Editor’s note: In “Asteroid City,” Jason Schwartzman plays Augie Steenbeck, a war photographer who has to break the news to his kids that their mother has died. He also plays Jones Hall, an actor portraying Augie in a play. This complex gamble brought a new dimension to Schwartzman’s longstanding relationship with Wes Anderson nearly 25 years after the director cast Schwartzman in “Rushmore” at the age of 19 and launched his career.
Here, Schwartzman explains the personal revelations that came out of the experience. “Asteroid City” is now in theaters.
There’s a moment in “Asteroid City” when my character, Augie, reveals to his children that their mother is dead, that she’s been dead for three weeks, and they’re moving away. That’s almost exactly what happened to my father and my uncle when they were kids. They lost their mother to breast cancer and my grandfather packed...
Here, Schwartzman explains the personal revelations that came out of the experience. “Asteroid City” is now in theaters.
There’s a moment in “Asteroid City” when my character, Augie, reveals to his children that their mother is dead, that she’s been dead for three weeks, and they’re moving away. That’s almost exactly what happened to my father and my uncle when they were kids. They lost their mother to breast cancer and my grandfather packed...
- 6/23/2023
- by Jason Schwartzman
- Indiewire
For all his originality, Stanley Kubrick sure loved using other people's work. Almost all his films are based on pre-existing stories, which, rather than undermining his talent as a director, simply formed a part of his specific filmmaking method. Kubrick sought out inspiration like it was his life-source — which, in a way, it was. The legendary auteur needed a good story to get him excited enough to make a film. And without films, who knows what would have become of the bookish boy from the Bronx.
Back in 1987, just as the director's celebrated Vietnam War drama "Full Metal Jacket" was opening in theaters, the New York Times noted how Kubrick would use the time before starting work on his next project to "catch up on 18 months of missed movies, good and bad, and read as ever with the hope of finding another story." That story would be one he'd been...
Back in 1987, just as the director's celebrated Vietnam War drama "Full Metal Jacket" was opening in theaters, the New York Times noted how Kubrick would use the time before starting work on his next project to "catch up on 18 months of missed movies, good and bad, and read as ever with the hope of finding another story." That story would be one he'd been...
- 12/26/2022
- by Joe Roberts
- Slash Film
Click here to read the full article.
On August 15, 1979, Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now arrived in theaters. The film went on to earn eight nominations at the 52nd Academy Awards, including a nod in the best picture category, and claimed wins for cinematography and sound. After multiple rereleases over the years, the film ultimately grossed more than 100 million globally. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review is below:
Francis Coppola’s long-awaited Apocalypse Now has finally arrived after production delays that included hurricanes, heart attacks and script problems that sent the costs soaring to 31 million. Although some critics, presumably based on a version screened earlier in the year (which I didn’t see), have already expressed some reservations about the film, particularly in its final confrontation with a shadowy Marlon Brando, I can only report that I was held by every minute of its more than two and a half hour playing time,...
On August 15, 1979, Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now arrived in theaters. The film went on to earn eight nominations at the 52nd Academy Awards, including a nod in the best picture category, and claimed wins for cinematography and sound. After multiple rereleases over the years, the film ultimately grossed more than 100 million globally. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review is below:
Francis Coppola’s long-awaited Apocalypse Now has finally arrived after production delays that included hurricanes, heart attacks and script problems that sent the costs soaring to 31 million. Although some critics, presumably based on a version screened earlier in the year (which I didn’t see), have already expressed some reservations about the film, particularly in its final confrontation with a shadowy Marlon Brando, I can only report that I was held by every minute of its more than two and a half hour playing time,...
- 8/14/2022
- by Arthur Knight
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This article contains spoilers for Dmz episode 1.
There’s never really an ideal time to premiere a TV show about war.
Invariably, someone somewhere on the globe is experiencing the brutal destruction of armed combat at any given moment, making a fictionalized depiction of it a dicey proposition for any storyteller. This is a lesson that HBO Max limited series Dmz understands quite intimately.
The DC comic upon which HBO Max’s series is based was first released in 2005 and served as a commentary on its era’s wars in the Middle East. The comic’s storyline, which imagined a second American civil war turning Manhattan into a desolate demilitarized zone between two warring factions, could have just as easily been set in Baghdad, Iraq or Kabul, Afghanistan. It was a way to present to the Western world that their worst case post-apocalyptic scenario was someone else’s unavoidable present.
There’s never really an ideal time to premiere a TV show about war.
Invariably, someone somewhere on the globe is experiencing the brutal destruction of armed combat at any given moment, making a fictionalized depiction of it a dicey proposition for any storyteller. This is a lesson that HBO Max limited series Dmz understands quite intimately.
