Tall and part blonde/part brunette, Leslye Headland darted into our interview and gave me a warm greeting and an intense gaze. She explained that she had just run across town in Manhattan to walk her dog in between interviews while promoting her debut film, Bachelorette. The film is based on her stage play of the same name, about a gang of attractive girls (Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Kaplan and Isla Fisher) behaving badly before their friend’s wedding. I ask what her dog’s name is. “His name is Ramius. Which is Sean Connery’s name in The Hunt For Red October,” she says, […]
by Miriam Bale on Sep 7, 2012In the public’s mind, Martin Scorsese is known for many things. One of them is directing some of the best movies made in the 20th century. But another, stemming from his various public appearances, acting jobs and cameos, is his rat-a-tat-tat, staccato speaking style. I think anyone heading into a meeting with Scorsese knows to focus and drink that extra shot of espresso beforehand. So, what’s Apple doing by hiring Scorsese to make the case for Siri, its iPhone personal assistant that some commenters, including Nick Bilton of the New York Times, have found lacking in basic communication skills? In […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 25, 2012This video, apparently shot by an audience member watching Martin Scorsese’s Hugo at the Regal Union Square 14, is simply jaw dropping. For the last 20 minutes of the film, technological gremlins and an absent projectionist conspired to give the movie magic of Scorsese and Melies a 21st century twist. And this is after the film broke twice, making the entire run time three-and-a-half hours. Indeed, this is a viewing experience you won’t get at home. (For more, Gothamist has the story.)
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 17, 2012For many supposedly serious cinema folk, there is no secret pleasure more pleasurable than the disaster film. What makes the genre so familiar – predictable plotlines, one-dimensional characters and an ever-present threat that only kills the people who deserve it – is also what makes it so damn fun. In the late ’90s, people cheered when the alien spaceship blew up American monuments. A full decade after September 11th, it’s still hard to imagine that happening now. During the past decade, disaster films have become more serious, less The Towering Inferno and more District 9, but it is only in the […]
by Mary Anderson Casavant on Dec 20, 2011At a press event in Los Angeles tonight, Canon announced two new digital cinema cameras aimed at filmmakers, the EOS C300 and the C300 PL (the latter differing by way of a PL mount). Canon CEO Fujio Mitarai said that the company wanted to “leave no story untold” as he unveiled a camera with a small form factor, an 8.3MP 2160 x 3840 Super 35 CMOS sensor with 4K resolution, and new lenses that resolve to this higher resolution. Martin Scorsese was on hand at the event to hail digital cinema and extoll the promise of the cameras. This promise […]
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 3, 2011We’ve kinda been down this road before. In early 2010, around the time of the Berlin Film Festival, reports rumors hit the blogsphere that Lars von Trier, Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro were planning a remake of Taxi Driver in the vein of The Five Obstructions by making it five times, each with rules created by von Trier. Now out of Cannes, Scorsese and von Trier are bringing up the idea again. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Scorsese project to be dissected has not been decided yet but shooting will begin after Scorsese is done with the Daniel […]
by Jason Guerrasio on May 13, 2011Here are a few articles of interest I’ve stored in my Instapaper. There’s a new website for Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life, and it takes something of a transmedia approach. Chuck Tryon explains: As you enter the website, it invites you to follow one of two forking paths, the father’s way or the mother’s way, while a haunting, almost mournful score plays in the background. Once you choose, you encounter a split screen with half the screen filled by a semi-circle of video clips and the other a white space with some cryptic text that evokes a moral parable. […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 10, 2011Celebrating the 35th anniversary of Martin Scorsese‘s seminal film Taxi Driver, Sony Pictures and The Film Foundation, Scorsese’s film preservation non-profit, held a premiere screening of their 4k restoration of the film at the DGA in New York City last night, which also included a conversation with Scorsese and Taxi Driver screenwriter Paul Schrader moderated by critic Kent Jones. The restoration, which will be available on Blu-ray on April 5 and screening theatrically at AMC theaters beginning March 19 (NYC’s Film Forum will show a new 35mm print starting the 18th), took most of 2010 for Sony to accomplish. According […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Mar 11, 2011Although it might be surprising to learn that it isn’t actually held in a loft, the first annual edition of Tucson’s Loft Film Festival, centered at this southern Arizona college town’s venerable, long running Art House the Loft Cinema, maintains the home made, speakeasy vibe that the title implies. Its inaugural run having come to a close with a Thursday night screening of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, this first edition was a glimpse at the type of festival the regional circuit needs more of. Lets hope they keep it going, as it proved to be a welcome […]
by Brandon Harris on Nov 20, 2010Here are some links that caught my eye this week. The Workbook Project has a new Transmedia Talk Podcast. Topics include “The Web is Dead,” Foursquare, and the Transmedia panels at SXSW 2011. Also at the Workbook Project, Mark Harris on why he shot his forthcoming The Lost Children fiction feature as a doc. Sarah Kessler at Mashable: “New Neutrality — Seven Worst-Case Scenarios.” There’s been a lot of interest in NYC writer Tao Lin over at The Rumpus. I haven’t read him, so I can’t comment. But here’s an intro at Salon that also discusses the new ways he’s […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 29, 2010