Thompson on Hollywood

DreamWorks Pares Exec Ranks, Makes Sourian Producer, Bario Single Production Chief

Anne Thompson — Wed, 30 May 2012 23:13:56 GMT

As DreamWorks Studios streamlines into a smaller entity, it has no room for two top-level expensive production presidents. Thus the Reliance-backed company, which is run by Steven Spielberg and Stacy...

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Columbia Film Festival Comes to Los Angeles with Grad Shorts

Maggie Lange — Wed, 30 May 2012 22:36:42 GMT

The Columbia University School of the Arts Film Program is taking its show on the road and bringing its film festival to Los Angeles. The LA version will feature industry networking events, panels,...

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100 Ideas That Changed Film: Magic Lanterns to Feminist Film Theory

Maggie Lange — Wed, 30 May 2012 22:30:16 GMT

One of our fave internet diversions, Brain Pickings, published a post on the 100 ideas that changed film -- from slapstick humor (#21), queer cinema (#97), censorship (#48), to the kinetoscope...

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Trailers from Hell: Bernard Rose on Ken Russell's "Valentino"

Trailers From Hell — Wed, 30 May 2012 22:27:43 GMT

This week's Trailers from Hell features director Bernard Rose discussing Ken Russell's "Valentino." Here's the official write-up: "A financial and...

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Casting Watch: Hammer, Hedlund and Kitsch Up For Finnick Odair in "Catching Fire": Only One is Right

Anne Thompson — Wed, 30 May 2012 22:10:44 GMT

I just fnished reading "Mockingjay," the third and final "Hunger Games" installment. Fair to say, the plot thickens and the action gets even more intense in "Catching...

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EXCLUSIVE NEW TRAILER: Amy Seimetz's SXSW hit "Sun Don't Shine" Goes to Edinburgh Film Festival

Anne Thompson — Wed, 30 May 2012 20:28:58 GMT

One of the breakout hits at SXSW 2012 was Amy Seimetz's feature directing debut, the steamy Florida noir "Sun Don't Shine," a well-shot micro-budget portrait of a couple on the run...

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Must-See "In The Family" is Indie Tragedy; Rookie Director Wang Says 'Enough Already' to Low Expectations and Garbage; EXCLUSIVE Clip

Sophia Savage — Wed, 30 May 2012 18:39:15 GMT

The definition of indie film is blurry these days. But Patrick Wang's debut feature, "In The Family," certainly fits the bill. The drama runs 169 minutes with mostly long single takes....

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Which Stars Came Out Ahead at Cannes? Who Should Have Stayed Home? From Pitt, Kidman & Mikkelsen to Hardy, Cotillard, Pattinson & Stewart

Anne Thompson — Wed, 30 May 2012 17:08:45 GMT

Cannes can have a huge impact on careers--as the world media watches. That walk up the red carpet can be dazzling for talent, but boos and reviews can be deadly, too. Ask Lee Daniels, who had to pull...

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Academy Picks Uber-Architects Renzo Piano and Zoltan Pali to Design Museum of Motion Pictures

Anne Thompson — Wed, 30 May 2012 16:32:39 GMT

Clearly, one way that new Academy CEO Dawn Hudson and departing AMPAS president Tom Sherak are establishing their legacy is by pushing forward with their Academy Museum of Motion Pictures initiative...

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Trailer Watch: Anne Hathaway Sings Us Through the First Trailer of Tom Hooper's "Les Miserables"

Maggie Lange — Wed, 30 May 2012 15:43:33 GMT

The first trailer for Tom Hooper's "Les Miserables" adaptation premiered Wednesday morning, giving us a first look and listen to a slew of movie stars in the 19th-century period...

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First Look: Nicolas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling are Back and Battered in "Only God Forgives"

Maggie Lange — Wed, 30 May 2012 15:41:27 GMT

After last year's brutal "Drive," director Nicolas Winding Refn and star Ryan Gosling joined forces again -- for an even more violent film: "Only God Forgives." Their upcoming...

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Review Round-Up and Featurette: Ridley Scott's "Prometheus" Promises Serious Eye-Candy

Maggie Lange — Wed, 30 May 2012 15:40:27 GMT

Ridley Scott's "Prometheus" premieres in the U.S. on June 8, but after overseas debuts in France, Russia, and England critics have inked their responses and some spoiler-heavy ones at...