The DC comic upon which HBO Max’s series is based was first released in 2005 and served as a commentary on its era’s wars in the Middle East. The comic’s storyline, which imagined a second American civil war turning Manhattan into a desolate demilitarized zone between two warring factions, could have just as easily been set in Baghdad, Iraq or Kabul, Afghanistan. It was a way to present to the Western world that their worst case post-apocalyptic scenario was someone else’s unavoidable present.
- 3/22/2022
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
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Anyone who knows film likely knows about the genius of Stanley Kubrick. But watching movies isn’t the only way to immerse yourself in his creative vision. If you fall somewhere between a bibliophile and a film buff, we put together a list of the fascinating books on Kubrick that offer a wide scope on his legacy, using his movies as a roadmap into his life not only as a director, but as a friend and employer. Kubrick, who died in 1999, amassed a catalog of films such as “The Shining,” “Dr. Strangelove,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Full Metal Jacket,” “Spartacus,” and “Eyes Wide Shut,” and for those who want to dig a little deeper into his work,...
Anyone who knows film likely knows about the genius of Stanley Kubrick. But watching movies isn’t the only way to immerse yourself in his creative vision. If you fall somewhere between a bibliophile and a film buff, we put together a list of the fascinating books on Kubrick that offer a wide scope on his legacy, using his movies as a roadmap into his life not only as a director, but as a friend and employer. Kubrick, who died in 1999, amassed a catalog of films such as “The Shining,” “Dr. Strangelove,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Full Metal Jacket,” “Spartacus,” and “Eyes Wide Shut,” and for those who want to dig a little deeper into his work,...
- 10/18/2021
- by Latifah Muhammad
- Indiewire
Apocalypse Now in 4K? After The Wild Bunch this is one title likely to get me to invest in a new format. Francis Coppola & John Milius’ Vietnam War epic may not be perfect, but it’s one of the most exciting movie experiences ever and one of the top achievements of the first film school generation of moviemakers. The release is agreeably all-inclusive: the original Road Show cut and the two revised versions are here along with the excellent making-of feature Hearts of Darkness. Re-tooled and polished up for picture and audio, this qualifies as a prime audio show-off disc too.
Apocalypse Now Final Cut
4K Ultra-hd + Blu-ray + Digital
Lionsgate
1979, 2001, 2019 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 147, 196, 183 min. / 40th Anniversary Edition / 1979 70mm Road Show cut, 2001 Redux cut, 2019 Final Cut versions / Street Date August 27, 2019 /
Starring: Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Sam Bottoms, Laurence Fishburne, Albert Hall, Harrison Ford, Dennis Hopper, G.D. Spradlin,...
Apocalypse Now Final Cut
4K Ultra-hd + Blu-ray + Digital
Lionsgate
1979, 2001, 2019 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 147, 196, 183 min. / 40th Anniversary Edition / 1979 70mm Road Show cut, 2001 Redux cut, 2019 Final Cut versions / Street Date August 27, 2019 /
Starring: Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Sam Bottoms, Laurence Fishburne, Albert Hall, Harrison Ford, Dennis Hopper, G.D. Spradlin,...
- 3/6/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced today that Full Metal Jacket, Stanley Kubrick’s acclaimed 1987 Vietnam War masterpiece, will be released on Ultra HD Blu-ray and Digital on September 22. Based on Gustav Hasford’s 1979 novel “The Short-Timers,” Full Metal Jacket was produced and directed by Kubrick from a screenplay by Kubrick, Michael Herr and Hasford. […]
The post Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Full Metal Jacket’ Coming to 4K Uhd appeared first on Cinelinx | Movies. Games. Geek Culture..
The post Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Full Metal Jacket’ Coming to 4K Uhd appeared first on Cinelinx | Movies. Games. Geek Culture..
- 8/14/2020
- by Victor Medina
- Cinelinx
From Marlon Brando’s extraordinary cameo to Dennis Hopper’s crazed photojournalist, Coppola’s epic ‘definitive’ cut of his brilliant 1979 war film is triumphant in restating the inhumanity of empire
‘Someday this war’s gonna end,” is the sage comment from surf-crazed Wagner enthusiast Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore, brusquely played by Robert Duvall. In fact, when Francis Ford Coppola’s grandiose epic masterpiece Apocalypse Now was first unveiled in 1979, the Vietnam war had only ended four years previously, and the succeeding Cambodian-Vietnamese war (where the film’s climax is set) was in full swing.
