Notizie

It’s a rare type of cinephile who wasn’t introduced to the idea of film as more than just idle entertainment by the ritual of the Academy Awards. And it’s an even rarer type of cinephile who didn’t soon thereafter vehemently reject the Oscars as the ultimate barometer of a film’s artistic worth. Those of us who started off with The Godfather, Schindler’s List, All About Eve, or Casablanca all eventually got around to Out of Africa, Around the World in 80 Days, The Greatest Show on Earth, Cimarron, and Cavalcade.

First loves being first loves, we still find ourselves regressing if for only one night a year, succumbing to the allure of instant canonization even as it comes in the form of repeated slap-in-the-face reminders of Oscar’s bracing wrongness: Gladiator, Braveheart, Chicago, Crash. In that sense, consider this project part cathartic exorcism and part...

Wildly unpredictable, visually gorgeous, and occasionally gruesome, the German animated feature Felidae is a surreal amalgam of gothic horror and noir-tinged mystery that’s definitely not for the kiddies. The film is rife with delirious dream imagery and unrestrained depictions of sadistic medical experiments, murder, and mutilation. Not to mention that, per its feline-centric title, all the central characters are cats. Felidae is the result of what might happen if a giallo director like Dario Argento took a whack at directing The Secret of Nimh.

No sooner has the urbane Francis (Ulrich Tukur), accompanied by his feckless human “can opener,” a romance writer named Gustav Löbel (Manfred Steffen), moved into new digs in a new part of town, than he meets the grizzled Bluebeard (Mario Adorf), who supplies the profanely wise-cracking buddy component for the twisty mystery that follows. Bluebeard’s idea of a housewarming present turns out to be...

Sean Connery's James Bond films have a significant place in movie history, kicking off the long-running franchise in the early 1960s that has spanned decades with a total of 26 (1 being unofficial) Bond movies to date. Connery is arguably the most important actor in the franchise, being the first of six actors so far to take up the mantle of the iconic 007. His first appearance as the character was in Dr. No in 1962, which was also the first adaptation of the landmark novels by Ian Fleming.

Following his first film as James Bond, Connery starred in four more 007 films in the '60s, retiring briefly from the character, only to return in 1971. He finally came back once more in 1983 for Never Say Never Again, which officially marked the end of his career as 007. Not only was Sean Connery one of the most important James Bond actors, but he was also one of the best,...

Sydney Pollack was the Oscar winning filmmaker who could’ve branded himself as Hollywood’s favorite journeyman, crafting solid entertainments for over 40 years. But how many of his titles remain classics? Let’s take a look back at all 20 of his films as a director, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1934, Pollack got his start as an actor, studying under legendary New York teacher Sanford Meisner. He cut his teeth is television, appearing in such shows as “The Twilight Zone,” “Playhouse 90” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” before transitioning into directing for the small screen. Even after making a name for himself behind the camera, he kept popping up onscreen, starring in “The Player” (1992), “Husbands and Wives” (1992), “Eyes Wide Shut” (1999), “Changing Lanes” (2002), “Michael Clayton” (2007) and his own “Tootsie” (1982), to name but a few.

It was this experience as a performer that made him a favorite with actors, including Robert Redford, with whom he made seven films.

Never Say Never Again is a remake of Bond adventure Thunderball, but improved on its predecessor in several ways. Thunderball is the fourth James Bond adventure and was a sensation back in 1965. Adjusted for inflation, it's still one of the most successful entries in the franchise period, but it led to decades of problems for producers Eon too. The Ian Fleming novel Thunderball started life as a screenplay, which he co-wrote with Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham. Fleming later grew bored of the process but decided to recycle the story for a novel - where he failed to credit his co-writers.

They sued Fleming after Thunderball was published, and as part of a settlement, McClory was awarded the film rights to the book. A deal was later made for him to produce Eon's Thunderball, with an option to remake it a decade after the film's release. The producers assumed the...

Ricou Browning, who is best known for his playing the underwater version of Gill-man in Creature From the Black Lagoon, has died at the age of 93. Released in 1954, Creature from the Black Lagoon is directed by Jack Arnold and tells the story of a group of scientists who discover an amphibious humanoid in the depths of the Amazon jungle. The success of the film ultimately spawned two sequels, including Revenge of the Creature in 1955 and The Creature Walks Among Us in 1956, both of which also featured Browning as Gill-man during underwater sequences.

As reported by Bloody Disgusting, Browning, who was the last surviving actor to have portrayed any of the classic Universal Monsters, has sadly passed away at the age of 93. In addition to his work in Creature of the Black Lagoon, Browning also served as a marine action coordinator on Thunderball (1965) and Never Say Never Again (1983). Throughout his career,...

Here's every James Bond movie from the original 007 Sean Connery, ranked worst to best. Major names like David Niven and Cary Grant were thrown around for the role of 007 when it came to casting Dr. No. However, Connery was little known when he landed the part but carried the looks, charisma and acting chops producers were looking for. Few could have predicted the success of the film or the impact it - and the franchise it spawned - would have on pop culture. Connery was contracted for five James Bond movies, and they made him one of the most famous men on the planet.