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Best Dressed at Cannes 2012: Chastain, Kruger, Cotillard, Bejo & Watts

Sophia Savage — Tue, 29 May 2012 21:44:07 GMT

It must be easier to get attention for a hideous dress than a knockout one at Cannes, which accounts for all the fashion disasters. But these ladies lit up the red carpet - some of them more than...

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Sony Pictures Classics Sets December 19 Date for Cannes Winner "Amour," Signals Oscar Chase

Anne Thompson — Tue, 29 May 2012 21:40:47 GMT

The big question coming out of Cannes is whether Sony Pictures Classics can push Michael's Haneke's somber end-of-life Palme d'Or winner "Amour" all the way to major category...

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Career Watch: Will Smith, Still on His Throne?

Sophia Savage — Tue, 29 May 2012 20:22:51 GMT

Music-TV-film superstar Will Smith did not mark his return to the box office (after a four year hiatus) with a bang, but it wasn't a crash either. "Men in Black III" knocked "The...

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The Russians Are Coming! Russia Film Hits Cannes, Beverly Hills, Lures Industryites to Screenings During Moscow Film Fest

Anne Thompson — Tue, 29 May 2012 20:03:53 GMT

Making their mark at Cannes, setting up a film commission in Beverly Hills, and inviting a cadre of industryites (including me) to a series of screenings during the upcoming 34th Moscow International...

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Now and Then: Tilda Swinton's Big Crack-Up

Matt Brennan — Tue, 29 May 2012 18:54:23 GMT

Tilda Swinton is a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She's been sent reeling by the loneliness of a Russian winter, the carnal passions of an Italian chef, a kidnapping conspiracy, two...

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FilmFunds Brings Filmmakers & Financiers Together, Names Jason Scoggins New CEO

Sophia Savage — Tue, 29 May 2012 18:51:18 GMT

Following in the footsteps of online film services such as Amazon Studios and Kickstarter, filmmaker platform FilmFunds is moving to expand its reach. Launched last summer at the Toronto...

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Los Angeles Film Fest Announces Panels & Conversations, Keynote Speaker Chris McGurk

Sophia Savage — Tue, 29 May 2012 18:38:57 GMT

The Los Angeles Film Festival (June 14-24), which will open with Woody Allen's "To Rome with Love" and close with Steven Soderbergh's "Magic Mike," has booked...

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Cannes: Leos Carax's "Holy Motors" Is Bonkers

Matt Mueller — Tue, 29 May 2012 18:30:10 GMT

The word "bonkers" was used with abandon along the Croisette when it came to describing Leos Carax’s fifth film (his first full-length feature since 1999’s "Pola X")...

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Cannes: "Kill List" Director Ben Wheatley Talks Fortnight Breakout "Sightseers"

Anne Thompson — Tue, 29 May 2012 17:58:05 GMT

Brit filmmaker Ben Wheatley had brought his prior two low-budget features, "Down Terrace" and "Kill List," to the Cannes market. Now he can tell his Mum that he's in the...

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Screen Editor Mike Goodridge Ditches Journalism to Run Protagonist Pictures

Anne Thompson — Tue, 29 May 2012 17:35:21 GMT

Marking yet another journalist defecting to the film industry, Mike Goodridge is leaving his post as chief editor at Screen International to become CEO at London's four-year-old Protagonist...

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Arthouse Audit: Massive Opening for "Moonrise Kingdom" Shows that Festivals Matter (UPDATED 4 DAY FIGURES)

Tom Brueggemann — Mon, 28 May 2012 21:36:00 GMT

"Moonrise Kingdom" opened with some of the best platform grosses ever, even adjusting for inflation, but it isn't the only good news out there. "The Best Exotic Marigold...

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Trailers From Hell: Bernard Rose Talks Ken Russell's "Mahler"

Trailers From Hell — Mon, 28 May 2012 19:11:22 GMT

Bernard Rose's Ken Russell Bio-Pic week launched Monday on Joe Dante's Trailers from Hell site: Ken Russell’s largely metaphorical take on the life of 19th century Austrian composer...

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Cannes Review: Cronenberg's Dystopian "Cosmopolis" Stars Pattinson as Dissolute Master of the Universe

Ryan Lattanzio — Mon, 28 May 2012 18:05:14 GMT

"Life is too contemporary," Didi Fancher (Juliette Binoche) tells Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson) after they've just had sex in the back of his limousine. That seems to be the...

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