True '80s horror kids rarely agree on anything. What's the best "Friday the 13th" rip-off? Some say "The Burning," some say "Sleepaway Camp." Who is the better slasher villain; Freddy, Jason, or Michael Myers? You'll never get them to agree on anything, except maybe one question: What is the best 'Nightmare on Elm Street' sequel?
There are stans for all of them, even the notoriously bizarre "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge" (especially that one since it has grown in popularity as a favorite among the LGBTQ+ community), but most will say the one Freddy sequel to really get it right was Part 3, "Dream Warriors" which brought back Heather Langenkamp's Nancy to face down Freddy once more, this time backed up by an army of juvenile delinquents who have had enough of being tortured in their dreams by this Christmas sweater-wearing, child-killing, nightmare demon weirdo.
There are stans for all of them, even the notoriously bizarre "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge" (especially that one since it has grown in popularity as a favorite among the LGBTQ+ community), but most will say the one Freddy sequel to really get it right was Part 3, "Dream Warriors" which brought back Heather Langenkamp's Nancy to face down Freddy once more, this time backed up by an army of juvenile delinquents who have had enough of being tortured in their dreams by this Christmas sweater-wearing, child-killing, nightmare demon weirdo.
- 6/4/2023
- by Eric Vespe
- Slash Film
Among horror fans, "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" is generally regarded as one of the best entries of the fantasy slasher franchise, which is now nine films deep. It's the entry that cemented Freddy Krueger as the wisecracking child killer he's known as now, an evolution that took creator Wes Craven's original concept and expanded it to give his monster more commercial appeal.
The third installment comes along on the success of "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge," a sequel that, like its predecessor, follows a teenager battling the evil spirit of a scarred, blade-gloved child killer. Freddy operates in the dream world, and his signature striped sweater and filthy brown fedora are often the last things his victims see before their dream death and corresponding real-world death. New Line Cinema struck gold with the "Nightmare" movies; their baddie, unlike the hulking Jason Voorhees or strong,...
The third installment comes along on the success of "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge," a sequel that, like its predecessor, follows a teenager battling the evil spirit of a scarred, blade-gloved child killer. Freddy operates in the dream world, and his signature striped sweater and filthy brown fedora are often the last things his victims see before their dream death and corresponding real-world death. New Line Cinema struck gold with the "Nightmare" movies; their baddie, unlike the hulking Jason Voorhees or strong,...
- 2/18/2023
- by Anya Stanley
- Slash Film
The "showbiz satire" movie is almost as old as the cinematic medium itself. From "Sullivan's Travels" to "The Player" and most recently "Babylon," a look at the darker, goofier, unglamorous, seedier side of moviemaking has become a perennial for Hollywood in more ways than one.
Yet most of these films utilize an exaggerated effect to make their commentary on show business that much more biting, whether it's surrealism (as in Federico Fellini's "8 1/2"), a musical (like "Singin' in the Rain"), or horror (such as "Wes Craven's New Nightmare"). It's rare for such showbiz films to not be satirized in some fashion, yet David Cronenberg's "Maps to the Stars" is just such a movie.
Of course, that depends on who you ask. Most people would see the uncomfortable and darkly hilarious "Maps to the Stars" as unequivocal satire, seeing as how it brings together an ensemble of bizarrely...
Yet most of these films utilize an exaggerated effect to make their commentary on show business that much more biting, whether it's surrealism (as in Federico Fellini's "8 1/2"), a musical (like "Singin' in the Rain"), or horror (such as "Wes Craven's New Nightmare"). It's rare for such showbiz films to not be satirized in some fashion, yet David Cronenberg's "Maps to the Stars" is just such a movie.
Of course, that depends on who you ask. Most people would see the uncomfortable and darkly hilarious "Maps to the Stars" as unequivocal satire, seeing as how it brings together an ensemble of bizarrely...
- 2/1/2023
- by Bill Bria
- Slash Film
It’s time for a new episode of our The Best Horror Movie You Never Saw video series, and in this one we’re looking back at the 1989 film I, Madman (get it Here). To find out all about the movie, which is also known by the title Hardcover in some countries, check out the video embedded above.
Directed by Tibor Takács from a screenplay written by David Chaskin, I, Madman has the following synopsis:
Beautiful bookseller Virginia fosters a growing interest in the works of reclusive novelist Malcolm Brand. After much fruitless searching, Virginia finally receives a package containing Brand’s recent book, “I, Madman,” about a deranged doctor spurned by a beautiful woman. But, as Virginia devours Brand’s latest offering, she begins to have chilling visions of characters from the book — and the line between fiction and reality grows terrifyingly thin.
Jenny Wright of Near Dark stars...
Directed by Tibor Takács from a screenplay written by David Chaskin, I, Madman has the following synopsis:
Beautiful bookseller Virginia fosters a growing interest in the works of reclusive novelist Malcolm Brand. After much fruitless searching, Virginia finally receives a package containing Brand’s recent book, “I, Madman,” about a deranged doctor spurned by a beautiful woman. But, as Virginia devours Brand’s latest offering, she begins to have chilling visions of characters from the book — and the line between fiction and reality grows terrifyingly thin.
Jenny Wright of Near Dark stars...
- 10/5/2022
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
A new episode of our Real Slashers video series has just been released through the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel, and in this one we’re looking back at one of the most popular slasher sequels ever made: 1987’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (watch it Here)! To find out what we had to say about this one, check out the video embedded above.
Directed by Chuck Russell from a screenplay that was initially written by Wes Craven and Bruce Wagner – and then given a substantial rewrite by Russell and Frank Darabont – A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors has the following synopsis:
During a hallucinatory incident, young Kristen Parker has her wrists slashed by dream-stalking monster Freddy Krueger. Her mother, mistaking the wounds for a suicide attempt, sends Kristen to a psychiatric ward, where she joins a group of similarly troubled teens. One of the doctors there is Nancy Thompson,...
Directed by Chuck Russell from a screenplay that was initially written by Wes Craven and Bruce Wagner – and then given a substantial rewrite by Russell and Frank Darabont – A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors has the following synopsis:
During a hallucinatory incident, young Kristen Parker has her wrists slashed by dream-stalking monster Freddy Krueger. Her mother, mistaking the wounds for a suicide attempt, sends Kristen to a psychiatric ward, where she joins a group of similarly troubled teens. One of the doctors there is Nancy Thompson,...
- 8/23/2022
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Inside a makeshift cafe set at Hong Kong’s luxurious Rosewood Hotel, local actor-producer Josie Ho sits across from British actor Julian Sands. Both are giving director Mike Figgis their full attention as he explains the scene that they are going to film.
What was said could not be heard from afar, despite the set being unusually quiet. Dolled up multi-racial extras and other crew members who were busy preparing the next shot whispered to each other. Everyone was patiently waiting for the director’s cue.