Regardless, Connery had a strained relationship with the series. He was uncomfortable with the level of fame they granted him, and felt underpaid and undervalued in contrast to their huge success. Despite exiting the part following the fifth film in 1967, he was lured back to Bond...

Iconoclastic auteur Peter Greenaway’s first film since 2015 is scheduled to be unveiled later this year, and when it hits screens, the opening credits will feature a company that may not yet be familiar to festival-goers. But if all goes according to their plan, it will be very soon.

Apx Capital Group’s film fund was launched in October of 2021, with headquarters in New York. Though the company was minted less than a year ago, Apx has already been plenty busy setting up deals and partnerships, with the release of Greenaway’s “Walking to Paris” set to be the first of many. Earlier this year, they notched a deal with Mathew Knowles (father of Beyonce) and his Music World Entertainment Group to invest 275 million toward Italian film and TV co-productions. And just last month, the company announced a pact with Paula Linhares’ Cenya Productions to develop films for Latin America; centered in Brazil,...

“The Killing Fields” and “The Mission” director Roland Joffé is in talks to helm an epic drama spanning the two World Wars in a project set up with international film and media fund Apx Capital Group.

“L’Inverno” is the first pic to emerge from Apx’s new Music World Films & TV venture — a new division headed by Mathew Knowles (Beyoncé’s father), who sold his Music World Entertainment Group to Apx last month. As part of the deal, the film and TV division of Knowles’ company has been merged with the studio.

Apx will complete the financing on “L’Inverno,” with the 12-million budgeted movie starting principal photography in Rome, Italy, this fall. (Apx has a 10-year commitment to move productions to Italy.)

Spanning two World Wars, “L’Inverno” tells the story of former childhood friends SS Officer Nikolaus Führich and Jewish violinist Elisabeth Soloveichik, expressed through the eyes of Elizabeth’s brother,...

Birthe Neumann as Karen Blixen with Thorkild Bjørnvig (Simon Bennebjerg) in The Pact, Bille August’s elegant take on creation and destruction.

Karen Blixen herself, if you take her word for it, had made a deal with the devil in exchange for the power to tell tales. In Bille August’s The Pact (Pagten), co-written with Christian Torpe and based on the memoir by Thorkild Bjørnvig, starring Birthe Neumann as Blixen, opposite Simon Bennebjerg as Bjørnvig, she tests her own devilishness, and yet remains always very human. Blixen’s Seven Gothic Tales and Out Of Africa, plus Sydney Pollack’s film version of the latter with Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, and Klaus Maria Brandauer may float in and out of our memory while watching the machinations of mutual manipulation unfold.

Bille August with Anne-Katrin Titze on Karen Blixen: “Doing this film I was trying to understand how she worked as a storyteller,...

Actress Carrie Coon joins Josh and Joe to discuss the Best of what she’s been watching during the pandemic.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Nest (2020)

Gone Girl (2014)

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Sabrina (1954)

The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)

Apocalypse Now (1979)

Opening Night (1977)

Husbands (1971)

Too Late Blues (1961)

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Faces (1968)

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)

Gloria (1980)

Mephisto (1981)

The Cremator (1969)

Zama (2017)

Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (2017)

Wanda (1970)

Blue Collar (1978)

The Lunchbox (2013)

63 Up (2019)

To Sleep With Anger (1990)

Killer of Sheep (1978)

The Glass Shield (1994)

My Brother’s Wedding (1983)

Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1987)

Rio Bravo (1959)

Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979)

Cutter’s Way (1981)

Scenes From A Marriage (1973)

The Magician (1958)

The Silence (1963)

The Magic Flute (1975)

The Last House on the Left (1972)

The Virgin Spring (1963)

Summer with Monika (1953)

The Seventh Seal (1957)

Wings of Desire (1987)

Black Girl (1966)

Fat Girl (2001)

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

Parasite (2019)

Jesus of Montreal (1989)

Other Notable Items...

With depictions of pandemic catastrophes, war, failing empires, the divide between rich and poor, shooting rampages and massive power outages, Germany’s newest TV shows appear to reflect the current apocalyptic zeitgeist.

German broadcasters and streaming services alike are going heavy on suspense, crime, psychological thrillers, action and adventure, often colored by themes of societal disruption and armed conflict.

Showrunner Christian Alvart (“Dogs of Berlin”) was in production with Zdf Enterprise’s new series “Sløborn” well before the Covid-19 pandemic but the storyline was eerily prescient: A community on the North Sea island of Sløborn is slowly devastated when a deadly virus begins killing residents while being largely ignored by most of the population until it’s too late. Alvart says he wanted to make a series about a crisis that occurs because people are too occupied with their daily lives to take the situation seriously.

In Zdf’s “Shadowplay,...

