Showing all posts about film
Being the Ricardos, by Aaron Sorkin
15 December 2021
Being the Ricardos (trailer), by American playwright and filmmaker Aaron Sorkin, brings the life of late comedian Lucille Ball to the big screen. While early reviews of the film – which opened in Australian cinemas last week – have so far been mixed, Australian actor Nicole Kidman portrayal of Ball has been praised by some critics. Simran Hans, for example, writing for The Guardian, describes Kidman as “brilliant.”
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West Side Story, by Steven Spielberg
9 December 2021
Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical West Side Story (trailer) arrives in Australian cinemas on Sunday 26 December 2021, though if you look around there are some preview screenings before then. A Romeo and Juliet inspired story for the twentieth century, remade for the twenty-first.
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film, Steven Spielberg, trailer
Setting Sun Short Film Festival 2022
2 December 2021
Entries are open to filmmakers to submit work for the Setting Sun Short Film Festival taking place online, and hopefully onsite at the Sun Theatre, in Yarraville, Victoria, from 5 to 12 May 2022. To be eligible, films must have been made between 1 December 2019 and 31 March 2022. Submissions close on 31 January 2022.
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Australian film, film, trailer
Vale David Dalaithngu
1 December 2021
Iconic Indigenous Australian actor David Dalaithngu died yesterday, aged 68. He starred in a stack of locally made movies, including Walkabout, Storm Boy, Crocodile Dundee, Rabbit Proof Fence, The Tracker, The Proposition, Australia, and Charlie’s Country.
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House of Gucci film draws ire from Gucci family
1 December 2021
House of Gucci, Ridley Scott’s depiction of events leading up the to the 1995 murder of Maurizio Gucci, former head of the same Italian fashion house, has been criticised by the Gucci family as being inaccurate and insensitive:
“The production of the film did not bother to consult the heirs before describing Aldo Gucci — president of the company for 30 years — and the members of the Gucci family as thugs, ignorant and insensitive to the world around them,” the statement said. “This is extremely painful from a human point of view and an insult to the legacy on which the brand is built today.”
Meanwhile Lady Gaga’s portrayal of Patrizia Reggiani has been lauded by film critics, with at least one suggesting she deserves an Oscar for her work.
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Ridley Scott blames oblong obsession for The Last Duel’s poor showing
26 November 2021
It seems Ridley Scott’s latest feature The Last Duel isn’t doing too well at the box-office, and the celebrated director is pointing the finger of blame at smartphones, and millennials apparent obsession with them:
“I think what it boils down to – what we’ve got today [are] the audiences who were brought up on these fucking cell phones,” Scott said. “The millennian, [who] do not ever want to be taught anything unless you told it on the cell phone… This is a broad stroke, but I think we’re dealing with it right now with Facebook. This is a misdirection that has happened where it’s given the wrong kind of confidence to this latest generation, I think.”
By that rationale though wouldn’t most movies, not just historical dramas, be doing poorly at the box-office?
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JFK Revisited, a documentary about John F. Kennedy’s assassination
26 November 2021
JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass (trailer), is a documentary by American filmmaker Oliver Stone, a follow up of sorts to his 1991 drama feature JFK.
“Conspiracy theories are now conspiracy facts,” Stone asserts, having presumably combed through many of the previously withheld papers in relation to the 1963 assassination of late US President John F. Kennedy, released by Donald Trump in 2018.
Not all film commentators are in agreement with the arguments Stone presents though. And for a cold light of day assessment of Kennedy’s murder: this 2003 article published in The Guardian, written by Kenneth Rahn:
The real story of the assassination is this: Kennedy was killed by one misfit guy, a cheap but effective rifle, a good vantage point from the building where he worked and a run of fortuitous events. It is over. We must realise that this horrible event was not some evil plot. It was the product of chance, not conspiracy.
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documentary, film, John F. Kennedy, Oliver Stone
King Richard, a film by Reinaldo Marcus Green
24 November 2021
American actor Will Smith depicts Richard Williams in King Richard (trailer), a bio-pic directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green about the father of American tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams, and his efforts to coach his young daughters after recognising their talent.
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film, Reinaldo Marcus Green, trailer
David Stratton and the future of cinema
24 November 2021
Renowned film critic David Stratton has recently written a book, My Favourite Movies (published by Allen & Unwin, November 2021), which as the title suggests, is a selection of his personal favourites. But having watched close to what he estimates to be thirty thousand films during his life, choosing just one hundred and eleven titles to feature in My Favourite Movies, was no easy task, as Stratton explained in a recent interview with FilmInk.
In the course of the discussion, he also offered his thoughts on the current state of cinema, something I’ve been wondering about, especially in the light of the pandemic, and the impact lockdowns have had on the industry.
There have been tremendous changes in every area to do with film. The opportunities for commentary on film have been reduced and of course the film industry itself has changed dramatically. I wonder sometimes whether the cinema will survive.
That’s bleak commentary coming from one of Australia’s best known film critics.
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The retro themed artwork of the soundtrack cover for Licorice Pizza
20 November 2021
Retro themed artwork for the soundtrack cover for Paul Thomas Anderson’s retro themed movie Licorice Pizza. The title track is credited to Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood. I couldn’t find out who the cover designer is, does anyone know? You can hear most of the soundtrack here on Spotify, sans, at the moment, Greenwood’s contribution.
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