“I normally have a very quiet set,” Figgis (director of “Leaving Las Vegas” and “Internal Affairs”) told Variety on location with “Mother Tongue,” an arthouse mystery thriller that is among the latest efforts from 852 Films, a production company co-headed by Ho and husband Conroy Chan. “I asked for silence a lot. My whole technique is based on silence, based on talking quietly and intimately to actors.
What was said could not be heard from afar, despite the set being unusually quiet. Dolled up multi-racial extras and other crew members who were busy preparing the next shot whispered to each other. Everyone was patiently waiting for the director’s cue.
“I normally have a very quiet set,” Figgis (director of “Leaving Las Vegas” and “Internal Affairs”) told Variety on location with “Mother Tongue,” an arthouse mystery thriller that is among the latest efforts from 852 Films, a production company co-headed by Ho and husband Conroy Chan. “I asked for silence a lot. My whole technique is based on silence, based on talking quietly and intimately to actors.
- 4/28/2021
- by Vivienne Chow
- Variety Film + TV
“Mother Tongue,” a suspense thriller directed by two-time Academy Award nominee Mike Figgis starts shooting in Hong Kong this week. It stars and is produced by actor-singer-producer Josie Ho.
Figgis and Ho will hold a start-of production ceremony Wednesday at Hong Kong’s Shaw Studios. Production is expected to last until April with the completed film having set a tentative release schedule in January 2022.
Ho plays two characters. The first is an award-winning actress who is involved in a relationship with a younger woman played by Minami (“Battle Royale”) while in search of her long lost daughter, behind her partner’s back. She also plays the actress’s bitter sister.
Bruce Wagner penned the script and Ho is producing the film together with Conroy Chan, with whom she co-founded film entertainment 852 Films. “Mother Tongue” also stars Julian Sands (“A Room With A View”), Elaine Jin (“Mad World”) and Canon Nawata...
Figgis and Ho will hold a start-of production ceremony Wednesday at Hong Kong’s Shaw Studios. Production is expected to last until April with the completed film having set a tentative release schedule in January 2022.
Ho plays two characters. The first is an award-winning actress who is involved in a relationship with a younger woman played by Minami (“Battle Royale”) while in search of her long lost daughter, behind her partner’s back. She also plays the actress’s bitter sister.
Bruce Wagner penned the script and Ho is producing the film together with Conroy Chan, with whom she co-founded film entertainment 852 Films. “Mother Tongue” also stars Julian Sands (“A Room With A View”), Elaine Jin (“Mad World”) and Canon Nawata...
- 2/16/2021
- by Vivienne Chow
- Variety Film + TV
Many know him as Jason Voorhees, but you can get to know the real Kane Hodder behind the mask in the upcoming documentary To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story. Also in today's Horror Highlights is the trailer for the Wesley Snipes-starring The Recall, a new episode of the fun and frightening series Graves, and details on the Wizard World Horror Fest.
To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story Update: Press Release: "Los Angeles, CA May 9, 2017- Masterfully Macabre Entertainment (“Mme”) announced today that they have put the final touches on their latest documentary, To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story. This in-depth biographical documentary on horror icon, Kane Hodder, features interviews with cinema legends, including Bruce Campbell (Ash vs. Evil Dead), Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger), and Cassandra Peterson (Elvira: Mistress of the Dark).
To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story has been submitted to...
To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story Update: Press Release: "Los Angeles, CA May 9, 2017- Masterfully Macabre Entertainment (“Mme”) announced today that they have put the final touches on their latest documentary, To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story. This in-depth biographical documentary on horror icon, Kane Hodder, features interviews with cinema legends, including Bruce Campbell (Ash vs. Evil Dead), Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger), and Cassandra Peterson (Elvira: Mistress of the Dark).
To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story has been submitted to...
- 5/10/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Thirty years is a lifetime, but in film it’s just one more marker along the celluloid highway. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors debuted on this date in 1987, and certainly the horror world was ready: Friday the 13th was six films deep, and the Halloween franchise was one year away from Michael Myers’ long-awaited return). In other words, horror franchises were still a dependable source of income for studios. All eyes were on New Line Cinema to see if their cash cow Freddy Krueger could continue the box-office boom with Dream Warriors, which brought back the franchise’s creator Wes Craven as a co-writer in an attempt to course-correct the perceived slighting of his world with the previous entry, Freddy’s Revenge. What audiences got, however, was the sequel that put all the rest in the series to shame, and cemented the Krueger mythology in horror lore forever.
- 2/28/2017
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher shared a bond like no other. Subscribe now for an inside look at Hollywood’s legendary mother-daughter duo — only in People.
Friends and family of Carrie Fisher, who died at age 60 on Dec. 27 after a heart attack, gathered Thursday for an intimate memorial at her Beverly Hills home. On Friday, a funeral service for Fisher’s mother, Debbie Reynolds, who died at age 84 following a possible stroke just one day after her daughter, will take place at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles. She will be buried with some of her daughter’s ashes.
Friends and family of Carrie Fisher, who died at age 60 on Dec. 27 after a heart attack, gathered Thursday for an intimate memorial at her Beverly Hills home. On Friday, a funeral service for Fisher’s mother, Debbie Reynolds, who died at age 84 following a possible stroke just one day after her daughter, will take place at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles. She will be buried with some of her daughter’s ashes.
- 1/6/2017
- by jodiguglielmi
- PEOPLE.com
Displaying a transparency that few filmmakers of his fame and / or caliber would even bother with, Steven Soderbergh has, for a couple of years, been keen on releasing lists of what he watched and read during the previous twelve months. If you’re at all interested in this sort of thing — and why not? what else are you even doing with your day? — the 2015 selection should be of strong interest, this being a time when he was fully enmeshed in the world of creating television.
He’s clearly observing the medium with a close eye, be it what’s on air or what his friends (specifically David Fincher and his stillborn projects) show him, and how that might relate to his apparent love of 48 Hours Mystery or approach to a comparatively light slate of cinematic assignments — specifically: it seems odd that the last time he watched Magic Mike Xxl, a...
He’s clearly observing the medium with a close eye, be it what’s on air or what his friends (specifically David Fincher and his stillborn projects) show him, and how that might relate to his apparent love of 48 Hours Mystery or approach to a comparatively light slate of cinematic assignments — specifically: it seems odd that the last time he watched Magic Mike Xxl, a...
