cinema reflections
Marion Cotillard 'Psycho' shower scene scream. Marion Cotillard naked and screaming in 'Psycho' shower scene A few years ago – more exactly, in Feb./March 2008 – Vanity Fair published a series of images honoring Alfred Hitchcock movies made in Hollywood. (His British oeuvre was completely ignored.) The images weren't from the movies themselves; instead, they were somewhat faithful recreations featuring early 21st century stars, including […]
Meryl Streep in Hope Springs. In movies since the late 1970s – she was first seen in a small role in Fred Zinnemann's Julia (1977) – Meryl Streep seems to get at least one annual Golden Globe nomination. This year, her performance as a middle-aged woman attempting to revive her semi-comatose marriage in David Frankel's romantic comedy-drama Hope Springs has earned Streep her 27th nomination. […]
Marion Cotillard in Rust and Bone. The SAG Awards usually bypass performers in non-English-language films. This year, however, could be a major exception thanks to two well-received French-language dramas: Jacques Audiard's Rust and Bone and Michael Haneke's Amour. The former stars Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts; the latter stars veterans Jean-Louis Trintignant (Z, The Conformist) and Emmanuelle Riva (Hiroshima Mon Amour, Kapò), in addition to the more youthful […]
Best Actor Oscar: Joaquin Phoenix a potential contender. 2013 Oscar predictions Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix, Daniel Day-Lewis Joaquin Phoenix and Daniel Day-Lewis look like the two shoo-ins for the 2013 Best Actor Oscar at this stage. Phoenix's nod will be for Paul Thomas Anderson's critically acclaimed but commercially disappointing The Master; Day-Lewis' will be for Steven Spielberg's generally well-received Lincoln, in which the two-time Oscar […]
The Dark Knight Rises. 'The Dark Knight Rises' passes $600 million milestone at the worldwide box office Sept. 10 update: The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan's third and final Batman movie, is lagging far behind its predecessor, The Dark Knight, at the domestic box office. Outside North America, however, The Dark Knight Rises has far surpassed “Batman 2.” In fact, TDKR's international take has just […]
'The Dark Knight Rises.' The Dark Knight Rises right-wing politics? July 27 update: In Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, Who represents You People? (Did you read the remarks by U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's wife last week?) So, who does? Bane or Bruce Wayne? Their names sound similar (could that be a liberal conspiracy?), but while one is a mad terrorist, the other […]
'The Dark Knight Rises' poster. The Dark Knight Rises box office: $300 million milestone Aug. 1 update: Christopher Nolan's third and final installment in his Batman movie franchise, The Dark Knight Rises, raked in $8.77 million on Tuesday, July 31, at the North American box office. As a result, TDKR has passed the $300 million milestone domestically. Starring Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman, […]
Batman Movie Trilogy Marathon: The Dark Knight (2008) June 22 update: The Dark Knight Rises viral campaign is now in full swing. Directed by Christopher Nolan, and starring Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne / Batman), Anne Hathaway (Selina Kyle / Catwoman), Tom Hardy (Bane), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (John Blake), Marion Cotillard (Miranda Tate), and Gary Oldman (Jim Gordon), The Dark Knight Rises opens at midnight July 20. […]
Cristian Mungiu's Beyond the Hills: Cosmina Stratan, Cristina Flutur While delivering her intro for the Cannes Film Festival awards ceremony, Mistress of Ceremonies Bérénice Bejo waxed poetic: “If festivals are the parentheses, films are the words, the exclamation points…” In fact, there were quite a few exclamation points among the winners, both in regard to who/what won – it helped to have been a former […]
Rachel McAdams kissing Noomi Rapace, Passion Rachel McAdams kisses Noomi Rapace in Brian De Palma's thriller Passion, a remake of Alain Corneau's Crime d'amour / Love Crime. McAdams replaces Kristin Scott Thomas; Rapace replaces Ludivine Sagnier in this tale of “a deadly power struggle between two women in the dog-eat-dog world of international business.” In Passion, Noomi Rapace plays Isabelle, a young, bright, and naive […]