Coppola’s bad trip into south-east Asia was co-written by John Milius with narration written by Michael Herr. It was inspired by Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness, Herr’s own Vietnam reportage-memoir Dispatches and maybe at one further remove by Rudyard Kipling’s lines about the Us taking up the white man’s imperial burden.
‘Someday this war’s gonna end,” is the sage comment from surf-crazed Wagner enthusiast Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore, brusquely played by Robert Duvall. In fact, when Francis Ford Coppola’s grandiose epic masterpiece Apocalypse Now was first unveiled in 1979, the Vietnam war had only ended four years previously, and the succeeding Cambodian-Vietnamese war (where the film’s climax is set) was in full swing.
Coppola’s bad trip into south-east Asia was co-written by John Milius with narration written by Michael Herr. It was inspired by Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness, Herr’s own Vietnam reportage-memoir Dispatches and maybe at one further remove by Rudyard Kipling’s lines about the Us taking up the white man’s imperial burden.
- 8/7/2019
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
“For an intellectual product of any value to exert an immediate influence which shall also be deep and lasting, it must rest on an inner harmony, yes, an affinity, between the personal destiny of its author and that of his contemporaries in general.”—Thomas Mann, Death in Venice Barry Lyndon. I can’t believe there was a time when I didn’t know that name. Barry Lyndon means an artwork both grand and glum. Sadness inconsolable. A cello bends out a lurid sound, staining the air before a piano droopingly follows in the third movement of Vivaldi's “Cello Concerto in E Minor.” This piece, which dominates the second half of the film, steers the hallowed half of my head to bask in the film’s high melancholic temperature. Why should I so often remember it? What did I have to do with this film? I only received it with...
- 10/15/2017
- MUBI
Over the years, he’s battled the Avengers, a love-sick sister, and his fellow neighbors in a swanky apartment complex, but Tom Hiddleston has never faced anything in cinema quite like Skull Island’s most iconic resident, King Kong. This weekend, Kong: Skull Island arrives in theaters everywhere from Legendary and Warner Bros., and to commemorate the occasion, Daily Dead recently joined several journalists to speak with co-star Hiddleston during the film’s press day.
During the roundtable interview, Hiddleston discussed coming on board Kong: Skull Island, how he prepared for the role of ex-sas (Special Air Service) Officer James Conrad, his experiences collaborating with co-star Brie Larson, and he even chatted a bit about Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise, which came out last spring.
Was the big appeal of Skull Island to get to be a part of a King Kong movie?
Tom Hiddleston: Yeah. As it was pitched to me,...
During the roundtable interview, Hiddleston discussed coming on board Kong: Skull Island, how he prepared for the role of ex-sas (Special Air Service) Officer James Conrad, his experiences collaborating with co-star Brie Larson, and he even chatted a bit about Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise, which came out last spring.
Was the big appeal of Skull Island to get to be a part of a King Kong movie?
Tom Hiddleston: Yeah. As it was pitched to me,...
- 3/8/2017
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.NEWSPhoto by Apichatpong WeerasethakulLast weekend came the news that the great experimental filmmaker of At Sea (2007) and Three Landscapes (2013), Peter Hutton, has passed away.Journalist and author Michael Herr has also died, at the age of 76. He is best known in the film world for co-writing Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket and the narration to Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now.The first complete New York retrospective in 25 years of Greek auteur Theo Angelopoulos (Landscape in the Mist) will be coming to the Museum of the Moving image in July.Word comes from Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Twitter account that the Palme d'Or-winning Thai director has begun work on his next film following the wonderful Cemetery of Splendour.Recommended VIEWINGThe latest of Radiohead's multimedia promotion of their album A Moon Shaped...
- 6/29/2016
- MUBI
Plus: Dirty 30 gets Us release; The Sound of Things to premiere in Moscow.
Michael Herr, the American writer and war correspondent who got an Oscar nomination for his work on Full Metal Jacket, has died at age 76.
Best known for his 1977 book of Vietnam war reporting Dispatches, Herr passed away in a New York hospital after what his publisher reported was a long illness.
Herr collaborated with Francis Ford Coppola on the narration for the latter’s 1979 Vietnam epic Apocalypse Now and wrote the script for Stanely Kubrick’s 1987 war drama Full Metal Jacket with Kubrick and Gustav Hasford. The three writers were nominated for the best adapted screenplay Oscar in 1988.
Herr also wrote the narration for 1997 John Grisham adaptation The Rainmaker.
• Lionsgate has set comedy Dirty 30 for a September 23 Us release in select cinemas and on digital platforms. The film features YouTube stars Mamrie Hart, Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart, with [link=nm...