The line-up includes new films by István Szabó, Laila Pakalnina, Dalibor Matanić, Georgi Mindadze, Nisan Dağ, Anna Melikyan and Leonardo António. The 24th edition of the Tallinn Black Nights International Film Festival, taking place physically with a stripped-back programme from 13-29 November, has announced the first eight titles of its main Official Selection - Competition. Six of the films will have their world premieres at Tallinn. The line-up includes the international premiere of the most recent film by the Tallinn's 2013 Lifetime Achievement Awardee István Szabó, Final Report (Hungary), the story of a cardiology professor played by Klaus Maria Brandauer, who returns to his home village after retirement to become the local Gp. The film was released in Hungary in February before the lockdown. Latvian director Laila Pakalnina returns to Tallinn with In the Mirror (Latvia/Lithuania) a playful take on the Snow White motif, after winning the Best Cinematography award.

To mark the release of Out of Africa, Monty python and Uncle Buck on 28th September, we’ve been given 2 Blu-ray bundles of the movies to give away.

Out of Africa

The true life story of Karen Blixen (Meryl Streep), an amazingly strong willed woman who moves from Denmark to run a coffee plantation with her philandering husband (Klaus Maria Brandauer) in Kenya around 1914. To her astonishment she soon discovers herself falling in love with the land, its people and a mysterious adventurer and idealist (Robert Redford).

Monty Python

Those six pandemonium-mad Pythons are back with their craziest adventure ever! John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin have returned to explain The Meaning of Life. These naughty Pythons offer the usual tasteful sketches involving favourite bodily parts and functions, the wonders of war, the miracle of birth and a special preview of what’s waiting for us in Heaven.

The wild animals of the African savannah have inspired music, games and movies, including the 1985 Oscar-winning romance "Out Of Africa", directed by Sydney Pollack, set in lush colonial Kenya, where a Danish baroness/plantation owner (Meryl Streep) has a passionate love affair with a free-spirited hunter (Robert Redford):

"...aristocratic 'Karen Blixen' (Streep) travels to Africa to join her husband 'Bror' (Klaus Maria Brandauer), who has spent their savings on a coffee plantation. 

"After discovering Bror is unfaithful, Karen develops feelings for hunter 'Denys' (Robert Redford)...

"...but realizes he prefers a simplistic lifestyle, surrounded by wild animals...

"...compared to her sophisticated and rich tastes..." 

Now 35 years since that film's release, players can enjoy the wild Africa themed jackpot game Mega Moolah online casino slot, noted as the $20 million World Record holder of the biggest casino win online, where lions are 'wild' in every sense, alongside elephants, giraffes, monkeys and zebras.

Nfi World Sales, the institute’s sales arm, is also introducing buyers to Oscar-winning István Szabó’s latest feature Final Report.

Details have emerged at Berlin’s Efm of the latest investments from the Nfi (National Film Institute Hungary) under new film commissioner Csaba Kael.

The latest Nfi grants have gone to János Szász’s Journey by Moonlight, produced by Mythberg Films and adapted from the Antal Szerb novel; a documentary about three-time Olympic swimming champion Katinka Hosszú, produced by Szupermodern Stúdió; and Áron Gauder’s family animation As Long As the Grass Grows, produced by Cinemon Entertainment, which will...

Sydney Pollack would’ve celebrated his 85th birthday on July 1, 2019. The Oscar winning filmmaker could’ve branded himself as Hollywood’s favorite journeyman, crafting solid entertainments for over 40 years. But how many of his titles remain classics? In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at all 20 of his films as a director, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1934, Pollack got his start as an actor, studying under legendary New York teacher Sanford Meisner. He cut his teeth is television, appearing in such shows as “The Twilight Zone,” “Playhouse 90” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” before transitioning into directing for the small screen. Even after making a name for himself behind the camera, he kept popping up onscreen, starring in “The Player” (1992), “Husbands and Wives” (1992), “Eyes Wide Shut” (1999), “Changing Lanes” (2002), “Michael Clayton” (2007) and his own “Tootsie” (1982), to name but a few.

SEERobert Redford movies: 15 greatest films ranked from...

Nordisk Film is developing “The Lioness,” an international feature film and a miniseries about Karen Blixen, the Danish author best known for her autobiographical novel “Out of Africa,” which Sydney Pollack adapted into the 1985 pic starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford.

The film and miniseries will be written by Jakob Weis (“That Time of Year”), based on two upcoming books by acclaimed author and historian Tom Buk-Swienty, and will chronicle Blixen’s life as a coffee farmer in Kenya from 1914 to 1931.

Set in the early 20th century, Buk-Swienty’s biography tells the story of a young upper-class Danish woman who sought independence from her overbearing Victorian family and hoped to make it as a coffee farmer in colonial Kenya.

“After 17 years of hardship, marked by World War I, poor harvests due to various natural disasters, the onset of the Great Depression and her tragic love affair with Denys Finch Hatton,...

Final Report (Zárójelentés)

A titan of Hungarian cinema, the 80-year-old Istvan Szabo reunites with Austria’s Klaus Maria Brandauer for Final Report (Zárójelentés). The director and star worked together on a lauded trilogy of films in the 1980s, notably 1981’s Mephisto, which took home the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, 1985’s Colonel Redl and 1988’s Hanussen (both also nominated for Oscars in the same category). The film is produced by Pál Sándor and Attila Tozsér of Film Street and also stars Karoly Eperjes, Eva Kerekes, András Stohl, Dorottya Udvaros, Mari Csomós, Ági Szirtes, Enikő Börcsök, Eszter Csákányi and József Szarvas.…...

