital event amid the pandemic lockdown.
The event will take place on Sundance Co//ab and as always is designed to connect selected filmmaker Fellows with creative advisors and industry mentors across multiple disciplines.
The Directors Lab runs from June 1-19 when filmmakers will participate in a schedule of advisor presentations, scene analysis sessions, directing exercises, one-on-one meetings, and inaugural conversations across a wide range of industry disciplines, including casting,...
Projects from South Africa, China and Turkey are among 10 selected for the 2020 Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs, which have been reconfigured as a digital event amid the pandemic lockdown.
The event will take place on Sundance Co//ab and as always is designed to connect selected filmmaker Fellows with creative advisors and industry mentors across multiple disciplines.
The Directors Lab runs from June 1-19 when filmmakers will participate in a schedule of advisor presentations, scene analysis sessions, directing exercises, one-on-one meetings, and inaugural conversations across a wide range of industry disciplines, including casting,...
- 5/28/2020
- by 36¦Jeremy Kay¦54¦
- ScreenDaily
Melodrama has somewhat become a relic of cinema’s past. To be sure, we get melodramatic movies still being released, but true melodrama has largely gone away. The new movie To the Stars seeks to bring melodramas back, and up until the tail end of the third act, it succeeds. Some solid cinematography, a really strong turn from Liana Liberato, and even a small sense of mystery buoys it for a good long while. Then, as it comes in for a landing, the wheels fall off and it crashes in a big way. It’s a shame, too, as it prevents the flick from earning a recommendation that it had in the bag, moments before. The film is a drama, set in 1960’s Oklahoma, and specifically a very small town. It’s the sort of town where everyone is under scrutiny, the folks consider themselves god fearing, and judgment comes quick.
- 4/25/2020
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
If a pair of talented actors go toe to toe and no one is around to watch, did it really happen? That’s a silly question, but it’s the type of thing you ponder while watching The Quarry, a well acted yet narratively inert picture that wastes Michael Shannon and Shea Whigham. The filmmakers may have thought that they were making the next No Country for Old Men or another modern neo western, but instead, they just took two skilled actors and marooned them within an obvious plot that takes forever to go where you know it needs to go. Shannan and Whigham do their best to make you ignore that, but it’s a bridge too far. The movie is a real slow burn, full of crime and mystery, but surprisingly little intrigue. A traveling preacher named David Martin (Bruno Bichir) picks up a drifter (Whigham) on the...
- 4/18/2020
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
Earlier this year, the most surprising nominee in the Oscar race for Best International Feature Film was “Corpus Christi,” about an ex-convict who shows up at a small-town church in Poland claiming to be the preacher they’ve been waiting for. Three months later, “The Quarry” puts an American indie spin on the same kind of story, with its lead character a criminal on the run who shows up at a small-town Texas church claiming to be the preacher they’ve been waiting for.
In both films, the new “preacher” comes in with a plainspoken style so dramatically different from what the congregants are accustomed to seeing that he becomes a big hit – and in both films, the deception changes the deceiver as much as the deceived, until his past catches up to him.
Apart from these few plot similarities, though, “Corpus Christi” and “The Quarry” are miles apart. In Jan Komasa’s Polish film,...
In both films, the new “preacher” comes in with a plainspoken style so dramatically different from what the congregants are accustomed to seeing that he becomes a big hit – and in both films, the deception changes the deceiver as much as the deceived, until his past catches up to him.
Apart from these few plot similarities, though, “Corpus Christi” and “The Quarry” are miles apart. In Jan Komasa’s Polish film,...
- 4/16/2020
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
I love when a film comes along that is like nothing else that I’ve ever seen. When you can describe a movie as combination of two other things that never would go together? Love it. Those of you who pay attention on social media will know that The Art of Self-Defense is a flick I’ve been raving about for months now. Described as what it would be like if Charlie Kaufman wrote Fight Club or if Yorgos Lanthimos directed The Karate Kid. Those are apt comparisons, while also limiting the black comedy magic on hand. It opened in limited release this past weekend, playing to a decent box office. In fact, I even moderated a Q&a in Brooklyn at the Alamo Drafthouse with star Jesse Eisenberg. Now, with it opening wide, I wanted to pay it some further tribute. This is one of the five best things I’ve seen all year.
- 7/18/2019
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
Over a single opening weekend, composer Pinar Toprak smashed all previous box-office records for women composers in film. She scored “Captain Marvel,” which made $153 million domestically.
Until now, the top-grossing films by women composers were Rachel Portman’s “The Vow,” which made $125 million domestic in 2012, and Deborah Lurie’s “Dear John,” $80 million back in 2010 — and those sums were for the theatrical lifetime of the films, not just a weekend.