Michael Herr, the American writer and war correspondent who got an Oscar nomination for his work on Full Metal Jacket, has died at age 76.
Best known for his 1977 book of Vietnam war reporting Dispatches, Herr passed away in a New York hospital after what his publisher reported was a long illness.
Herr collaborated with Francis Ford Coppola on the narration for the latter’s 1979 Vietnam epic Apocalypse Now and wrote the script for Stanely Kubrick’s 1987 war drama Full Metal Jacket with Kubrick and Gustav Hasford. The three writers were nominated for the best adapted screenplay Oscar in 1988.
Herr also wrote the narration for 1997 John Grisham adaptation The Rainmaker.
• Lionsgate has set comedy Dirty 30 for a September 23 Us release in select cinemas and on digital platforms. The film features YouTube stars Mamrie Hart, Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart, with [link=nm...
- 6/25/2016
- ScreenDaily
Oscar nominated-writer Michael Herr died Thursday in New York. He was 76. Herr’s publisher Knopf confirmed that the writer had died in a New York hospital after battling a lengthy illness, The Guardian reported. Herr penned the Vietnam War memoir “Dispatches” and contributed to two iconic films on the subject, Francis Ford Coppola‘s “Apocalypse Now” and “Stanley Kubrick‘s “Full Metal Jacket.” Also Read: Ron Lester, Star of 'Varsity Blues,' Dies at 45 “Dispatches” exposed the destructions of the Vietnam War in the 1970s and is considered a nonfiction classic. The book is often used in college classrooms...
- 6/24/2016
- by Brian Flood
- The Wrap
Michael Herr, author of the heralded Vietnam War memoir Dispatches and Oscar-nominated contributor to two classic film chronicles of the conflict — Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now and Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket — died Thursday after a lengthy illness. He was 76. His death at a hospital near his upstate New York home was announced by his publisher Knopf. "Dispatches is one of the seminal works of the 20th century and the most brilliant treatment of war and…...
- 6/24/2016
- Deadline
By Anjelica Oswald
Managing Editor
Set during the final months of World War II, Fury follows a tank commander (played by Brad Pitt) and his crew as they head into Nazi Germany as part of the Allies’ final push. The film also stars Logan Lerman, Shia Labeouf, John Bernthal and Michael Pena. The Hollywood Reporter’s Todd McCarthy said the film is “a modern version of the sort of movie Hollywood turned out practically every week back in the 1940s and 1950s.” Fury opens Oct. 17.
Could Fury score a best picture nomination at the 87th Academy Awards? Both war biopics and fictional war films — about real wars or battles — have historically done well at the Oscars; however, the current projections show that the race will be a tight one. Here’s a look at some of the fictional war films that scored nominations for best picture:
War-themed best picture winners...
Managing Editor
Set during the final months of World War II, Fury follows a tank commander (played by Brad Pitt) and his crew as they head into Nazi Germany as part of the Allies’ final push. The film also stars Logan Lerman, Shia Labeouf, John Bernthal and Michael Pena. The Hollywood Reporter’s Todd McCarthy said the film is “a modern version of the sort of movie Hollywood turned out practically every week back in the 1940s and 1950s.” Fury opens Oct. 17.
Could Fury score a best picture nomination at the 87th Academy Awards? Both war biopics and fictional war films — about real wars or battles — have historically done well at the Oscars; however, the current projections show that the race will be a tight one. Here’s a look at some of the fictional war films that scored nominations for best picture:
War-themed best picture winners...
- 10/13/2014
- by Anjelica Oswald
- Scott Feinberg
Edited by Adam Cook
Above: a sneak peak of Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice, via our Tumblr. A wealth of content from the Melbourne International Film Festival's newly launched Critics Campus has been published here and here. For Rolling Stone, filmmaker James Gray writes on Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now on the occasion of its 35th anniversary:
"The film is indeed self-consciously mythic, and with its transcendent imagery, it enters the cosmic realm. Captain Willard is an enigmatic hero, and we need the narration (written by Dispatches author Michael Herr) to help us know him. Surely the man has his dark side: he kills a wounded Vietnamese woman and hacks Colonel Kurtz to death. But by the end, Willard retains enough of his soul to protect the innocent, childlike Lance (Sam Bottoms), and here we see that the human connection endures. The film's experience expands in this moment,...