A newly restored 4K digital print of István Szabó’s Oscar-winning “Mephisto” will be among the European classics screening as part of the 2nd Budapest Classics Film Marathon, which runs Sept. 4-9. Claudia Cardinale, Klaus Maria Brandauer and Jean-Marc Barr will be among the event’s guests.

The first Marathon ran in November 2017, attracting more than 5,000 people over three days. This year’s edition, which runs over six days and includes the screening of more than 60 films, kicks off with an all-day workshop and conference on digital restoration and film in education, attended by the directors of European film archives. The restored “Mephisto” will screen on the opening evening, attended by Szabó, Brandauer and Lajos Koltai.

György Ráduly, director of the Hungarian National Film Archive, said in a statement: “The aim is to show, in a novel and interesting way, valuable, recently restored classical films that represent a part of...

John and Matthew are watching every single live-action film starring Meryl Streep.

#12 — Karen Blixen, aristocratic Danish author who owns a coffee plantation in Kenya during the first decades of the twentieth century.

John: Did Karen Blixen once have a farm in Africa? Like a marching zombie with arms outstretched, Karen intones this mantra via voiceover several times during Out of Africa, either because she remains in disbelief at her accomplishment or feels compelled to remind the viewer of a reason to focus on Ms. Blixen amid Sydney Pollack’s African travelogue.

Out of Africa tells the tale of Karen Blixen, a headstrong woman who relocates from Denmark to Kenya circa 1914 to marry her lover’s twin brother (Klaus Maria Brandauer), run a short-lived coffee plantation, and eventually fall in love with English game-hunter Denys Finch Hatton (Robert Redford). Out of Africa was a project that piqued but ultimately eluded such directors as Orson Welles,...

“The Shape of Water” numbers three acting bids among its leading 13 Academy Awards nominations for lead Sally Hawkins and supporting players Richard Jenkins and Octavia Spencer. According to our exclusive Oscar odds none of them is predicted to win on March 4. Should that scenario play out, does that mean that their film won’t win Best Picture?

Not so fast.

While 53 of the 89 Best Picture champs to date include an Oscar-winning performance, 36 of them (40%) did not win any acting awards. And among those three dozen winners are four of the eight films — “The Hurt Locker” (2009), “Argo” (2012), “Birdman” (2015) and “Spotlight” (2016) — decided by preferential ballot under the newly expanded slate of Best Picture nominees.

Surprisingly, an even dozen of the Best Picture winners did not even reap any acting nominations. That is welcome news for “Arrival,” which does not number an acting bid among its eight nominations. However, four of those films...

This article marks Part 6 of the 21-part Gold Derby series analyzing Meryl Streep at the Oscars. Join us as we look back at Meryl Streep’s nominations, the performances that competed with her, the results of each race and the overall rankings of the contenders.

In 1984, after making three consecutive appearances in Best Actress at the Academy Awards, Meryl Streep was a no-show on nominations morning for her turn opposite Robert De Niro in “Falling in Love.” The odds of a Streep return to the ceremony looked strong, however, in 1985. Two projects were lined up, both awards-caliber on paper.

The first of these two projects landed with a whimper that September. “Plenty,” directed by acclaimed Australian filmmaker Fred Schepisi, with a screenplay by David Hare, cast Streep as an Englishwoman searching for fulfillment in life after serving with the French Resistance in World War II. While the film has its passionate defenders to this day,...

Never Say Never Again

Directed by Irvin Kershner

Written by Lorenzo Semple Jr.

United Kingdom, 1983

Never Say Never Again is, in many ways, the red-headed stepchild of the Bond family. Made by a different set of producers than the other 23 Bond films that had been made previously, the movie cannot be found on any Bond boxset, and really shares nothing with its fellow Bond films outside of the names of certain characters, as by 1983, Connery himself had long since hung up the tuxedo in favour of Roger Moore (whose Octopussy, which did come from Albert Broccoli and Co. , had been released earlier that very year, giving audiences a good chance to compare the two actors playing the same character). The primary question of this movie, then, becomes whether or not the Bond franchise benefits from being molded by a different pair of hands at its very core, and the answer...

Since 1978, Meryl Streep has been nominated for an Academy Award 19 times. They're mostly all incredibly deserved honors. Even the 19th-ranked one. But it's still 19th. And that movie is coming to Netflix October 23. Before we unveil her worst nomination, let's count up all her other nods. Consider it in a cleansing Silkwood shower before the radiation kicks in. 1. "Sophie's Choice": A cliched #1, but her confessional to Stingo and eerie relationship with that Kevin Kline-portrayed buffoon are chilling.  2. "Kramer vs. Kramer": That searing courtroom testimonial? She aced it. She also wrote it herself.  3. "A Cry in the Dark": Love Streep's stony resolve as Lindy Chamberlain, a media scapegoat whose story predates Monica Lewinsky's Ted talk by three decades.  4. "Silkwood": Karen got cooked and it was delicious. 5. "The Devil Wears Prada": Grimly hilarious and real-seeming. The way she utters, "Why isn't anybody rea-dy..." to squabbling magazine interns is legendary.