- 1/6/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Photo By Jen Rosenstein Nikki Finke returns and unveils her next project: HollywoodDementia.com “Best known as Editor-in-Chief Emeritus and Founder of Deadline Hollywood, veteran journalist Nikki Finke is an authority on the business, politics and culture of the entertainment industry. Now, on May 18, 2015, she has announced the founding of the new innovative website HollywoodDementia.com to showcase her own and other insiders’ showbiz-based fiction writing.” – See more at: http://nikkifinke.com/bio/#sthash.qQrrSRCA.dpuf As per own words: Not since F. Scott Fitzgerald, John O’Hara and more recently Michael Tolkin and Bruce Wagner have knowledgeable writers tackled showbiz in short fiction or succeeded in getting paid for it. Now add my name to the list about to try that – and I invite Hollywood movie and TV writers, executives, journalists, critics and authors to join me. I’m starting an innovative website called HollywoodDementia.com. (The teaser is there.
- 5/18/2015
- by HollywoodNews.com
- Hollywoodnews.com
After pulling the plug on her solo outing NikkiFinke.com last Summer, the millionaire blogger who changed the business of covering Hollywood for good has unveiled her next project: HollywoodDementia.com. Here's the scoop, straight from Finke herself: Not since F. Scott Fitzgerald, John O’Hara and more recently Michael Tolkin and Bruce Wagner have knowledgeable writers tackled showbiz in short fiction or succeeded in getting paid for it. Now add my name to the list about to try that – and I invite Hollywood movie and TV writers, executives, journalists, critics and authors to join me. I’m starting an innovative website called HollywoodDementia.com. (The teaser is there.) What is it? Here’s my definition: Hollywood Dementia: noun. Deterioration of intellectual faculties, such as memory, concentration, and judgment, sometimes accompanied by emotional disturbance and personality changes, resulting from an organic disease or a disorder of the brain acquired while working in the.
- 5/18/2015
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Thompson on Hollywood
Deadline Hollywood founder Nikki Finke has unveiled plans to start HollywoodDementia.com, a site devoted to the creation of fictional story lines about living and working in Hollywood. She will write some of these, and curate contributions from screenwriters and other artists. It will be up and running by the end of June. "Not since F. Scott Fitzgerald, John O'Hara and more recently Michael Tolkin and Bruce Wagner have knowledgeable writers tackled showbiz in short…...
- 5/18/2015
- Deadline
Director David Cronenberg (Eastern Promises, A History of Violence) returns with a provocative satire about the Hollywood film industry and the demons of celebrity obsession in the Focus World release Maps To The Stars, now available on Digital HD and debuting on Blu-ray with Digital HD and DVD on April 14, 2015 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.
Academy Award winner Julianne Moore (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay) stars with Mia Wasikowska (The Kids Are All Right), Olivia Williams (Hyde Park on Hudson), John Cusack (Being John Malkovich), and Robert Pattinson (The Twilight Saga) in this unforgettable darkly comic thriller written by Bruce Wagner (I’m Losing You). Hollywood actress Havana Segrand (Moore) is unraveling as her career flounders. Her self-help psychotherapist (Cusack) and his wife (Williams) are busy managing the career of their child-star son. But when a mysterious young woman named Agatha (Wasikowska) befriends a limo driver and aspiring actor (Pattinson) all their lives get together,...
Academy Award winner Julianne Moore (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay) stars with Mia Wasikowska (The Kids Are All Right), Olivia Williams (Hyde Park on Hudson), John Cusack (Being John Malkovich), and Robert Pattinson (The Twilight Saga) in this unforgettable darkly comic thriller written by Bruce Wagner (I’m Losing You). Hollywood actress Havana Segrand (Moore) is unraveling as her career flounders. Her self-help psychotherapist (Cusack) and his wife (Williams) are busy managing the career of their child-star son. But when a mysterious young woman named Agatha (Wasikowska) befriends a limo driver and aspiring actor (Pattinson) all their lives get together,...
- 3/25/2015
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Theres a wonderfully dark streak of humor that pulses throughout the picture but if that doesnt catch you the near satirical jab at the celebrity lifestyle and their disconnection with real life problems should win you over. Even still if those (amazing) qualities fail to entertain its just about impossible to avoid being captivated with the storys progression (huge respect goes out to screenwriter Bruce Wagner). Its such a perfectly told tale that its difficult to imagine anyone not being thoroughly entertained. Maps to the Stars may not be the gruesome ordeal that Scanners or The Fly were but its a top notch picture with a top notch story from one of the greatest filmmakers walking the planet today. Dont skip this one becaus...
- 3/24/2015
- Best-Horror-Movies.com
Chicago – There is a moral darkness in director David Cronenberg’s “Maps to the Stars” that is hard to shake. It is filled with circumstance and souls right at the edge of insanity, polluted by an atmosphere that doesn’t give them much of a chance. The apocalypse is now, and living in Los Angeles.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Julianne Moore is following up her Oscar winning turn in “Still Alice” with another memorable performance, this time as an aging and insecure movie star that has never found the proper nurturing in her life. The rest of the story includes charlatans, rejects, recovering addict child stars and hallucinations – just another day in L.A. There is no exit to these situations, and each of the characters are looking through the wrong end of the telescope. The film is a fascinating insight – the original screenplay is by Bruce Wagner – of lost connections and the resulting hopelessness,...
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Julianne Moore is following up her Oscar winning turn in “Still Alice” with another memorable performance, this time as an aging and insecure movie star that has never found the proper nurturing in her life. The rest of the story includes charlatans, rejects, recovering addict child stars and hallucinations – just another day in L.A. There is no exit to these situations, and each of the characters are looking through the wrong end of the telescope. The film is a fascinating insight – the original screenplay is by Bruce Wagner – of lost connections and the resulting hopelessness,...
- 3/11/2015
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
"Maps to the Stars" screenwriter Bruce Wagner has quite the catalogue of stories from growing up in what he describes as a "Norman Rockwell" era Beverly Hills. In this exclusive featurette, Wagner describes to director David Cronenberg what it was like to grow up in proximity to the legends of Hollywood. Even though all the same landmarks from his youth remain, Wagner can't help but romanticize about a bygone era. Seriously, though, who can blame him? Watch the delicious clip in its entirety below. "Maps to the Stars" is currently playing in theaters and is available to view on video on demand platforms. Read More: Cannes Review: 'Maps to the Stars' is David Cronenberg's Angriest Movie...
- 3/4/2015
- by Shipra Gupta
- Indiewire
'Still Alice' and 'Maps to the Stars' box office: Julianne Moore Oscar helps only one movie (photo: Kristen Stewart and Julianne Moore in 'Still Alice') (See previous post: "'The Lazarus Effect' Box Office: Olivia Wilde Horror Movie Arrives Comatose.") The Oscars do matter. As mentioned in the previous post, Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman was up an estimated 125 percent this weekend, Feb. 27-March 1, 2015, following its four Academy Award wins – including Best Picture. Also up a hefty 24 percent – after adding 553 locations – is Sony Pictures Classics' Still Alice, which earned Julianne Moore the year's Best Actress Oscar for her performance as a woman in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. True, an Oscar win – or key nominations – may not create mammoth blockbusters like Francis Lawrence's The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1, Sam Taylor-Johnson's Fifty Shades of Grey, or Clint Eastwood's American Sniper. For that,...