The lack of work for female composers has been a frequent topic of conversation in film-music circles since the 2014 formation of the Alliance for Women Film Composers, which now boasts more than 400 members.
According to the latest “Celluloid Ceiling” statistics from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, just 6 percent of the 250 top-grossing films of 2018 had scores by women — but that number was double the 3 percent found in the list of 2017 films.
Last year’s 15-film Oscar...
Until now, the top-grossing films by women composers were Rachel Portman’s “The Vow,” which made $125 million domestic in 2012, and Deborah Lurie’s “Dear John,” $80 million back in 2010 — and those sums were for the theatrical lifetime of the films, not just a weekend.
The lack of work for female composers has been a frequent topic of conversation in film-music circles since the 2014 formation of the Alliance for Women Film Composers, which now boasts more than 400 members.
According to the latest “Celluloid Ceiling” statistics from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, just 6 percent of the 250 top-grossing films of 2018 had scores by women — but that number was double the 3 percent found in the list of 2017 films.
Last year’s 15-film Oscar...
- 3/11/2019
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
2018 was an unexpectedly fine year for B&W features, “Roma,” “Cold War” and the underseen “1985” being obvious examples. But hopes that the trend might continue into the new year aren’t encouraged by “To the Stars,” a liftoff-resistant period drama that starts like a slightly cartoonish teenage version of lesbian date-night favorite “Desert Hearts,” then gradually plods toward an excess of retro-potboiler melodrama.
Blogger/journalist Shannon-Bradley Colleary’s first produced screenplay hits so many obvious marks so heavily that you can imagine this tale originating from a vintage drugstore paperback with the sell-line “Prejudice and Passions Explode in a Town Without Pity!” It all might have worked nonetheless if handled as a sort of semi-tongue-in-cheek empowerment fairy tale, and there are moments when director Martha Stephens (who previously co-helmed “Land Ho!” with Aaron Katz) seems to be aiming thataway. But only moments. Too often, “To the Stars” is earnest in that...
Blogger/journalist Shannon-Bradley Colleary’s first produced screenplay hits so many obvious marks so heavily that you can imagine this tale originating from a vintage drugstore paperback with the sell-line “Prejudice and Passions Explode in a Town Without Pity!” It all might have worked nonetheless if handled as a sort of semi-tongue-in-cheek empowerment fairy tale, and there are moments when director Martha Stephens (who previously co-helmed “Land Ho!” with Aaron Katz) seems to be aiming thataway. But only moments. Too often, “To the Stars” is earnest in that...
- 1/27/2019
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
Ico programmes 20 venues across the UK.
London’s Independent Cinema Office (Ico) has added three new venues to the roster of cinemas that it programmes in the UK.
The additions are Cardiff’s Chapter Arts Centre, one of Wales’ flagship arthouse venues, the Ultimate Picture Place in Oxford, and the new 360-seat Buxton Cinema at the Pavilion Arts Centre in Derbyshire.
The Ico already programmes venues including the Watershed in Bristol and Showroom in Sheffield. Including the new venues, it now oversees programming at twenty cinemas in the UK.
The organisation has also bolstered its programming team with two new hires.
London’s Independent Cinema Office (Ico) has added three new venues to the roster of cinemas that it programmes in the UK.
The additions are Cardiff’s Chapter Arts Centre, one of Wales’ flagship arthouse venues, the Ultimate Picture Place in Oxford, and the new 360-seat Buxton Cinema at the Pavilion Arts Centre in Derbyshire.
The Ico already programmes venues including the Watershed in Bristol and Showroom in Sheffield. Including the new venues, it now oversees programming at twenty cinemas in the UK.
The organisation has also bolstered its programming team with two new hires.
- 9/14/2018
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
It was recently announced that composer Pinar Toprak will score Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel, starring Brie Larson. Toprak will be the first woman to score a major movie for the studio.
Toprak’s recent score can be heard on Syfy’s awesome Superman show “Krypton”.
I’m so thrilled to finally announce that I will be scoring the upcoming Captain Marvel! It’s an incredible honor to be a part of the Marvel Universe. So many thoughts racing through my head. And the main one is gratitude. I have so many people to thank for helping me on this journey but first and foremost, my incredible agents Laura Engel and Richard Kraft for believing in me from day one and Dave Jordan and directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck for giving me this opportunity of a lifetime. #captainmarvel
A post shared by Pinar Toprak (@pinartoprakcomposer) on Jun 14, 2018 at 4:39pm...