Oliver Hirschbiegel delivers a confident account of the life of Georg Elser, who made a failed attempt to bomb Adolf Hitler in 1939

Oliver Hirschbiegel is the director who made Downfall (2004), the grippingly claustrophobic account of Hitler’s final days in the bunker – but also the notoriously clunking biopic Diana (2013), starring Naomi Watts. This film puts Hirschbiegel back on surer ground: a workmanlike true-life study of Georg Elser, the carpenter who made a failed attempt on the life of Hitler in Munich in 1939; his bomb went off too late and Elser was captured and finally executed in Dachau in 1945. (He is also the subject of a 1989 movie entitled Seven Minutes, directed by its star, Klaus Maria Brandauer.)

Related: Berlin 2015 review: 13 Minutes – would-be Hitler assassin who never burns the toast

Continue reading...

Oliver Hirschbiegel delivers a confident account of the life of Georg Elser, who made a failed attempt to bomb Adolf Hitler in 1939

Oliver Hirschbiegel is the director who made Downfall (2004), the grippingly claustrophobic account of Hitler’s final days in the bunker – but also the notoriously clunking biopic Diana (2013), starring Naomi Watts. This film puts Hirschbiegel back on surer ground: a workmanlike true-life study of Georg Elser, the carpenter who made a failed attempt on the life of Hitler in Munich in 1939; his bomb went off too late and Elser was captured and finally executed in Dachau in 1945. (He is also the subject of a 1989 movie entitled Seven Minutes, directed by its star, Klaus Maria Brandauer.)

Related: Berlin 2015 review: 13 Minutes – would-be Hitler assassin who never burns the toast

Continue reading...

Sean Connery's last appearance as James Bond, and the last 'unofficial' 007 movie. We revisit Never Say Never Again...

So does this count? Never Say Never Again stirs many arguments by shaking up the official order, splitting fans on the issue of its legitimacy. Ruins pub quiz questions such as ‘How many actors have played M?’ due to the inevitable argument whether Edward Fox should be numbered. Put such issues aside and enjoy what remains: a sly, witty semi-pastiche that doesn’t attempt to recapture past glories but can easily hold its own alongside Diamonds Are Forever and Octopussy. And with much less swimming than Thunderball.

The Villain: Ignore Emilo: Maximillian Largo is his own maniac. Short, tubby, lanky blond hair receding, Largo is Draco Malfoy gone to seed. Easily visualised shuffling around Comic Con, accompanied by Mr Kidd and the reformed Jaws. Yet Largo is one of the film’s strengths.

Latido Films taking drama starring Barry Keoghan and Klaus Maria Brandauer to the Cannes Marche.

British writer Rebecca Lenckiewicz has joined Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov on drama I Want To Be Like You. It marks Lenckiewicz’s first feature co-writing Oscar-winner Ida with director Pawel Pawlikowski.

Bojanov will shoot the coming-of-age drama this July on location in and around Copenhagen, the UK’s West Midlands and Belgium.

The film has a budget of $2.2m (€2m) and is a production partnership between Toolbox Film in Copenhagen, London’s Film and Music Entertainment, Brussels-based Left Field Ventures and Bulgaria’s Multfilm.

The young cast is led by Irish actor Barry Keoghan, who featured in Yann Demmange’s ’71. He more recently appeared in Mammal by Rebecca Daly, Trespass Against Us by Adam Smith, and Norfolk, directed by Martin Radich.

Opposite him in the role of Piri is Danish actor Thure Lindhardt, best known roles in Fast and Furious 6, Angels...

Sony Pictures Classics acquired North and Latin American distribution rights to Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Nazi-era drama 13 Minutes early on at the Berlin Film Festival. The story of Georg Elser, who tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1939, has its official screening out of competition today and was met with high praise from the press corps this morning. This is a return to familiar territory for the Oscar-nominated Downfall director after 2013’s savaged English-language biopic Diana.

A compelling portrait of the resistance fighter, 13 Minutes is not the first time Elser’s story has come to the screen, but is a rarity. Klaus Maria Brandauer starred in and directed Seven Minutes in 1989 which focused more on the building of Elser’s poorly-timed bomb. The failed deed was put in motion during a speech given by Hitler for the anniversary of the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. The bomb Elser had placed behind the lectern detonated...

Robert Redford: 'The Great Gatsby' and 'The Way We Were' tonight on Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month Robert Redford returns this evening with three more films: two Sydney Pollack-directed efforts, Out of Africa and The Way We Were, and Jack Clayton's film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel The Great Gatsby. (See TCM's Robert Redford film schedule below. See also: "On TCM: Robert Redford Movies.") 'The Great Gatsby': Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby Released by Paramount Pictures, the 1974 film version of The Great Gatsby had prestige oozing from just about every cinematic pore. The film was based on what some consider the greatest American novel ever written. Francis Ford Coppola, whose directing credits included the blockbuster The Godfather, and who, that same year, was responsible for both The Godfather Part II and The Conversation, penned the adaptation. Multiple Tony winner David Merrick (Becket,...

