Discovering Michelle Monaghan in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was like finding evidence that the old-school Hollywood comedy actress gene, long thought extinct, was alive and well. She did more than hold her own opposite Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer — she stole the movie. I’ve been rooting for her ever since. A few Mission Impossibles, Gone Baby Gone, True Detective followed, as well as some significant work in small indies like Trucker, Fort Bliss, and Nanny. She returns to comedy with her latest, The Family Plan, which is streaming now on Apple TV+. On this episode, she talks about […]
The post “It’s a Gift When People Share with Me their Stories”: Michelle Monaghan, Back To One, Episode 273 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “It’s a Gift When People Share with Me their Stories”: Michelle Monaghan, Back To One, Episode 273 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 12/19/2023
- by Peter Rinaldi
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Discovering Michelle Monaghan in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was like finding evidence that the old-school Hollywood comedy actress gene, long thought extinct, was alive and well. She did more than hold her own opposite Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer — she stole the movie. I’ve been rooting for her ever since. A few Mission Impossibles, Gone Baby Gone, True Detective followed, as well as some significant work in small indies like Trucker, Fort Bliss, and Nanny. She returns to comedy with her latest, The Family Plan, which is streaming now on Apple TV+. On this episode, she talks about […]
The post “It’s a Gift When People Share with Me their Stories”: Michelle Monaghan, Back To One, Episode 273 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “It’s a Gift When People Share with Me their Stories”: Michelle Monaghan, Back To One, Episode 273 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 12/19/2023
- by Peter Rinaldi
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Chloe East, Oakes Fegley and Isabelle Kusman join the cast of Steven Spielberg’s next film, based loosely on his childhood. The three young actors will play high school classmates of the young aspiring filmmaker at the center of the story.
They join a cast that includes Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Paul Dano, Gabriel Labelle, Julia Butters, and Sam Rechner. The script was co-written by Spielberg and Tony Kushner, and they also produce with Kristie Macosko Krieger.
East stars on the HBO Max series Generation and most recently wrapped production on Stampede Ventures’ Going Places. She most recently was seen in Orion Classics’ The Wolf of Snow Hollow. She is represented by Link Entertainment, Vault Entertainment, A3 Artists Agency and J.R. McGinnis at Felker Toczek Suddleson.
Fegley has starred in The Goldfinch, Wonderstruck, The War with Grandpa opposite Robert De Niro, Pete’s Dragon and Fort Bliss. Fegley is repped by ICM Partners,...
They join a cast that includes Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Paul Dano, Gabriel Labelle, Julia Butters, and Sam Rechner. The script was co-written by Spielberg and Tony Kushner, and they also produce with Kristie Macosko Krieger.
East stars on the HBO Max series Generation and most recently wrapped production on Stampede Ventures’ Going Places. She most recently was seen in Orion Classics’ The Wolf of Snow Hollow. She is represented by Link Entertainment, Vault Entertainment, A3 Artists Agency and J.R. McGinnis at Felker Toczek Suddleson.
Fegley has starred in The Goldfinch, Wonderstruck, The War with Grandpa opposite Robert De Niro, Pete’s Dragon and Fort Bliss. Fegley is repped by ICM Partners,...
- 7/14/2021
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
Michelle Monaghan has joined the cast of “The Craft” remake, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.
Zoe Lister-Jones is writing, directing and executive producing the reimagining of the 1996 film. The story centers on a teenage girl and high school outcast who falls in with three other girls who practice witchcraft. As they cast spells and curses on those they dislike, they soon face the consequences of those actions. David Duchovny, Cailee Spaeny, Gideon Adlon, Lovie Simone, Zoey Luna, Nicholas Galitzine and Julian Grey also star.
Jason Blum is producing for Blumhouse, while Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher are producing for Red Wagon Entertainment. Wick also produced the original film. Andrew Fleming, Lucas Wiesendanger, Natalia Anderson, Daniel Bekerman, Couper Samuelson, Jeannette Volturno and Bea Sequiera are executive producing. Blumhouse and Columbia are co-financing the film.
Also Read: Cailee Spaeny to Star in 'The Craft' Remake for...
Zoe Lister-Jones is writing, directing and executive producing the reimagining of the 1996 film. The story centers on a teenage girl and high school outcast who falls in with three other girls who practice witchcraft. As they cast spells and curses on those they dislike, they soon face the consequences of those actions. David Duchovny, Cailee Spaeny, Gideon Adlon, Lovie Simone, Zoey Luna, Nicholas Galitzine and Julian Grey also star.