Above: a sneak peak of Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice, via our Tumblr. A wealth of content from the Melbourne International Film Festival's newly launched Critics Campus has been published here and here. For Rolling Stone, filmmaker James Gray writes on Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now on the occasion of its 35th anniversary:
"The film is indeed self-consciously mythic, and with its transcendent imagery, it enters the cosmic realm. Captain Willard is an enigmatic hero, and we need the narration (written by Dispatches author Michael Herr) to help us know him. Surely the man has his dark side: he kills a wounded Vietnamese woman and hacks Colonel Kurtz to death. But by the end, Willard retains enough of his soul to protect the innocent, childlike Lance (Sam Bottoms), and here we see that the human connection endures. The film's experience expands in this moment,...
- 8/21/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
August is upon us, which invariably means withering heat and a hell of a lot of bad cinema. Worn out by the time the dog days hit, the studios enter hibernation mode, concerned mostly with counting their early summer blockbuster returns (or licking their wounds). There's hope around the corner — the fall festivals loom — but that moment isn't here yet. The last month of summer is usually barren.
Except when it isn't.
Related: Remembering Marlon Brando, by Jack Nicholson
It certainly wasn't 35 years ago — August 15, 1979, to be exact, when Francis Ford Coppola...
Except when it isn't.
Related: Remembering Marlon Brando, by Jack Nicholson
It certainly wasn't 35 years ago — August 15, 1979, to be exact, when Francis Ford Coppola...
- 8/11/2014
- Rollingstone.com
Here we are, at the top of the mountain. We’ve had plenty from every war imaginable, some supportive of war efforts, some not. But the more interesting war films really focus on the people; the internal struggles those men and women have about what they are doing. Whether made in America, Germany, the United Kingdom, or anywhere else, war is not just a battle between good and evil. It’s a life and death struggle between opposing sides that may not be that different. The movies at the top of this list may be subtle or straightforward, but each of them is a clear snapshot that lets audiences see what it means to fight, so they don’t have to.
10. Paths of Glory (1957)
Directed by: Stanley Kurbick
Conflict: World War I
Before Stanley Kubrick grabbed the rights, the source material for Paths of Glory had a long history. The novel,...
10. Paths of Glory (1957)
Directed by: Stanley Kurbick
Conflict: World War I
Before Stanley Kubrick grabbed the rights, the source material for Paths of Glory had a long history. The novel,...
- 7/2/2014
- by Joshua Gaul
- SoundOnSight
“Good-bye, my sweetheart. Hello, Vietnam.” — Johnny Wright
“Is that you, John Wayne? Is this me?” – Private Joker in Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal Jacket was Stanley Kubrick’s eleventh film (twelfth, if you count Spartacus) and his last to depict war and the military. Kubrick dealt with the military in Fear and Desire, Paths of Glory, and Dr. Strangelove in very different ways. In Full Metal Jacket, he would focus on the institutional and ideological aspects of American marines and their experience in Vietnam.
Full Metal Jacket is based off of the The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford, who also had a screenplay credit along with Kubrick and Michael Herr. Hasford reportedly did not contribute much to the script except for a few lines of dialogue. Herr was chosen as collaborator because Kubrick admired his book Dispatches, which was a New Journalism take on the Vietnam War based off Herr’s...
“Is that you, John Wayne? Is this me?” – Private Joker in Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal Jacket was Stanley Kubrick’s eleventh film (twelfth, if you count Spartacus) and his last to depict war and the military. Kubrick dealt with the military in Fear and Desire, Paths of Glory, and Dr. Strangelove in very different ways. In Full Metal Jacket, he would focus on the institutional and ideological aspects of American marines and their experience in Vietnam.
Full Metal Jacket is based off of the The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford, who also had a screenplay credit along with Kubrick and Michael Herr. Hasford reportedly did not contribute much to the script except for a few lines of dialogue. Herr was chosen as collaborator because Kubrick admired his book Dispatches, which was a New Journalism take on the Vietnam War based off Herr’s...
- 3/24/2014
- by Cody Lang
- SoundOnSight
War is hell, for sure, but war can make for undeniably brilliant movie-making. Here, the Guardian and Observer's critics pick the ten best
• Top 10 action movies
• Top 10 comedy movies
• Top 10 horror movies
• Top 10 sci-fi movies
• Top 10 crime movies
• Top 10 arthouse movies
• Top 10 family movies
10. Where Eagles Dare
As the second world war thriller became bogged down during the mid-60s in plodding epics like Operation Crossbow and The Heroes of Telemark, someone was needed to reintroduce a little sang-froid, some post-Le Carré espionage, and for heaven's sake, some proper macho thrills into the genre. Alistair Maclean stepped up, writing the screenplay and the novel of Where Eagles Dare simultaneously, and Brian G Hutton summoned up a better than usual cast headed by Richard Burton (Major Jonathan Smith), a still fresh-faced Clint Eastwood (Lieutenant Morris Schaffer), and the late Mary Ure (Mary Elison).