Robert Redford: 'The Great Gatsby' and 'The Way We Were' tonight on Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month Robert Redford returns this evening with three more films: two Sydney Pollack-directed efforts, Out of Africa and The Way We Were, and Jack Clayton's film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel The Great Gatsby. (See TCM's Robert Redford film schedule below. See also: "On TCM: Robert Redford Movies.") 'Out of Africa' Out of Africa (1985) is an unusual Robert Redford star vehicle in that the film's actual lead isn't Redford, but Meryl Streep -- at the time seen as sort of a Bette Davis-Alec Guinness mix: like Davis, Streep received a whole bunch of Academy Award nominations within the span of a few years: from 1978-1985, she was shortlisted for no less than six movies.* Like Guinness, Streep could transform...

Disney is revisiting the classic Jack London story White Fang with a new adaptation, more than 20 years after the 1991 movie starring Ethan Hawke made its debut in theaters.

Oscar-nominated writer Jose Rivera (The Motorcycle Diaries) has been tasked with writing the screenplay, which will be a modern-day adaptation based on the Jack London novel. The 1991 movie White Fang was set at the turn of the 20th Century, centering on a young Alaskan man (Ethan Hawke) who befriends a wolf dog during the Gold Rush, as they get into a number of adventures involving starving wolves, grizzly bears, dog fighters and Aboriginal settlers. That adventure spawned the 1994 sequel White Fang 2: Myth of the White Wolf.

The original novel was set in Canada's Yukon Territory, and told through the perspective of the wolf dog and his story of survival. The title animal's rescue from dogfighters by a young man was only...

Meryl Streep breaks Oscar record: Oscar 2014 nominations (photo: Meryl Streep in ‘August: Osage County’) The 2014 Oscar nominations were announced earlier today at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs and Thor: The Dark World and Snow White and the Huntsman actor Chris Hemsworth — whose Rush was completely shut out — made the announcements, including that of Best Actress contender Meryl Streep, in the running for her performance in John Wells’ August: Osage County. Streep’s competitors are her Doubt and Julie & Julia co-star Amy Adams for David O. Russell’s American Hustle, Sandra Bullock for Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity, Judi Dench for Stephen Frears’ Philomena, and likely winner Cate Blanchett for Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine. (Emma Thompson’s absence from the Best Actress roster — for her performance in John Lee Hancock’s Saving Mr. Banks — was quite a surprise.

Beta sells other territories on the film based on Noah Gordon’s trilogy of books.

The Physician’s producers Wolf Bauer and Nico Hofmann have indicated that they may take on the other two books of Noah Gordon’s trilogy, of which The Physician is the first part: Matters Of Choice and Shaman.

Speaking exclusively to ScreenDaily ahead of the world premiere of The Physician in Berlin on Monday evening, Bauer explained: “We have discussed this with Noah Gordon and would have access [to the properties].”

“But we won’t have this discussion before the film has reached 3m admissions in Germany and Spain,” said Bauer, who is currently reading Shaman for the seventh time.

Moreover, the producers would have freedom in casting since Shaman is set in the 19th century some 800 years after the events in The Physician.

Hofmann revealed that, as part of the film’s financing from broadcaster Ard Degeto, a longer...

Exclusive: Bankside has newly boarded Steven Shainberg’s comedy-drama set to star Jim Sturgess, Kristen Stewart.

London-based sales outfit Bankside Films is the new sales company on board Steven Shainberg’s comedy-drama The Big Shoe.

Jim Sturgess, Kristen Stewart, Elizabeth Banks and Klaus Maria Brandauer are set to star in the story of a gifted shoe designer (Sturgess) forced to break free from a family who want to cheapen his art for their own commercial gain. Stewart will play the designer’s muse.

Written by Shainberg and Mickey Birnbaum, new backing for the film comes from Bankside and South Africa’s Azari Media. The shoot is planned for April 2014.

Andrew Lazar (I Love You Philip Morris) of Mad Chance Productions produces, while executive producers are Christina Weiss Lurie, Phil Hunt, Compton Ross and Anton Ernst.

CAA is packaging and reps North American rights.

Bankside’s head of sales and marketing Stephen Kelliher, said: “We are...

Chicago – “Francis Ford Coppola: 5 Film Collection,” a four-disc/five-movie set from Lionsgate, is a unique offering in that it certainly doesn’t include “the best of” its namesake or even four movies that are thematically intertwined. There are two undeniable classics in here, two of the most important films of the ’70s, and their inclusion on Blu-ray makes the set interesting, but it’s far from a comprehensive look at the legendary director; more of a sampler set.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

What would be the ideal Coppola Blu-ray set? Well, all three films of “The Godfather,” of course. (Yes, even the third one if just to complete the saga). Those aren’t here but are available in their own gorgeous Blu-ray. Then fans would probably go to “Apocalypse Now,” which is included in the Lionsgate set in two forms: the original and the very-different (and inferior) “Apocalypse Now Redux”. After that,...