Toprak’s recent score can be heard on Syfy’s awesome Superman show “Krypton”.
I’m so thrilled to finally announce that I will be scoring the upcoming Captain Marvel! It’s an incredible honor to be a part of the Marvel Universe. So many thoughts racing through my head. And the main one is gratitude. I have so many people to thank for helping me on this journey but first and foremost, my incredible agents Laura Engel and Richard Kraft for believing in me from day one and Dave Jordan and directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck for giving me this opportunity of a lifetime. #captainmarvel
A post shared by Pinar Toprak (@pinartoprakcomposer) on Jun 14, 2018 at 4:39pm...
- 6/19/2018
- by Michelle Hannett
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The second annual “Future Is Female” concert, focusing on women film and TV composers, is scheduled for Sept. 4 at the historic Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles.
The Hollywood Chamber Orchestra will perform works by a dozen composers active in media music, including Germaine Franco, Tamar-kali (“Mudbound”), Ronit Kirchman (“The Sinner”), Cindy O’Connor (“Once Upon a Time”) and Heather McIntosh (“Compliance”).
Also on the bill will be up-and-coming composers Mandy Hoffman, Tori Letzler, Emily Rice, Perrine Virgile-Piekarski, Tangelene Bolton, Aska Matsumiya and Jessie Weiss.
“While there has been a major rise in film music concerts both domestically and globally, very few feature the musical works of women composers,” organizers said in a statement.
Producer Letzler tells Variety: “I started the ‘Future Is Female’ concert series because I felt passionate about creating a platform to showcase all the talented female composers I know who often go unrecognized. In order to create change and start a dialogue,...
The Hollywood Chamber Orchestra will perform works by a dozen composers active in media music, including Germaine Franco, Tamar-kali (“Mudbound”), Ronit Kirchman (“The Sinner”), Cindy O’Connor (“Once Upon a Time”) and Heather McIntosh (“Compliance”).
Also on the bill will be up-and-coming composers Mandy Hoffman, Tori Letzler, Emily Rice, Perrine Virgile-Piekarski, Tangelene Bolton, Aska Matsumiya and Jessie Weiss.
“While there has been a major rise in film music concerts both domestically and globally, very few feature the musical works of women composers,” organizers said in a statement.
Producer Letzler tells Variety: “I started the ‘Future Is Female’ concert series because I felt passionate about creating a platform to showcase all the talented female composers I know who often go unrecognized. In order to create change and start a dialogue,...
- 6/13/2018
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
Like the unreliable-narrator novel, the unreliable-perspective movie is a tricky proposition that can be fascinating, but requires considerable finesse. The auspicious central conceit of “Aardvark,” Brian Shoaf’s first feature as writer-director, features Zachary Quinto as a mentally ill man whose difficulty separating reality from delusion is shared with the viewer. But the film can never quite decide what it wants to be — wounded-inner-child drama, quirky comedy, quasi-thriller, all the above — and its good ideas never quite gel, or lead toward sufficient narrative revelation. Though supporting roles for Jon Hamm and Jenny Slate will help spark some interest, this offbeat but low-pulse effort ultimately lands in a dissatisfying zone between the intriguing and the turgid.
Given the careless floppy hair and doughy look of someone who’s been zoned out on psychopharmaceuticals for a long time, Josh Norman (Quinto) lives a marginal existence in upstate New York. His apartment is a recluse’s dump,...
Given the careless floppy hair and doughy look of someone who’s been zoned out on psychopharmaceuticals for a long time, Josh Norman (Quinto) lives a marginal existence in upstate New York. His apartment is a recluse’s dump,...
- 4/9/2018
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
Princess CydStephen Cone has been making movies at a steady clip for over a decade and yet remains largely unknown. It is a momentous and wholly deserved occasion then for him to receive a retrospective at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York. Despite mixed receptions and even more erratic distribution patterns, his collection of films isn’t as motley as one might think. While each might tiptoe in a different direction, they maintain a hand in the Stephen Cone universe, imprinted by the same particular humanistic insight. In one of his earliest films, In Memoriam (2011), a young man so subsumed with the sudden death of a couple, fallen from a roof during the throes of pleasure, conducts his own investigation into their ill-fated demise. Innocuous curiosity masks what is essentially an existential inquiry and takes a self-referential pivot when he decides to recreate and film the events,...
- 11/7/2017
- MUBI
Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film and TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?”, can be found at the end of this post.)