Parachuted into the German Alps, they have one...
• Top 10 action movies
• Top 10 comedy movies
• Top 10 horror movies
• Top 10 sci-fi movies
• Top 10 crime movies
• Top 10 arthouse movies
• Top 10 family movies
10. Where Eagles Dare
As the second world war thriller became bogged down during the mid-60s in plodding epics like Operation Crossbow and The Heroes of Telemark, someone was needed to reintroduce a little sang-froid, some post-Le Carré espionage, and for heaven's sake, some proper macho thrills into the genre. Alistair Maclean stepped up, writing the screenplay and the novel of Where Eagles Dare simultaneously, and Brian G Hutton summoned up a better than usual cast headed by Richard Burton (Major Jonathan Smith), a still fresh-faced Clint Eastwood (Lieutenant Morris Schaffer), and the late Mary Ure (Mary Elison).
Parachuted into the German Alps, they have one...
- 10/29/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
We just passed what would have been the 85th birthday of filmmaker Stanley Kubrick. Website Kottke found a lengthy and fascinating interview with the director's friend and colleague Michael Herr, who cowrote the Full Metal Jacket screenplay. His articles for Vanity Fair on Kubrick were compiled into an intimate biography about the director simply titled Kubrick. Herr's memoir on their 20-year friendship reveals a mutual artistic and intellectual admiration, shedding light on the famously reclusive filmmaker — whom Herr calls "a complete failure as a recluse." Despite his reputation for solitude, Herr describes Kubrick as "gregarious," "endearing" and "melodious" to listen to. The two men met at a 1980 screening of The Shining...
Read More...
Read More...
- 8/22/2013
- by Alison Nastasi
- Movies.com
Attention war film buffs: there are three exciting, scheduled new releases to put in your diaries for 2013. Each is based on a true story, two from WW2 and one from Vietnam, so it will be interesting to see – if you are a stickler for ‘authenticity’ like me – just how closely each sticks to the historical facts.
First up is The Railway Man from Australian director Jonathan Teplitzky (Better Than Sex, 2000; Burning Man, 2011), which stars Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman, is currently in post-production, and is set for release in Australia in April 2013 and then worldwide in May.
It tells the story of Eric Lomax, a young British Army signals officer who was captured by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore in 1942 then forced to work as a slave-labourer on the notorious Burma-Thailand railway – and promises to be a much more ‘authentic’ film than David Lean’s 1957 blockbuster, The Bridge on the River Kwai.
First up is The Railway Man from Australian director Jonathan Teplitzky (Better Than Sex, 2000; Burning Man, 2011), which stars Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman, is currently in post-production, and is set for release in Australia in April 2013 and then worldwide in May.
It tells the story of Eric Lomax, a young British Army signals officer who was captured by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore in 1942 then forced to work as a slave-labourer on the notorious Burma-Thailand railway – and promises to be a much more ‘authentic’ film than David Lean’s 1957 blockbuster, The Bridge on the River Kwai.
- 11/29/2012
- by Roger Bourke
- SoundOnSight
25 years may have passed since Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket first debuted, but it’s deep-seated message about soldiers and war still has value today. In its anniversary year, Full Metal Jacket is a reminder that peace and war do share a tumultuous dichotomy. And, while many may debate the merit and/or propaganda of the film, it’s clear that Kubrick’s war tale is still one of the best war movies ever produced. Dark humor mixed with startling dialogue and images of death come home in a new Blu-ray release, fitted with Warner Bros’ stylish book packaging.
The first half of Full Metal Jacket is the key reason why this movie is so remembered. New Marine recruits are trained to be killing machines by Gny. Sgt. Hartman, a drill sergeant played masterfully by R. Lee Ermey. Each command and drill chant barked by Ermey feels authentic and...
The first half of Full Metal Jacket is the key reason why this movie is so remembered. New Marine recruits are trained to be killing machines by Gny. Sgt. Hartman, a drill sergeant played masterfully by R. Lee Ermey. Each command and drill chant barked by Ermey feels authentic and...
- 8/15/2012
- by Bags Hooper
- BuzzFocus.com
In his 30 years on the big screen, Matthew Modine has worked with some of the most talented and revered directors, including Robert Altman, Oliver Stone, and most recently, Christopher Nolan. But there remains one director and one production experience that people never fail to ask him about. “What was Stanley like?” says Modine. “You can see it coming out of people’s mouths before they say it.”