Season four of The Good Wife has given us the characters we love and a roster of eye-popping guest-stars, but it seems like they're all peeking out from behind dubious storylines and only occasionally interesting cases. Since there was no new episode this week, I suggest we write letters of contempt to Phil Keoghan for his two-hour roadblock and then think about what more we want from Alicia's fourth season. We know Nick Sevarese's nonsense is over, but what else is on our Good Wife wish list? Here are seven things I want.

1. I want Kalinda to be enigmatic again.

Kalinda Sharma is The Good Wife's resident superhero. She's an unending medley of perfect retorts, knowing glances, and investigative gusto. This season we've suffered as Kalinda trudged through a storyline with horrible husband Nick Sevarese that, I think, was designed to make her look both vulnerable and dangerously sexy.

Never Say Never Again

Directed by Irvin Kershner

Written by Lorenzo Semple Jr.

United Kingdom, 1983

Never Say Never Again is, in many ways, the red-headed stepchild of the Bond family. Made by a different set of producers than the other 23 Bond films that had been made previously, the movie cannot be found on any Bond boxset, and really shares nothing with its fellow Bond films outside of the names of certain characters, as by 1983, Connery himself had long since hung up the tuxedo in favour of Roger Moore (whose Octopussy, which did come from Albert Broccoli and Co. , had been released earlier that very year, giving audiences a good chance to compare the two actors playing the same character). The primary question of this movie, then, becomes whether or not the Bond franchise benefits from being molded by a different pair of hands at its very core, and the answer...

Page to screen adaptations have been bankable fodder since the studios began feeding celluloid to the movie going masses. It’s relatable and something that filmmakers go to time and time again. Look at the success of The Harry Potter, Twilight, Narnia and Bourne franchises. The studios are returning to the literary well once again with such notables as the upcoming Great Gatsby, Anna Karenina, and Les MISÉRABLES. The latest entry into the fray has been The Hunger Games franchise. With just the first film so far, it’s worldwide box office receipts has it off to a successful start.

Sometimes the transfer, as in the case of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Master And Commander and John Carter books, doesn’t go over so well because in hindsight it only played out to a niche audience and the box office was worse the wear for it. Even the big name stars,...

Colin Firth, Meryl Streep Colin Firth tells Meryl Streep he should have been cast as Margaret Thatcher in Phyllida Lloyd's The Iron Lady, for he's British and Streep is not. Streep responds by telling him she can play any nationality, including Italian. As proof, she incarnates Anna Magnani in Bellissima. Well, something like that went on backstage at the 2012 Academy Awards ceremony. (Photo: Bryan Crowe / ©A.M.P.A.S.) Meryl Streep's Best Actress Oscar for The Iron Lady was her third. Streep's previous two Oscars were as Best Supporting Actress for Robert Benton's Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), featuring Dustin Hoffman, Jane Alexander, and Justin Henry; and as Best Actress for Alan J. Pakula's Sophie's Choice (1982), with Kevin Kline and Peter MacNicol. Only three other performers have won three Academy Awards: Walter Brennan as Best Supporting Actor for Howard Hawks and William Wyler's Come and Get It...

Dressed to Win: Best Actress Meryl Streep Best Actress Oscar winner Meryl Streep — whose dress and earring match her statuette — poses backstage at the 84th Academy Awards on February 26, 2012. Streep won for her performance as Margaret Thatcher in Phyllida Lloyd's biopic The Iron Lady. That was Streep's 17th Oscar nomination and her third win. (Photo: Todd Wawrychuk / © A.M.P.A.S.) Meryl Streep's Oscar 2012 competitors were SAG Award winner Viola Davis for Tate Taylor's The Help, Michelle Williams (as Marilyn Monroe) for Simon Curtis' My Week with Marilyn, Rooney Mara for David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Glenn Close for Rodrigo García's Albert Nobbs. Streep's previous Oscar nominations were: as Best Supporting Actress for Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter (1978), with Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken; and as Best Actress for Karel Reisz's The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), with...

Second time is the charm for Sydney Pollock.s love story set against the beautiful yet harsh landscape of Africa. You won.t find much new on this disc, but what you do find is certainly improved. In 1913, Karen (Meryl Streep) is being romanced by Hans Blixen (Klaus Maria Brandauer), but he.s just using her for a good time. She realizes that marriage is the furthest thing from his mind so she makes a pact with his twin brother Bror (Brandauer again) to enter into a marriage of convenience. On the way to her wedding in Africa, her train was stopped so that hunter Denys Finch Hatton (Robert Redford) could put some ivory on the train. Bror had...

Meryl Streep Meryl Streep ended up beating Viola Davis at the 2012 Academy Awards this past Sunday. In the above photo, Streep is seen on her way to picking up her third Oscar statuette. In the background, Sandra Bullock can be seen applauding enthusiastically, while George Clooney admires Streep's dress and Owen Wilson holds his trousers up. (Photo: Darren Decker / ©A.M.P.A.S.) Two days after her Oscar victory, it was announced that Streep had donated $10,000 on behalf of Viola Davis to a charter school in the Rhode Island town of Central Falls, Davis' hometown. The school is reportedly attempting to raise money to buy the building where it's located or move to another site. Some have taken to the Internet to complain that Streep's donation represents a minuscule percentage of her earnings. Never mind the fact that Streep has donated (much more?) money to other causes as well — but that those go unreported.