- 3/1/2015
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
David Cronenberg's scabrous new nightmare "Maps to the Stars" is a pitch-black ghost story writhing in the filth of writer Bruce Wagner's Hollywood rock-bottom, a demimonde of deluded pill-swilling actresses, schizophrenic burn victims, incest families and drug-addicted child stars. In other words, home sweet home for the Canadian director of films like "Crash," "Dead Ringers," "Naked Lunch," "A History of Violence" and "Videodrome." His first film ever to be shot in the United States—at least in part—"Maps to the Stars" landed in Cronenberg's lap a decade ago when his friend Wagner gave it to him without any intention of a film being made. Finally, in 2015, it's here in all its messy, horrifying, grand guignol glory. Author of nine books between 1991 and 2014, Wagner grew up on the fringes of Hollywood, working at bookstores, as a limo driver for celebrities from Orson Welles to Larry Flynt and as an.
- 2/27/2015
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Thompson on Hollywood
There are scads of scabrous inside-Hollywood psychodramas, but never a festering pyre on the order of David Cronenberg and Bruce Wagner’s Maps to the Stars. What a hyperfocused duo of ghouls! Their collaboration is a portrait of inbreeding—metaphorical and literal—in which a seemingly starstruck, fresh-off-the-bus young woman (Mia Wasikowska) becomes a catalyst for carnage, the nihilism so thick that it’s intoxicating, like that rank Icelandic rotten-shark dish that makes even the most hardened culinary daredevils retch. Please don’t bore me by complaining that the characters are “unlikable.” The defense admits that the movie is indefensible. Just breathe in the aroma of decay and howl like a banshee.Heading the central family is a Hollywood self-actualization guru (John Cusack) with a faint resemblance to the doctor at the center of Cronenberg’s early horror flick The Brood (still my favorite of his films, however crude). He...
- 2/27/2015
- by David Edelstein
- Vulture
What’s the Matter with Havana?: Cronenberg’s L.A. Story a Hot Mess of Tangled Ideas
Couched within its episodic instances of harpooning Hollywood stereotypes, there is a rather interesting tale in Maps to the Stars contending as a wobbly family saga of vacuous types tainted by their desperate attempts to maintain a certain visibility within celebrity culture. But it’s an idea lost in its own maddening attempt at actually engaging in the mythos pointedly laid out in its own subtext as pertains to provocative motifs like incest, nepotism, and (literally) ghosts from the past. The result is a maudlin brew of wacky circumstances and over-the-top flourishes that sometimes work, but, more often than not, fall flat the longer running the time wears on. While it very much feels like a Cronenbergian endeavor, its pointed critique of a particular empty headed culture ends up feeling like a series of wink-wink potshots,...
Couched within its episodic instances of harpooning Hollywood stereotypes, there is a rather interesting tale in Maps to the Stars contending as a wobbly family saga of vacuous types tainted by their desperate attempts to maintain a certain visibility within celebrity culture. But it’s an idea lost in its own maddening attempt at actually engaging in the mythos pointedly laid out in its own subtext as pertains to provocative motifs like incest, nepotism, and (literally) ghosts from the past. The result is a maudlin brew of wacky circumstances and over-the-top flourishes that sometimes work, but, more often than not, fall flat the longer running the time wears on. While it very much feels like a Cronenbergian endeavor, its pointed critique of a particular empty headed culture ends up feeling like a series of wink-wink potshots,...
- 2/25/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Is it possible to essentially like a movie yet feel revulsion toward its script? David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars is clearly intended as a sharp satire of Hollywood ambition, vanity, avarice, and emptiness, and in places it's smart and astringently funny. Yet it seems to be fighting its own bone structure. The script is by Bruce Wagner, a screenwriter, producer, and novelist whose specialty, in bitter little books like Force Majeure and Dead Stars, is skewering Hollywood — he's like a jaundiced eye with a laptop attached. But unlike other novelists who've tackled Hollywood — among them Michael Tolkin, Terry Southern, Don Carpenter, and the lesser-known John Kaye, author of the splendid twin novels Stars Screaming and The Dead Circus &md...
- 2/25/2015
- Village Voice
Quite hilarious in a deeply disturbing way that you won’t want to look straight on at, lest it forever ruin you as a lover of movies. I’m “biast” (pro): mostly like Cronenberg’s work, love the cast
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
Oh, did you have dreams of going to Hollywood, becoming a star, and living happily ever after? Maps to the Stars will put paid to them. This is one of Canadian horror auteur David Cronenberg’s (Cosmopolis, Eastern Promises) least trippy films: it’s hardly surreal at all. Which makes it all too plausible as it looks askew at the living nightmares that are the lives of the Weiss family of Los Angeles, all of whom are deeply entrenched in the industry. Except the one thing they think is horrific — and it’s pretty bad...
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
Oh, did you have dreams of going to Hollywood, becoming a star, and living happily ever after? Maps to the Stars will put paid to them. This is one of Canadian horror auteur David Cronenberg’s (Cosmopolis, Eastern Promises) least trippy films: it’s hardly surreal at all. Which makes it all too plausible as it looks askew at the living nightmares that are the lives of the Weiss family of Los Angeles, all of whom are deeply entrenched in the industry. Except the one thing they think is horrific — and it’s pretty bad...
- 2/23/2015
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
Maps To The Stars Focusworld Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten. Data-based on Rotten Tomatoes. Grade: B Director: David Cronenberg Screenwriter: Bruce Wagner Cast: Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack, Robert Pattinson, Olivia Williams, Evan Bird Screened at: Universal, NYC, 1/14/15 Opens: February 27, 2014 Though the audience for annual film awards is diminishing, there is still a great deal of excitement to the shows put on by the Golden Globes, the Academy, Critics’ Choice, and others. In fact far more people watch the celebrities than attend the movies, which means that we are more interested stars, noting what they wear, perhaps gossiping about the scandals. As for scandals, you [ Read More ]
The post Maps to the Stars Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Maps to the Stars Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 2/23/2015
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Stars: Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, Robert Pattinson, John Cusack, Evan Bird, Olivia Williams, Sarah Gadon, Kiara Glasco, Dawn Greenhalgh, Jonathan Watton, Jennifer Gibson, Gord Rand, Justin Kelly, Niamh Wilson, Clara Pasieka | Written by Bruce Wagner | Directed by David Cronenberg
Maps to the Stars is a film which explores the effect of our celebrity-obsessed society. Following a variety of famous characters who are trying to hide their secrets from the lime light, worlds come crashing down around them as Agatha Weiss comes to town. Recently freed from a psychiatric hospital she has arrived to search for her family who abandoned her a long time ago.