Stanley, of course, is the incomparable Stanley Kubrick, and their collaboration, Full Metal Jacket, is celebrating its 25th anniversary this week with a new special edition Blu-ray. The 1987 Vietnam epic was essentially two...
Stanley, of course, is the incomparable Stanley Kubrick, and their collaboration, Full Metal Jacket, is celebrating its 25th anniversary this week with a new special edition Blu-ray. The 1987 Vietnam epic was essentially two...
- 8/7/2012
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
"Full Metal Jacket," which opened 25 years ago this week (on June 26, 1987), is many things: a surreal (or hyperreal) movie about the Vietnam War, a compactly chilly Stanley Kubrick masterpiece (aside from "Dr. Strangelove," it's the only movie he directed during his final 40 years that ran under two hours), a starmaking opportunity for Vincent D'Onofrio, and a collection of the wit and wisdom of Marine drill sergeant-turned-actor R. Lee Ermey. ("Your rifle is only a tool. It is a hard heart that kills" is one of his few non-profane maxims.) Over the past quarter-century, the movie has become beloved by many disparate groups of fans, including general moviegoers, Kubrick kultists, military fetishists, and sample-happy rappers. Still, as familiar as the film is, there's still plenty you may not know about how it was made -- which Brat Packer nearly landed the lead role that ultimately went to Matthew Modine, how Kubrick...
- 6/27/2012
- by Gary Susman
- Moviefone
The Invisible Man Documentary. Paul Joyce‘s The Invisible Man (1996) TV Documentary is a director Stanley Kubrick retrospective and analysis of his thirteen films. Featured in The Invisible Man are numerous actors and directors, including Malcolm McDowell, Jonathan Pryce, Bryan Singer, Michael Herr, James B. Harris, Ken Adam, and Kate Sheldon.
I have not seen all thirteen of Stanley Kubrick films but the ones that come to mind are Spartacus, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Lolita, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Like all of his fans, I was saddened by his death in 1999. I want to count A.I. Artificial Intelligence as a Kubrick film since his influence is all over it but that is like calling True Romance a Quentin Tarantino film.
More on Stanley Kubrick:
Stanley Kubrick (July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career.
I have not seen all thirteen of Stanley Kubrick films but the ones that come to mind are Spartacus, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Lolita, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Like all of his fans, I was saddened by his death in 1999. I want to count A.I. Artificial Intelligence as a Kubrick film since his influence is all over it but that is like calling True Romance a Quentin Tarantino film.
More on Stanley Kubrick:
Stanley Kubrick (July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career.
- 9/21/2011
- by filmbook
- Film-Book
A well-turned phrase can go a long way towards cementing a movie's cult status, but Apocalypse Now marks the point at which film quotes became self-conscious
It didn't take long for Apocalypse Now to add a whole bunch of one‑liners to the movie quote lexicon. Even before the mixed critical reception had coalesced into an iron-clad verdict, phrases from the screenplay by Francis Coppola, John Milius and Michael Herr (with a little help from Joseph Conrad) were already reverberating above and beyond their context in the film: "Saigon. Shit.","Terminate … with extreme prejudice", "Charlie don't surf!", "I love the smell of napalm in the morning", "Never get out of the boat", "The horror, the horror". And so on.
Screenplays are more than just dialogue, of course, yet a well-turned phrase can go a long way towards cementing a movie's cult status. Watching Casablanca nowadays is to experience a little...
It didn't take long for Apocalypse Now to add a whole bunch of one‑liners to the movie quote lexicon. Even before the mixed critical reception had coalesced into an iron-clad verdict, phrases from the screenplay by Francis Coppola, John Milius and Michael Herr (with a little help from Joseph Conrad) were already reverberating above and beyond their context in the film: "Saigon. Shit.","Terminate … with extreme prejudice", "Charlie don't surf!", "I love the smell of napalm in the morning", "Never get out of the boat", "The horror, the horror". And so on.
Screenplays are more than just dialogue, of course, yet a well-turned phrase can go a long way towards cementing a movie's cult status. Watching Casablanca nowadays is to experience a little...
- 5/26/2011
- by Anne Billson
- The Guardian - Film News
He maybe an old timer but Robert Duvall still has plenty of fire in his belly judging from comments made during a round table interview with The Hollywood Reporter. And what’s got his goat? It’s directors such as Stanley Kubrick and David Fincher obsessing over multiple takes and destroying an actor’s spirit.
Both film-makers are well known in searching for perfection, and Duvall thinks it’s a load of nonsense. He called Kubrick an “actors enemy” and went on to describe the performances in the late director’s work as:
“the worst performances I’ve ever seen in movies.”