This week’s question:
Last Friday saw the release of Garth Davis’ “Lion,” the musical score for which is the gorgeous result of a collaboration between two giants of the neo-classical movement, Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka. It’s just the latest indication that we’re living in a fascinating, vibrant time for movie music, and December boasts a number of films that will only add more fuel to that fire. With that in mind, we asked our panel of critics to name their favorite film score of the 21st Century.
Tasha Robinson (@TashaRobinson), The Verge
There are some really striking contenders out there, topped by Susumu Hirasawa’s manic,...
This week’s question:
Last Friday saw the release of Garth Davis’ “Lion,” the musical score for which is the gorgeous result of a collaboration between two giants of the neo-classical movement, Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka. It’s just the latest indication that we’re living in a fascinating, vibrant time for movie music, and December boasts a number of films that will only add more fuel to that fire. With that in mind, we asked our panel of critics to name their favorite film score of the 21st Century.
Tasha Robinson (@TashaRobinson), The Verge
There are some really striking contenders out there, topped by Susumu Hirasawa’s manic,...
- 11/28/2016
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Shot in NYC exactly one year to date, for his directorial debut, actor, playwright and now filmmaker Brian Shoaf landed Zachary Quinto, Jenny Slate and Jon Hamm while teaming with Sundance behind the scene technicians in cinematographer Eric Lin (I Smile Back, Equity) and Heather McIntosh (Z for Zachariah) for a drama that’ll likely be compared to Lars and the Real Girl or The Beaver for it’s more subversive make-believe elements.
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- 11/23/2016
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party is one of 2016’s finest releases, and that you probably missed it completely during a short run earlier this year shouldn’t point towards anything about the work itself. Its day-in-the-life coming-of-age film mold strikes familiar notes; more surprising is how it captures an almost-overwhelming number of issues (e.g. religious and sexual identity, suburban life, infidelity, jealousy, and group dynamics) with the ear of a skilled novelist and the eye of an accomplished formalist. It goes without saying that a) you should watch Henry Gamble, and b) the writer-director, Stephen Cone (also of Black Box and The Wise Kids), is one to watch. With that in mind, we’re very happy to unveil first details of his next project, Princess Cyd, which will begin production this week.
Described as “a summer’s tale,” the Chicago-set picture follows Cyd (Jessie Pinnick), a 16-year-old athlete who,...
Described as “a summer’s tale,” the Chicago-set picture follows Cyd (Jessie Pinnick), a 16-year-old athlete who,...
- 8/29/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Music is an integral part of filmmaking, moving the story and touching the audience. Where would iconic movies such as Star Wars, Avatar, The Godfather, or Gone with the Wind be without its music? Would Downton Abbey, Dexter, or House of Cards be the same and have audiences glued to their TVs without music? Would gamers immerse into Final Fantasy or Legend of Zelda if they were silent? Movie music has moved us all to cheer, cry, and fall in love for more than 100 years. Yet the vast majority of composers hired to create this vital part of Hollywood’s cultural landscape have been men. Well, that musical glass ceiling is about to crack!
Grand Performances, the “Best Free Outdoor Summer Concert Series” in Los Angeles and the Alliance for Women Film Composers team up celebrate the music of women composers in film, television, video games and interactive media at...
Grand Performances, the “Best Free Outdoor Summer Concert Series” in Los Angeles and the Alliance for Women Film Composers team up celebrate the music of women composers in film, television, video games and interactive media at...
- 8/3/2016
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Dutch doctor Rebecca Gomberts built a reproductive clinic on a ship, sailed it to countries where abortion is outlawed -- Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Spain... and got responses from thousands of women in need. It's an advocacy docu about an activist experiment that's moving around the world, promoting positive change. Vessel DVD Kino Lorber 2014 / Color / 1:78 enhanced widescreen / 86 min. / Street Date April 19, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95 Starring Rebecca Gomperts Cinematography Diana Whitten Film Editor Simeon Hunter Animators Emily Hubley.Emilie Liu, Hsien Pei Liu Original Music T. Griffin, Heather McIntosh Produced by Mitchell Block, Diana Whitten Directed by Diana Whitten
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
An efficient and powerful advocacy documentary, 2014's Vessel documents the work of Rebecca Gomperts, a pro- women's reproductive rights activist. A doctor and one-time activist with Greenpeace, around 2000 Gomberts decided to stop working in a women's clinic in her home of Amsterdam, Holland, and to take the...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
An efficient and powerful advocacy documentary, 2014's Vessel documents the work of Rebecca Gomperts, a pro- women's reproductive rights activist. A doctor and one-time activist with Greenpeace, around 2000 Gomberts decided to stop working in a women's clinic in her home of Amsterdam, Holland, and to take the...
- 3/22/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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