Well. Yes. I am not really sure how to start with Maps to the Stars. So let’s start with the obvious. Julianne Moore is crazy. In this film I mean, I couldn’t describe her sanity in real life because I don’t know her.
Maps to the Stars is a film which explores the effect of our celebrity-obsessed society. Following a variety of famous characters who are trying to hide their secrets from the lime light, worlds come crashing down around them as Agatha Weiss comes to town. Recently freed from a psychiatric hospital she has arrived to search for her family who abandoned her a long time ago.
Well. Yes. I am not really sure how to start with Maps to the Stars. So let’s start with the obvious. Julianne Moore is crazy. In this film I mean, I couldn’t describe her sanity in real life because I don’t know her.
- 2/18/2015
- by Richard Axtell
- Nerdly
Even though we've seen plenty of footage from Maps to the Stars, thanks to the Canadian trailer, the United Kingdom trailer and most recent Us trailer (just to name a few), we have one more quick, wild red band trailer for the skewering of Hollywood as only director David Cronenberg can deliver. It's not all that crazy of a red band trailer, with only hints of nudity and one f-bomb dropped by Mia Wasikowska, but it's certainly frenetic and full of some weird imagery, including one curious shot of Robert Pattinson. But it's Oscar nominee Julianne Moore stealing the trailer with her crazy actress character again. Watch! Here's the final red band trailer for David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars from Yahoo: You can still watch the Us trailer for David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars right here. Maps to the Stars is directed by David Cronenberg (Scanners,...
- 2/17/2015
- by Ethan Anderton
- firstshowing.net
He’s been a Hollywood star since his teens, when he starred in Class, Sixteen Candles and The Sure Thing, but thankfully John Cusack was never like the characters in David Cronenberg’s Maps To The Stars. A brutal satire about the players, wannabes and has-beens of Hollywood, Cusack plays Stafford Weiss, a self-help guru who peddles his therapies to the weak-minded. Father to the foul Benjie (Evan Bird), a rehab-hopping teen star of the ‘Bad Babysitter’ franchise, Stafford is just one of the soulless ghouls that haunts the Hollywood Hills in what is the Canadian Cronenberg’s first real foray into Tinseltown terrain.
For Cusack, it represents yet another impressive notch in a career that’s seen him work with Stephen Frears (The Grifters, High Fidelity), Woody Allen (Shadows and Fog, Bullets Over Broadway), Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich), Terence Malick (The Thin Red Line) and Clint Eastwood (Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil...
For Cusack, it represents yet another impressive notch in a career that’s seen him work with Stephen Frears (The Grifters, High Fidelity), Woody Allen (Shadows and Fog, Bullets Over Broadway), Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich), Terence Malick (The Thin Red Line) and Clint Eastwood (Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil...
- 2/2/2015
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
You’d think that if a David Cronenberg film with Julianne Moore, Robert Pattinson, John Cusack, and Olivia Williams were about to come out, you’d have heard people talking almost endlessly about it for months. Well, that may not be true at all. I would think that I would have heard people though, because everyone who has to talk about movies, and everyone who listens to those people, ought to have been bombarded to the point of annoyance by now.
Not that you haven’t heard about the movie, perhaps, but this film ought to be a huge deal, and ought to have people excited.
Well, let’s see if we can change that.
First, this is one of the cooler trailers you’re going to run into, and it shows off the entire cast. Especially strong in the film is Mia Wasikowska, who doesn’t get nearly enough credit in general,...
Not that you haven’t heard about the movie, perhaps, but this film ought to be a huge deal, and ought to have people excited.
Well, let’s see if we can change that.
First, this is one of the cooler trailers you’re going to run into, and it shows off the entire cast. Especially strong in the film is Mia Wasikowska, who doesn’t get nearly enough credit in general,...
- 1/9/2015
- by Marc Eastman
- AreYouScreening.com
"Now that you're in Tinseltown, what are you gonna do?" Everyone has their own idea of the glamor in Hollywood, but David Cronenberg's version of the home of movies in Maps to the Stars is anything but wonderful. Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack and Robert Pattinson star in this ensemble of four people who seem to just be wandering through life in Hollywood. This trailer paints a pretty intense picture, almost like a thriller, which is exactly what we would expect from Cronenberg. The performances seem to be the driving force behind the odd drama, but here's hoping the story is just as good. Here's the Us trailer for David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars from Focus Features: Check out the previous Canadian trailer right here and a UK trailer right here. Maps to the Stars is directed by David Cronenberg (Scanners, Videodrome, The Fly, Eastern Promises,...
- 1/8/2015
- by Ethan Anderton
- firstshowing.net
The advantage of taking the redeye from the Us to Mexico City for the Morelia International Film Festival is that you don't waste an entire day traveling. The disadvantage of arriving mid-morning on the first full day of festival screenings is that a movie by one of your favorite directors is starting in just a very few minutes: David Cronenberg's "Maps to the Stars." It debuted in Cannes, six long months ago, isn't due to open in the United States until February, five long months hence. The impatient cinephile's flesh is weak. You rush off to the screening, and grab two types of your own liquid courage -- coffee and Coke Zero -- to fight off the grogginess inevitable after snatching perhaps three hours of fitful plane sleep. In some ways I wish I was groggier. I read Bruce Wagner's fictions -- most of which I own, and...
- 10/22/2014
- by Meredith Brody
- Thompson on Hollywood
At least outwardly, David Fincher’s Gone Girl is a film defined by its knife-edge turnabouts, orchestrated with an elaborate tangle of dread brought upon by a thrilling script, masterful direction, as well as an equally noteworthy score. If not for David Fincher’s sway, however, Gillian Flynn’s tale of passionate, domestic misanthropy could have easily atrophied to pulp. Is a film so gravely reliant on its many twists and turns worthy of ubiquity in praise, or is there simply more to Fincher’s Gone Girl, perchance subtler but more sizable than gender roles and suspense?
At this point in his career, Fincher is only outmatched by Alfred Hitchcock in his ardent championing of pulp. The two directors are particularly matchless in their ability to rework sensationalism and masterfully emphasize its underlying pathos instead. In the wake of Zodiac and The Social Network, Fincher no longer needs to attest...
At this point in his career, Fincher is only outmatched by Alfred Hitchcock in his ardent championing of pulp. The two directors are particularly matchless in their ability to rework sensationalism and masterfully emphasize its underlying pathos instead. In the wake of Zodiac and The Social Network, Fincher no longer needs to attest...
- 10/17/2014
- by Morad Moazami
- SoundOnSight
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
Written by Wes Craven, Bruce Wagner, Frank Darabont, and Chuck Russel
Directed by Chuck Russell
USA, 1987
I’m not sure there is a single line in the history of slasher films that had more of an impact on the future of the genre than this line from A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. For the first two and a half films of this series, and the first few films from the other major slasher series of the day, there was a lo-fi authenticity to the films. Michael Myers stalking through the house in Halloween, the creepy intensity of Ms. Voorhees in Friday the 13th, Freddy’s claws coming through the walls in an unreal but significantly unsettling way in the original nightmare. Even when a little kitsch seeped through it was more creepy than funny. And all of that changed in Dream Warriors.