Does he have a point? The Ott level on Jack Nicholson was permanently jammed to eleven after The Shining, wasn’t it? Duvall wasn’t be a pain in the arse and being provocative for the sake of it. He clearly has an opinion on the film-making process...
Both film-makers are well known in searching for perfection, and Duvall thinks it’s a load of nonsense. He called Kubrick an “actors enemy” and went on to describe the performances in the late director’s work as:
“the worst performances I’ve ever seen in movies.”
Does he have a point? The Ott level on Jack Nicholson was permanently jammed to eleven after The Shining, wasn’t it? Duvall wasn’t be a pain in the arse and being provocative for the sake of it. He clearly has an opinion on the film-making process...
- 12/2/2010
- by Martyn Conterio
- FilmShaft.com
From the Guardian, 21 May 1979
Apocalypse Now is not the greatest film of the decade, or even of the year. The world premiere at the Cannes festival on Saturday was actually nothing of the sort; rather, it was the latest (but not the last?) in a long series of previews which have gone on over the past year. […]
One doesn't have to be a purist to think that a director ought to know how his films should end, and what scenes to cut and which to include, without having to ask audiences all over the world for their opinion.
Again, Coppola has a ready answer to this objection: the film has been 10 years in the making, and he feels too close to it to make any decisions himself. I couldn't help thinking of the Balzac short story, The Unknown Masterpiece, in which a painter works for decades in secret on his masterpiece which,...
Apocalypse Now is not the greatest film of the decade, or even of the year. The world premiere at the Cannes festival on Saturday was actually nothing of the sort; rather, it was the latest (but not the last?) in a long series of previews which have gone on over the past year. […]
One doesn't have to be a purist to think that a director ought to know how his films should end, and what scenes to cut and which to include, without having to ask audiences all over the world for their opinion.
Again, Coppola has a ready answer to this objection: the film has been 10 years in the making, and he feels too close to it to make any decisions himself. I couldn't help thinking of the Balzac short story, The Unknown Masterpiece, in which a painter works for decades in secret on his masterpiece which,...
- 10/19/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
Francis Ford Coppola, 1979
It was John Milius who first came up with the idea of transposing Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness to a Vietnam war setting. Milius wrote the first drafts of the screenplay; former war correspondent Michael Herr later added narration. George Lucas was down to direct, but it was Francis Ford Coppola who finally set out to make what was intended to be the ultimate statement about the madness of war. It turned out to be equally about the madness of movie making. Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) hitches a lift on a Navy patrol boat up the Mekong river to Cambodia on a mission to terminate "with extreme prejudice" a certain Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) who is reported to have gone native in rather a nasty way. But it's a long journey, and before he confronts the renegade colonel, Willard must first face all manner of trippy imagery,...
It was John Milius who first came up with the idea of transposing Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness to a Vietnam war setting. Milius wrote the first drafts of the screenplay; former war correspondent Michael Herr later added narration. George Lucas was down to direct, but it was Francis Ford Coppola who finally set out to make what was intended to be the ultimate statement about the madness of war. It turned out to be equally about the madness of movie making. Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) hitches a lift on a Navy patrol boat up the Mekong river to Cambodia on a mission to terminate "with extreme prejudice" a certain Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) who is reported to have gone native in rather a nasty way. But it's a long journey, and before he confronts the renegade colonel, Willard must first face all manner of trippy imagery,...
- 10/19/2010
- by Anne Billson
- The Guardian - Film News
R Lee Ermey has been sounding off like he’s got a pair in a recent interview regarding Stanley Kubrick’s last movie, Eyes Wide Shut. The film suffered a long shooting period – almost two years with Kubrick’s meticulous attention to every detail bordering on mania. The film was an adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s Traumnovelle. Talking to Radar Online, Ermey, who starred as Gunnery Sgt. Hartman in Full Metal Jacket, said:
“Stanley called me about two weeks before he died. We had a long conversation about Eyes Wide Shut. He told me it was a piece of shit and that he was disgusted with it and that the critics were going to have him for lunch. He said Cruise and Kidman had their way with him – exactly the words he used.”
Ermey, a former Us Marine, doesn’t mince his words:
“He was kind of a shy little timid guy.
“Stanley called me about two weeks before he died. We had a long conversation about Eyes Wide Shut. He told me it was a piece of shit and that he was disgusted with it and that the critics were going to have him for lunch. He said Cruise and Kidman had their way with him – exactly the words he used.”
Ermey, a former Us Marine, doesn’t mince his words:
“He was kind of a shy little timid guy.
- 2/28/2010
- by Martyn Conterio
- FilmShaft.com
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