Jason Blum is producing for Blumhouse, while Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher are producing for Red Wagon Entertainment. Wick also produced the original film. Andrew Fleming, Lucas Wiesendanger, Natalia Anderson, Daniel Bekerman, Couper Samuelson, Jeannette Volturno and Bea Sequiera are executive producing. Blumhouse and Columbia are co-financing the film.
Also Read: Cailee Spaeny to Star in 'The Craft' Remake for...
- 10/24/2019
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Wrap
Ashley Rosales wasn’t a natural-born makeup artist.
“I was about 15 when my parents let me start wearing makeup. I wasn’t great at it,” the beauty blogger says in the current issue of People.
But by age 18, the Cincinnati native had fallen in love with the art of cosmetics, though she chose a different route after high school.
“My dad was in the Marines before I was born, and he always talked about it,” says Rosales, now 30. “He was so honored that he served. I wanted to make him proud.”
For 2 1/2 years she was stationed at Fort Riley in...
“I was about 15 when my parents let me start wearing makeup. I wasn’t great at it,” the beauty blogger says in the current issue of People.
But by age 18, the Cincinnati native had fallen in love with the art of cosmetics, though she chose a different route after high school.
“My dad was in the Marines before I was born, and he always talked about it,” says Rosales, now 30. “He was so honored that he served. I wanted to make him proud.”
For 2 1/2 years she was stationed at Fort Riley in...
- 8/15/2017
- by Patrick Gomez
- PEOPLE.com
Zosia Mamet is moving from Girls to Girl.
The actress, whose six-season run on the HBO series just came to an end, will star opposite Scott Speedman in the romance drama Shadow Girl.
Claudia Myers (Fort Bliss) will direct from a screenplay she wrote. The story centers on Holly, who has faded to the point of becoming literally invisible after the death of her mother. After more than a decade of solitude and toiling in the shadows as a paparazzi photographer, she meets Shane (Speedman), a down-on-his-luck former mixed martial arts champion and the one person who can see her.
...
The actress, whose six-season run on the HBO series just came to an end, will star opposite Scott Speedman in the romance drama Shadow Girl.
Claudia Myers (Fort Bliss) will direct from a screenplay she wrote. The story centers on Holly, who has faded to the point of becoming literally invisible after the death of her mother. After more than a decade of solitude and toiling in the shadows as a paparazzi photographer, she meets Shane (Speedman), a down-on-his-luck former mixed martial arts champion and the one person who can see her.
...
- 5/18/2017
- by Tatiana Siegel
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The subject matter of Mark Wahlberg and Peter Berg’s new film Patriots Day might be even tougher to some as their last film, Deepwater Horizon, as it looks at the terrorist bombings at the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013 that left three dead and dozens injured.
In the movie, Wahlberg plays police officer Tommy Saunders, who is on duty at the marathon on the day of the bombing, so he’s on the forefront of the investigation to find those responsible. His wife Carol is played by Michelle Monaghan, who has given breakout performances in films like Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Ben Affleck’s Gone Baby Gone, Duncan Jones’ Source Code, as well as the acclaimed first season of HBO’s True Detective, and she brings more humanity to the movie which ends up following the FBI and Boston Pd as they go after the perps.
What...
In the movie, Wahlberg plays police officer Tommy Saunders, who is on duty at the marathon on the day of the bombing, so he’s on the forefront of the investigation to find those responsible. His wife Carol is played by Michelle Monaghan, who has given breakout performances in films like Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Ben Affleck’s Gone Baby Gone, Duncan Jones’ Source Code, as well as the acclaimed first season of HBO’s True Detective, and she brings more humanity to the movie which ends up following the FBI and Boston Pd as they go after the perps.
What...
- 1/5/2017
- by Edward Douglas
- LRMonline.com
The FBI is investigating whether the alleged murder of a transgender woman by a soldier in El Paso, Texas, was a hate crime, according to multiple reports. On Tuesday, police arrested Anthony Michael Bowden, 21, charging him in the the August 8 death of Erykah Tijerina, 36, whose legal name was Eric Tijerina, according to a police news release obtained by People. Keith A. Byers, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI in El Paso, told the El Paso Times, "The priority is to apprehend the person or the persons responsible and to make sure that we attain justice for the victim.
- 9/16/2016
- by K.C. Baker, @kcbaker77777
- PEOPLE.com
It’s the last week of February, dear readers, and the Academy Awards are this Sunday. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen Deadpool yet, but I plan to do so as soon as possible. In the meantime, this week’s new Trailer Trashin’ column takes a look at the teaser for Disney’s upcoming remake of Pete’s Dragon.