Written by Wes Craven, Bruce Wagner, Frank Darabont, and Chuck Russel
Directed by Chuck Russell
USA, 1987
I’m not sure there is a single line in the history of slasher films that had more of an impact on the future of the genre than this line from A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. For the first two and a half films of this series, and the first few films from the other major slasher series of the day, there was a lo-fi authenticity to the films. Michael Myers stalking through the house in Halloween, the creepy intensity of Ms. Voorhees in Friday the 13th, Freddy’s claws coming through the walls in an unreal but significantly unsettling way in the original nightmare. Even when a little kitsch seeped through it was more creepy than funny. And all of that changed in Dream Warriors.
- 10/6/2014
- by Mynt Marsellus
- SoundOnSight
Want to see the underbelly of the movie business? John Cusack will show you. With 76 credited roles under his belt, Cusack knows the lights and darks of Hollywood, and his experience - along with that of screenwriter Bruce Wagner - enables him to sketch a grim portrait of the industry in the new film, Maps to the Stars. Cusack has been a household name since the release of Say Anything 25 years ago, and he says he'll have the privilege of performing for awhile longer. "I got another 15, 20 years before they say I'm old. For women it's brutal. Bruce [Wagner's] thing about if you're 26, you're menopausal?...
- 9/30/2014
- by Sheila Cosgrove Baylis, @sheilabot
- PEOPLE.com
Want to see the underbelly of the movie business? John Cusack will show you. With 76 credited roles under his belt, Cusack knows the lights and darks of Hollywood, and his experience - along with that of screenwriter Bruce Wagner - enables him to sketch a grim portrait of the industry in the new film, Maps to the Stars. Cusack has been a household name since the release of Say Anything 25 years ago, and he says he'll have the privilege of performing for awhile longer. "I got another 15, 20 years before they say I'm old. For women it's brutal. Bruce [Wagner's] thing about if you're 26, you're menopausal?...
- 9/30/2014
- by Sheila Cosgrove Baylis, @sheilabot
- PEOPLE.com
John Cusack has spoken out against the modern film industry, describing Hollywood as a "whorehouse".
He said that there is no longer the support for young actors that existed when he was getting into the business.
"You can't make it up," the 48-year-old told The Guardian. "It's a whorehouse and people go mad.
"I got another 15, 20 years before they say I'm old," he continued. "For women it's brutal. [Screenwriter] Bruce [Wagner]'s thing about if you're 26, you're menopausal? It's only absurd because it's a little bit further than the truth.
"I have actress friends who are being put out to pasture at 29. They just want to open up another can of hot 22. It's becoming almost like kiddie porn. It's fucking weird.
"People would look after you when I was a kid. There were good people in the business. When I came to La Rob Reiner said: 'Come stay at my house'. He taught me.
He said that there is no longer the support for young actors that existed when he was getting into the business.
"You can't make it up," the 48-year-old told The Guardian. "It's a whorehouse and people go mad.
"I got another 15, 20 years before they say I'm old," he continued. "For women it's brutal. [Screenwriter] Bruce [Wagner]'s thing about if you're 26, you're menopausal? It's only absurd because it's a little bit further than the truth.
"I have actress friends who are being put out to pasture at 29. They just want to open up another can of hot 22. It's becoming almost like kiddie porn. It's fucking weird.
"People would look after you when I was a kid. There were good people in the business. When I came to La Rob Reiner said: 'Come stay at my house'. He taught me.
- 9/29/2014
- Digital Spy
A towering performance by Julianne Moore drives the Canadian director’s study of the terrors of Tinseltown
Films that purport to satirise, examine, or eviscerate the vacuous horrors of Hollywood often end up as fatuously empty and self-involved as their subject. Look at Paul Schrader and Bret Easton Ellis’s pitiful The Canyons, a classic case of people in glass houses merrily throwing bricks at themselves. Good job, then, that perennial outsider David Cronenberg clearly isn’t the least bit dazzled or seduced by the cultural cesspool of his latest movie, a tale of terminal Tinseltown wastrels with the twisted structure of a Greek tragedy and the rictus grin of a freshly poisoned sitcom.
On the contrary, Cronenberg observes the assortment of pestilential players in Bruce Wagner’s self-reflexive script with characteristic detachment, like a scientist watching bacteria multiplying in a Petri dish. The symptoms may be cultural rather than physical,...
Films that purport to satirise, examine, or eviscerate the vacuous horrors of Hollywood often end up as fatuously empty and self-involved as their subject. Look at Paul Schrader and Bret Easton Ellis’s pitiful The Canyons, a classic case of people in glass houses merrily throwing bricks at themselves. Good job, then, that perennial outsider David Cronenberg clearly isn’t the least bit dazzled or seduced by the cultural cesspool of his latest movie, a tale of terminal Tinseltown wastrels with the twisted structure of a Greek tragedy and the rictus grin of a freshly poisoned sitcom.
On the contrary, Cronenberg observes the assortment of pestilential players in Bruce Wagner’s self-reflexive script with characteristic detachment, like a scientist watching bacteria multiplying in a Petri dish. The symptoms may be cultural rather than physical,...
- 9/28/2014
- by Mark Kermode, Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
Director: David Cronenberg; Screenwriter: Bruce Wagner; Starring: Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, Evan Bird, Robert Pattinson, John Cusack, Olivia Williams, Carrie Fisher; Running time: 111 mins; Certificate: 18
David Cronenberg movies rarely fail to provoke strong and conflicting feelings from the viewer, whether it be the compelling alienation of Cosmopolis or the involving revulsion of Eastern Promises. His latest offering Maps To The Stars is no exception, offering a scintillating study of the repercussions of suppressing traumatic episodes and boasting engrossing portrayals from Julianne Moore and Mia Wasikowska.
Famed for his venereal 'body horror' movies, Cronenberg positions Hollywood as a diseased, festering and parasitic entity. Alongside the celebrity culture it promotes, it bears a sickly yet addictive quality to the fascinating array of characters we encounter, especially those seemingly inspired by real-life famous figures.
There's hysterical Lohan-esque actress Havana (Moore), desperate to portray her famous deceased mother in a movie, and Benjie (Evan Bird...
David Cronenberg movies rarely fail to provoke strong and conflicting feelings from the viewer, whether it be the compelling alienation of Cosmopolis or the involving revulsion of Eastern Promises. His latest offering Maps To The Stars is no exception, offering a scintillating study of the repercussions of suppressing traumatic episodes and boasting engrossing portrayals from Julianne Moore and Mia Wasikowska.