'The Dark Knight Rises' villain: Tom Hardy as the unintelligible Bane. 'The Dark Knight Rises' villain: The unintelligible Mr. Bane Regarding the villainous Bane's oftentimes unintelligible dialogue in The Dark Knight Rises prologue and trailer, director/co-screenwriter Christopher Nolan has recently explained: “I think when people see the film, things will come into focus. Bane is very complex and very interesting and when people see the […]
Jean Dujardin and Gilles Lellouche: 'Scandalous' 'The Players / Les infidèles' posters and 9/11 joke removed. Jean Dujardin purported 'little secret': World Trade Center 9/11 joke removed from sex comedy 'The Players' “Jean Dujardin, already Oscared, can now breathe again: his little secret was kept to the very end,” writes Emmanuel Berretta in the French magazine Le Point. The “little secret” in question is a […]
This year's Oscar show may have been a critical and ratings flop, but the careers (of at least some) of those involved clearly haven't suffered as a result. Co-producer Don Mischer has been called back to co-produce the Oscar 2012 ceremony with action filmmaker Brett Ratner; James Franco stars in the well-received The Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which is expected to top […]
Alison Pill as Zelda Fitzgerald, Owen Wilson in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris June 19 update: Following the addition of 94 theaters, Woody Allen's 2011 effort Midnight in Paris was down only 10 percent from last weekend according to studio estimates found at Box Office Mojo. Starring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, and Marion Cotillard, among others, Midnight in Paris brought in $5.23 million at 1,038 […]
Kevin McNally and Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides May 26: Featuring Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush, Sam Claflin, Ian McShane, and Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, Rob Marshall's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides added $4.7 million at the North American box office on Wednesday, May 25, according to Box Office Mojo. In all likelihood, On Stranger Tides had its last […]
Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Midnight in Paris Woody Allen's cinematic love letter to Paris kicked off the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and is already playing on French screens. Starring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, and Marion Cotillard, Midnight in Paris has received a number of positive English-language reviews. Oscar buzz, in fact, has already begun – though how far-reaching that will be remains to be seen. […]
Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Midnight in Paris Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, the director's 41st film, opened the Cannes Film Festival today. Starring unlikely Allen hero Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Michael Sheen, Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Léa Seydoux, Alison Pill, and Gad Elmaleh, and featuring Carla Bruni in a cameo as a museum tour guide, Midnight in Paris has been greeted by mostly […]
Jodie Foster, Mel Gibson, The Beaver “More Stars Than There Are in Heaven” used to be MGM's tagline. Now that the old home of Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Elizabeth Taylor, et al. has been reduced to less than a shadow of its former itself – the latest announcement has Sony Pictures releasing the troubled studio's upcoming James Bond flick – the Cannes Film […]
Leonardo DiCaprio in 'Inception.' 'Inception' movie review: Summer blockbuster with brains & soul Christopher Nolan's Inception is a summer blockbuster that doesn't act like one. Unlike so many of the tedious, one-note Big Movies that get released year after year, Inception has not only brains, but a heart and a soul as well. The fact that this sci-fier/thriller also offers fascinating special effects is like […]
Justin Bieber: 'Never Say Never' London premiere. 'Justin Bieber: Never Say Never' London premiere Justin Bieber was in attendance at the Justin Bieber: Never Say Never premiere held at London's 02 Arena on Feb. 16, '11. Directed by Jon M. Chu – instead of the previously (and incongruously) announced Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) – Never Say Never is a mix of concert and biographical […]
'Inception' with Marion Cotillard (and Ken Watanabe): Dream lady's gotta a gun. 'Inception' only 'original' live-action movie to pass $200 million milestone so far this year Aug. 6, '10, update: Inception, the current no. 1 movie at the North American box office, crossed the $200 million milestone on Tuesday, Aug. 3, '10, its 19th day out. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Christopher Nolan's thriller/sci-fier earned $4.12 million, […]