Meryl Streep Meryl Streep defeated Viola Davis at the 2012 Academy Awards this past Sunday. In the above photo, Streep is seen on her way to picking up her third Oscar statuette. In the background, Sandra Bullock can be seen applauding enthusiastically, while George Clooney admires Streep's dress and Owen Wilson holds his trousers up. (Photo: Darren Decker / ©A.M.P.A.S.) Two days after her Oscar victory, it was announced that Streep had donated $10,000 on behalf of Davis to a charter school in the Rhode Island town of Central Falls, Davis' hometown. The school is reportedly attempting to raise money to buy the building where it's located or move to another site. Some have taken to the Internet to complain that Streep's donation represents a minuscule percentage of her earnings. Never mind the possibility that Streep has donated (much more?) money to other causes as well — but that those go unreported.

Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher, The Iron Lady 2012 Oscar Predictions Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain, Vanessa Redgrave, Janet McTeer, Bérénice Bejo Three actresses are shoo-ins for the 2012 Academy Awards' Best Actress shortlist: Meryl Streep for her portrayal of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in Phyllida Lloyd's The Iron Lady, Michelle Williams for her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in Simon Curtis' My Week with Marilyn, and Viola Davis for her portrayal of a Southern housemaid in Tate Taylor's The Help. All three actresses have been shortlisted for both the SAG Awards and the BAFTAs. Additionally, Streep and Williams won Golden Globes in the Best Actress in a Motion Picture categories (respectively, Drama and Comedy/Musical). Streep was also the New York Film Critics' choice, while Williams has been the pick of most North American critics' groups. Viola Davis, for her part, has received several citations as well,...

Ralph Fiennes's intelligent take on an unloved Shakespeare links it not only to the 1990s Balkans, but the present-day Arab spring

There's a fierce critical intelligence at work in Ralph Fiennes's new adaptation of Shakespeare's Coriolanus, set somewhere like the war-torn Serbia of the 1990s, a world of rolling TV news, image management and cynical deals cut in smoke-filled rooms. Fiennes makes a powerful case for Coriolanus as an essential, contemporary drama, about democracy, class war and the nation state. It reaches back to the Yugoslavian conflict, and the point is not just to satirise nationalist bullies and butchers, but also the smoothly indifferent mandarin class of western Europe in that era. The film also resonates with the Arab spring, where democratic gains can be annulled by the military. Fiennes directs and stars as the professional soldier lionised by Rome's ruling class for his attack on the threatening Volscian army,...

Meryl Streep, Golden Globe winner for The Iron Lady Two-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep poses with her (eighth) Golden Globe at the 2012 Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills on Sunday, January 15, 2012. Streep won in the category of Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for her role in Phyllida Lloyd's The Iron Lady, in which she plays former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Lloyd had previously collaborated with Streep on the musical blockbuster Mamma Mia!, co-starring Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Dominic Cooper, and Amanda Seyfried. Meryl Streep has been nominated for a total of 26 Golden Globes. She has won eight times: Best Supporting Actress for Robert Benton's Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), opposite Dustin Hoffman, Justin Henry, and Jane Alexander; Best Actress – Drama for Karel Reisz's The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), with Jeremy Irons; Best Actress – Drama for Alan J. Pakula's Sophie's Choice (1982), with...

Universal will mark its 100th anniversary in 2012, and will commemorate its centennial with a yearlong celebration honoring the studio's rich film history and cultural legacy. The campaign draws its inspiration from Universal's extraordinary and diverse library of films, many of which will be highlighted throughout the year, and is designed to engage fans of all ages in the art of moviemaking.

A significant element of the centennial includes the extensive restoration of 13 of the studio's most beloved titles such as To Kill a Mockingbird, All Quiet on the Western Front, Jaws, The Sting, Out of Africa, Frankenstein and Schindler's List.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment will kick off the celebration in January with a special 50th anniversary release of To Kill a Mockingbird, debuting on Blu-ray for the first time ever. Throughout the year, Universal will pay tribute to other influential films in the Universal library with special events and Blu-ray...

Meryl Streep, a likely Best Actress Academy Award contender for Phyllida Lloyd's Margaret Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady, will receive an Honorary Golden Bear at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival next February 14. As part of the ceremony, The Iron Lady will be screened at the Berlinale Palast. If Streep does get — the inevitable — Oscar nod for The Iron Lady, that'll be her seventeenth nomination and fourteenth in the Best Actress category. She has so far won two Oscars: Best Supporting Actress for Robert Benton's father-love drama Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Best Actress for Alan J. Pakula's Holocaust drama Sophie's Choice (1982). In 2003, Streep shared with fellow The Hours co-stars Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore the Berlin Film Festival's Silver Bear for Best Actress. Six years later, Streep was the recipient of the Berlinale Camera. Among Streep's other films are Fred Zinnemann's Julia (1977), starring Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave,...