Famed for his venereal 'body horror' movies, Cronenberg positions Hollywood as a diseased, festering and parasitic entity. Alongside the celebrity culture it promotes, it bears a sickly yet addictive quality to the fascinating array of characters we encounter, especially those seemingly inspired by real-life famous figures.
There's hysterical Lohan-esque actress Havana (Moore), desperate to portray her famous deceased mother in a movie, and Benjie (Evan Bird...
- 9/26/2014
- Digital Spy
After 25 years as a star, John Cusack has seen the movie industry’s dark side close up – from its misogyny to its treatment of young actors. His new film, Maps to the Stars, is brutally honest, he says
Bruce Wagner: Maps to the Stars – my film about the dark side of Hollywood
David Cronenberg: ‘My imagination is not a place of horror’
A couple of summers ago, John Cusack was at a baseball game, watching the Chicago White Sox play.
“In the next box over there was a gorgeous girl – young, but she was looking right at me,” he says. I went to go to the bathroom and I saw her get up. I thought: ‘Ohhhh … she’s going to come and meet me and I’m gonna … you know …’ I was going to be really flattered. And she was, like: ‘I have to take a picture of you!
Bruce Wagner: Maps to the Stars – my film about the dark side of Hollywood
David Cronenberg: ‘My imagination is not a place of horror’
A couple of summers ago, John Cusack was at a baseball game, watching the Chicago White Sox play.
“In the next box over there was a gorgeous girl – young, but she was looking right at me,” he says. I went to go to the bathroom and I saw her get up. I thought: ‘Ohhhh … she’s going to come and meet me and I’m gonna … you know …’ I was going to be really flattered. And she was, like: ‘I have to take a picture of you!
- 9/25/2014
- by Henry Barnes
- The Guardian - Film News
After 25 years as a star, John Cusack has seen the movie industrys dark side close up from its misogyny to its treatment of young actors. His new film, Maps to the Stars, is brutally honest, he says
Bruce Wagner: Maps to the Stars my film about the dark side of Hollywood
David Cronenberg: My imagination is not a place of horror
Continue reading...
Bruce Wagner: Maps to the Stars my film about the dark side of Hollywood
David Cronenberg: My imagination is not a place of horror
Continue reading...
- 9/25/2014
- by Henry Barnes
- The Guardian - Film News
★★☆☆☆David Cronenberg has had a tough time of late. Though his last two efforts, A Dangerous Method (2011) and Cosmopolis (2012), arguably lacked the shocking cut and thrust of his most visceral outings, they were both far from abject failures. Neither is Maps to the Stars (2014), a celebrity satire from the Canadian body horror maestro which received a largely warm reception at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Written by American novelist Bruce Wagner (Dead Stars), Maps revels in Hollywood's many grotesqueries yet crucially lacks the cool wit and intelligence that comes hand-in-hand with a Cronenberg on his A-game. Overbearingly catty, there's little actual meat underneath all the ghoulish cosmetics.
- 9/25/2014
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
While David Cronenberg’s Maps To The Stars polarized critics during its festival run, the performance of its leading lady cannot be denied. As a washed-up actress desperate to regain the fame she once had, Julianne Moore went above and beyond. In a role that other actresses might have deemed alienating, or just too provocative, she shone – like a star (ahem) – in one of her finest performances in recent years. She even snagged the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival.
Maps To The Stars picks up the story of Moore’s older thespian in the process of signing on to star in a remake of a film made famous by her mother. Inevitably, that’s cause for concern – what if she flails in the role her mother excelled in? To assuage her fears, she enlists a personal assistant (Mia Wasikowska) and then… well, everything goes nuts.
The fading...
Maps To The Stars picks up the story of Moore’s older thespian in the process of signing on to star in a remake of a film made famous by her mother. Inevitably, that’s cause for concern – what if she flails in the role her mother excelled in? To assuage her fears, she enlists a personal assistant (Mia Wasikowska) and then… well, everything goes nuts.
The fading...
- 9/22/2014
- by Gem Seddon
- We Got This Covered
David Cronenberg serves up the ice-cold Hollywood satire, Maps To The Stars. Here’s Ryan’s review of a bloodcurdling drama...
With Maps To The Stars, the erstwhile king of venereal horror David Cronenberg trains his scalpel-like gaze on Hollywood, and the resulting film is as withering and unsettling as you might expect. Based on a screenplay by Bruce Wagner, it’s a Tinseltown drama vaguely in the tradition of Sunset Blvd or Swimming With Sharks, but layered with Cronenberg’s trademark fascination with the frailties of human flesh.
Mia Wasikowska plays Agatha, the young, wraith-like waypoint into a demented vision of upper-crust Los Angeles. Stepping off an overnight bus into the Californian sunshine, she’s in town to help Carrie Fisher (yes, that Carrie Fisher) with her latest novel, but really, her arrival has more to do with a disconnected group of people who all have three things in common: fame,...
With Maps To The Stars, the erstwhile king of venereal horror David Cronenberg trains his scalpel-like gaze on Hollywood, and the resulting film is as withering and unsettling as you might expect. Based on a screenplay by Bruce Wagner, it’s a Tinseltown drama vaguely in the tradition of Sunset Blvd or Swimming With Sharks, but layered with Cronenberg’s trademark fascination with the frailties of human flesh.
Mia Wasikowska plays Agatha, the young, wraith-like waypoint into a demented vision of upper-crust Los Angeles. Stepping off an overnight bus into the Californian sunshine, she’s in town to help Carrie Fisher (yes, that Carrie Fisher) with her latest novel, but really, her arrival has more to do with a disconnected group of people who all have three things in common: fame,...
- 9/19/2014
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg has made a reputation for himself over the course of his career with a filmography that includes Videodrome, The Fly, and Eastern Promises. With his last movie coming in 2012, Cronenberg’s new feature has now made it to festival circuit, playing most recently at the Toronto International Film Festival. Titled Maps to the Stars, Cronenberg reunites with his Cosmopolis lead Robert Pattinson in a look at a number of characters circling Hollywood, including an actress and her family, a personal assistant, and a driver, among others. The script comes from Bruce Wagner, with Pattinson joined onscreen by the likes of John Cusack, Mia Wasikowska, and Julianne Moore. In the Us, the film was originally slated for an October release but has since been pushed back to a Spring 2015. It will however be released in Canadian theatres on October 31st, and a new trailer for the film...