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Leonardo DiCaprio star in Inception Christopher Nolan's sci-fi/thriller Inception opens Friday. Initially hailed as a masterpiece, Inception has now received several negative reviews that have lowered its Rotten Tomatoes score down from near 100 percent to 83 percent. Among RT's top critics, the score is even lower: 74 percent. For comparison's sake: The Dark Knight's overall score is 93 percent positive; 91 percent […]
Sigourney Weaver arrives at the 2010 César ceremony. Weaver was there to present the Honorary Cesar to Harrison Ford, her co-star in Mike Nichols' 1988 romantic comedy-drama Working Girl, with Melanie Griffith. Weaver received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for that movie. She can currently be seen on French screens in James Cameron's sci-fi epic Avatar. Last weekend, Avatar became the #14 all-time hit […]
A Prophet, Jacques Audiard's internationally acclaimed prison drama, was the big winner at the 2010 César Awards ceremony held at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard served as the ceremony's honorary president. She was assisted by co-presenters Gad Elmaleh and Valérie Lemercier. Starring relative newcomer Tahar Rahim as a new inmate who must fend off for himself while prison, A […]
Marion Cotillard won't sing Maury Yeston's “Take It All” fromNine, Jeff Bridges won't perform Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett's “The Weary Kind” from Crazy Heart, Randy Newman won't do a rendition of “Almost There” and “Down in New Orleans” from The Princess and the Frog, and Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas won't stage “Loin de Paname” from Paris 36 at the 2010 Academy Awards […]
Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, and Keith Urban pose for the camera at the 2010 SAG Awards ceremony, held in Los Angeles on Sat., Jan. 23. Cruz was in the running for the best supporting actress SAG Award, but she lost to Precious' Mo'Nique. The trio of actresses, along with Kate Hudson, Sophia Loren, Fergie, Judi Dench, and Daniel Day-Lewis were also up for […]
Meryl Streep was one of the presenters at the 2010 SAG Awards ceremony. Streep was in the running in the best actress category (for Julie & Julia), but lost to Sandra Bullock for the blockbuster The Blind Side. Without a doubt, Streep and Bullock will be the two top contenders for the best actress Oscar. In fact, both Streep and Bullock won Golden Globes last […]
Sigourney Weaver, Justin Timberlake, Kyra Sedgwick, Ray Romano, Jeremy Renner, Carey Mulligan, Anthony Mackie, Anna Kendrick, Felicity Huffman and Brian Geraghty have been announced as presenters at the 2010 Screen Actors Guild Awards on Jan. 23. They'll be joining Alec Baldwin, Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Jane Lynch, Michelle Monaghan, Chris O'Donnell, Anna Paquin, Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci. Two-time SAG Award nominee Sigourney Weaver can […]
Sophia Loren, Penélope Cruz were present at the Rome Premiere Party of Rob Marshall's musical Nine, co-hosted by Martini, at the Martini Terrazza on January 13. Federico Fellini's 8 1/2, on which the Broadway musical Nine is based, starred Marcello Mastroianni, Loren's frequent love interest in movies from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s – in addition to a reunion in Robert Altman's poorly received […]
"It's sort of surreal,” The Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow told journalists backstage when asked about her Critics Choice Award victory over former husband James Cameron, in the running for the blockbuster Avatar. Cameron's 3D sci-fier, however, was the evening's big winner in terms of sheer number of trophies: six (not seven, as previously reported) in all, including best cinematography (Mauro Fiore), best visual effects, […]
Susan Sarandon in The Lovely Bones. Best Actress Academy Award winner (Dead Man Walking, 1995) Susan Sarandon isn't exactly a top contender for the Academy Awards early next year for her performance as a young-looking granny in Peter Jackson's supernatural crime/psychological drama The Lovely Bones – a critical and box office disappointment that has been all but ignored this awards season. Yet Sarandon could theoretically […]