- 9/11/2014
- by Deepayan Sengupta
- SoundOnSight
David Cronenberg’s “Maps To The Stars” hit some snags in the U.S. recently (Focus World picked it up for possible VOD release in the U.S. in 2015) and many have said you can kiss Julianne Moore’s Oscar chances goodbye, which is a shame because she’s been nominated three times already and never won (she really deserves it). But in Canada, it’s all smooth sailing for the Canadian filmmaker's movie. Word out of Tiff has been strong, and there’s a great cast that includes Moore (who won Best Actress in Cannes), Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack, Robert Pattinson, Olivia Williams and Sarah Gadon. So we wonder what the issue is? Here’s the official synopsis: With this tale of a secret-filled Hollywood family on the verge of implosion, award-winning director David Cronenberg forges both a wicked social satire and a very human ghost story from our celebrity-obsessed culture.
- 9/10/2014
- by Edward Davis
- The Playlist
Hollywood’s self-reflexive nature is investigated this summer in two festival-circuit films: Oliver Assayas’ Clouds Of Sils Maria, and David Cronenberg’s latest opus, Maps To The Stars. After striking out at Cannes to mixed-to-positive reviews, the movie has recently secured a Us distributor but no firm release date. Focus World, who snared the rights, are rumoured to be dropping it on VOD sometime next year. Now, with a new trailer to pore over, does this mean we’re any closer to finally getting a confirmed date?
Cronenberg has never played it safe with his ventures. After his stint in the 70s and 80s rejuvenating the occult body horror genre, he’s left the gore behind for a different type of terror. Maps To The Stars is not a typically glossy Hollywood pic. The sun might be shining, but beneath the toothy smiles and perfect hair, the desire to be a fawned-over celebrity lingers.
Cronenberg has never played it safe with his ventures. After his stint in the 70s and 80s rejuvenating the occult body horror genre, he’s left the gore behind for a different type of terror. Maps To The Stars is not a typically glossy Hollywood pic. The sun might be shining, but beneath the toothy smiles and perfect hair, the desire to be a fawned-over celebrity lingers.
- 9/10/2014
- by Gem Seddon
- We Got This Covered
"Secrets kill." We've gotten glimpses of David Cronenberg's twisted and raw depiction of Hollywood with a trailer from the United Kingdom, a trailer from before the film premiered at Cannes, and also a couple other trailers before that. Now the film is poised for release next month in Canada, and a new trailer has just arrived, showing off even more of the promising performances from Julianne Moore (who won Best Actress at Cannes), Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack and Robert Pattinson. This looks pretty depressing and dark, but captivating in only the way that a director like Cronenberg can deliver. Watch! Here's the Canadian trailer for David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars from eOne: Maps to the Stars is directed by David Cronenberg (Scanners, Videodrome, The Fly, Eastern Promises, Cosmopolis), from a script by author and screenwriter Bruce Wagner (A Nightmare on Elm Street 3). The Weiss family is the...
- 9/10/2014
- by Ethan Anderton
- firstshowing.net
Maps to the Stars
Written by Bruce Wagner
Directed by David Cronenberg
Canada/USA/Germany/France, 2014
There’s something theatrical about this new version of Cronenberg. Not in the way we think of Stratford or Shaw, but more like pseudo-artistic interpretive theatre that happens during one’s experimental phase at university. Maps to the Stars is a colossal disappointment, offering stilted performances, a disjointed and predominantly ineffectual script, and bewilderingly bad sound design. What appears on the surface to be an interesting dialogue on child stars, the vapid, all-consuming and destructive nature of celebrity, and the superficial nature of Los Angeles very quickly reveals itself to be something else altogether – the tired, lazy half-measures of an auteur riding on his own coattails.
To pinpoint the focus of Maps’ plot would be to assume it has a focus. If there’s a subtler conceit, it’s so deeply buried beneath a...
Written by Bruce Wagner
Directed by David Cronenberg
Canada/USA/Germany/France, 2014
There’s something theatrical about this new version of Cronenberg. Not in the way we think of Stratford or Shaw, but more like pseudo-artistic interpretive theatre that happens during one’s experimental phase at university. Maps to the Stars is a colossal disappointment, offering stilted performances, a disjointed and predominantly ineffectual script, and bewilderingly bad sound design. What appears on the surface to be an interesting dialogue on child stars, the vapid, all-consuming and destructive nature of celebrity, and the superficial nature of Los Angeles very quickly reveals itself to be something else altogether – the tired, lazy half-measures of an auteur riding on his own coattails.
To pinpoint the focus of Maps’ plot would be to assume it has a focus. If there’s a subtler conceit, it’s so deeply buried beneath a...
- 9/7/2014
- by Ariel Fisher
- SoundOnSight
Maps to the Stars
Written by Bruce Wagner
Directed by David Cronenberg
Canada/USA/Germany/France, 2014
Hollywood could easily be the perfect fantasy world of Cronenberg’s obsessions. The themes associated with body horror, from the fascination with decay to the battle between body and mind, are staples of the torrid extremes of Tinsel Town. In 2012, David Cronenberg’s son, Brandon, tackled these ideas with his feature debut Antiviral. That film explores a dystopian future in which the obsession with celebrity is taken to extremes of consumption. In Antiviral, the masses purchase meat grown from their favourite celebrity’s cells and head to a special clinic in order to be infected with the same venereal strain as their Hollywood Idol. The film externalizes the growing cultural obsession with fame, and concentrates that obsession through corporeality and sex.
Maps to the Stars vaguely taps into the idea of Hollywood as the...
Written by Bruce Wagner
Directed by David Cronenberg
Canada/USA/Germany/France, 2014
Hollywood could easily be the perfect fantasy world of Cronenberg’s obsessions. The themes associated with body horror, from the fascination with decay to the battle between body and mind, are staples of the torrid extremes of Tinsel Town. In 2012, David Cronenberg’s son, Brandon, tackled these ideas with his feature debut Antiviral. That film explores a dystopian future in which the obsession with celebrity is taken to extremes of consumption. In Antiviral, the masses purchase meat grown from their favourite celebrity’s cells and head to a special clinic in order to be infected with the same venereal strain as their Hollywood Idol. The film externalizes the growing cultural obsession with fame, and concentrates that obsession through corporeality and sex.
Maps to the Stars vaguely taps into the idea of Hollywood as the...
- 9/7/2014
- by Justine Smith
- SoundOnSight
Stop me if you've heard this one before... Hollywood is an incestuous town and those that dwell there are morally bankrupt. This is the concept that is drilled into the ground throughout David Cronenberg's lifeless satire, Maps to the Stars. Written by Bruce Wagner (A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors), Cronenberg defended the film at the Cannes Film Festival saying, "You could set this in Silicon Valley or on Wall Street -- anyplace people are desperate and fearful. You could set it anywhere and have the same ring ofctruth." Perhaps so, but it's not set in Silicon Valley or Wall Street (neither of which would be new concepts either), it's set in Hollywood and it's a tired story from start to finish and it was all I could do to keep from leaving the theater. Julianne Moore plays Havana, an aging actress on the brink of a breakdown,...
- 9/5/2014
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
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