2010 Golden Globe Predictions: Best Supporting Actress Mariah Carey, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push' by Sapphire (with Gabourey Sidibe) An unglamorous social worker Penélope Cruz, Nine A film director's seductive mistress Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push' by Sapphire (with Gabourey Sidibe) A Mom from Hell Julianne Moore, A Single Man A married alcoholic in love with a distraught gay professor Emma Thompson, […]
'Encounters at the End of the World': Werner Herzog braves 'Antarctica.' Werner Herzog in Antarctica and dwindling water supplies: Academy showcases 'Encounters at the End of the World' and 'Flow: For Love of Water' Werner Herzog's Academy Award-nominated Encounters at the End of the World and Irena Salina's Flow: For Love of Water will be screened as part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts […]
'Public Enemies' with Johnny Depp. In Michael Mann's period crime drama Public Enemies, Johnny Depp plays John Dillinger, the Depression Era bank robber who became the top target of J. Edgar Hoover's FBI. Christian Bale plays Dillinger's nemesis, investigator Melvin Purvis; Marion Cotillard is Dillinger's gal, Billie Frechette; and Billy Crudup is Hoover the (Gay?) Man. (Previously, Leonardo DiCaprio had been connected with the project.) […]
Zac Efron Werner Herzog Slumdog Millionaire composer A.R. Rahman, Sairaa Rahman Robert Pattinson, Edward Cullen in the Twilight movie franchise. Michael Shannon, Kate Arrington Photos: Bryan Crowe / © A.M.P.A.S. James Franco, Ahna O'Reilly Natalie Portman Jochen Alexander Freydank Milk filmmaker Gus Van Sant, Anne Kronenberg Photos: Jon Didier / © A.M.P.A.S. Photos: Darren Decker / © A.M.P.A.S. Sophia Loren Slumdog Millionaire filmmaker Danny Boyle […]
Penélope Cruz, Eva Marie Saint, and Goldie Hawn. “This is not going to be 45 seconds, I can say that right now,” said best supporting actress winner Penélope Cruz (for Vicky Cristina Barcelona). “Has anybody ever fainted here? Because I might be the first one. Thank you so much to the Academy. I want to share this with my fellow nominees and with the amazing […]
Jessica Biel. Actress Jessica Biel at Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards Pictured above is Jessica Biel, host of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards ceremony, which was held on Feb. 7 in Beverly Hills. Past Scientific and Technical Awards presenters include the following: Gregory Peck. Christopher Reeve. Janet Leigh. Angie Dickinson. Lloyd Bridges. Kirk Douglas. Rachel McAdams. Jennifer […]
Marion Cotillard Photos: Richard Harbaugh / © A.M.P.A.S. (Cotillard) Marion Cotillard. Photo: Armando Flores (Cotillard). See below more images from the 2008 Oscar ceremony – including what looks like a mighty embarrassed Tilda Swinton, Best Supporting Actress winner for Tony Gilroy's Michael Clayton, taking part in an four-way Oscar statuette smooching. Marion Cotillard: Best Actress Oscar winner for 'La Vie en Rose.' Among Marion Cotillard's […]
As the saying goes, it's not over until the fat lady sings. Since Amy Adams is anything but fat, that meant another three hours of Oscar give-aways after her rendition of “Happy Working Song” from Enchanted. Nearly four hours into the Oscarcast 2008… And it's finally over. No Country for Old Men has been voted the best film of 2007. I must admit that […]
2008 London Film Critics' Circle Award nominations: Dec. 14. 2008 London Film Critics' Circle Award winners: Grosvenor House Hotel on Feb. 8. FILM OF THE YEAR * No Country for Old Men The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford There Will Be Blood Zodiac The Bourne Ultimatum ATTENBOROUGH AWARD FOR BRITISH FILM OF THE YEAR Once * Control Atonement Eastern Promises This […]
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly with Marie-Josée Croze: Golden Globe Awards' non-ceremony eyebrow-raiser. Based on Jean-Dominique Bauby's book of memoirs – reportedly written after Bauby (1952–1997) suffered a stroke that left him totally paralyzed except for his left eyelid, which he used to communicate (and thus “write” the book) – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly unsurprisingly topped the Golden Globe Awards' Best Foreign Language Film category. […]
There Will Be Blood with Daniel Day-Lewis. Whereas Joel and Ethan Coen's thriller No Country for Old Men is the undeniable early front-runner this awards season, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association has opted for Paul Thomas Anderson's sociopolitical period drama There Will Be Blood, which also earned Anderson the Best Director award. The Los Angeles Film Critics' Best Actor was Daniel Day-Lewis, who plays […]