Premise: For years, old wood carver Mr. Meacham (Robert Redford) has delighted local children with his tales of a fierce dragon deep in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. To his daughter Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard), who works as a forest ranger, those stories are little more than tall tales until she meets Pete (Oakes Fegley), a ten-year-old with no family and no home who claims to live in the woods with a giant green dragon named Elliot. From Pete’s descriptions, Elliot seems remarkably similar to the dragon from her father’s stories.
Premise: For years, old wood carver Mr. Meacham (Robert Redford) has delighted local children with his tales of a fierce dragon deep in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. To his daughter Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard), who works as a forest ranger, those stories are little more than tall tales until she meets Pete (Oakes Fegley), a ten-year-old with no family and no home who claims to live in the woods with a giant green dragon named Elliot. From Pete’s descriptions, Elliot seems remarkably similar to the dragon from her father’s stories.
- 2/26/2016
- by Timothy Monforton
- CinemaNerdz
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When to expect all the upcoming live action fairytale movies, including Dumbo, Beauty And The Beast and two Jungle Books…
You’ve probably noticed the influx of live action fairytales gracing cinemas in recent years. This isn’t about to stop any time soon, since re-spinning a recognisable fantastical yarn with real people instead of animated ones always makes big money for the studio behind it.
This process has become so popular that there are currently more of these live action fairytales in production than Marvel Studios, DC Entertainment or Star Wars movies. That’s a lot of films. (A whopping 21 by our count.)
Although it wadsn’t the first movie of this kind, Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland – and its worldwide gross of over a billion dollars – can surely take the credit for kick-starting this trend. Here are all the in-development movies trying to repeat its success,...
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When to expect all the upcoming live action fairytale movies, including Dumbo, Beauty And The Beast and two Jungle Books…
You’ve probably noticed the influx of live action fairytales gracing cinemas in recent years. This isn’t about to stop any time soon, since re-spinning a recognisable fantastical yarn with real people instead of animated ones always makes big money for the studio behind it.
This process has become so popular that there are currently more of these live action fairytales in production than Marvel Studios, DC Entertainment or Star Wars movies. That’s a lot of films. (A whopping 21 by our count.)
Although it wadsn’t the first movie of this kind, Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland – and its worldwide gross of over a billion dollars – can surely take the credit for kick-starting this trend. Here are all the in-development movies trying to repeat its success,...
- 1/21/2016
- by rleane
- Den of Geek
An eye-opening new photo of a group of 10 military moms breastfeeding their infant babies has gone viral after it was recently posted to Facebook. The snapshot — taken by former Air Force servicewoman-turned-photographer Tara Ruby — was inspired by Fort Bliss' first-ever nursing room as well as her own personal experience as a mom. The El Paso, Tex. shutterbug served in the Air Force from 1997 to 2001, and decided to immortalize a beautiful moment of bonding between moms and their newborns. Ruby asked a group of [...]...
- 9/14/2015
- Us Weekly
It's nonsensical that actress Michelle Monaghan isn't a bigger name in Hollywood. She is an excellent foil to Robert Downey Jr. in cult dark comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and inspires Jake Gyllenhaal in Source Code. She was even in the lauded first season of True Detective (which I didn't watch). Fort Bliss, a film written and directed by Claudia Myers, is a special treat for Monaghan fans. Instead of supporting an A-list actor onscreen, Monaghan gets her chance to lead a film.
She plays Staff Sgt. Maggie Swann, recently returned from service in Afghanistan. Maggie is an army medic, quick to respond to injuries in the field, yet thrown by the changes that have occurred while she's been abroad. Her young son Paul (Oakes Fegley, This Is Where I Leave You) has lived with Maggie's ex-husband Richard (Ron Livingston, Office Space) and grown extremely close to Richard's new wife Alma (Emmanuelle Chriqui,...
She plays Staff Sgt. Maggie Swann, recently returned from service in Afghanistan. Maggie is an army medic, quick to respond to injuries in the field, yet thrown by the changes that have occurred while she's been abroad. Her young son Paul (Oakes Fegley, This Is Where I Leave You) has lived with Maggie's ex-husband Richard (Ron Livingston, Office Space) and grown extremely close to Richard's new wife Alma (Emmanuelle Chriqui,...
- 4/15/2015
- by Elizabeth Stoddard
- Slackerwood
Instead of being forced to relinquish their pets, active members of the military now have a place to house their pets during deployment: Dogs on Deployment. DoD connects members of the military with able-bodied individuals willing to take in their pets while they serve their country. The organization came to fruition in June of 2011 when San Diego natives Alisa Sieber-Johnson (now a first lieutenant of the U.S. Marine Corps) and her husband, Shawn Johnson (a lieutenant of the U.S. Navy) struggled to find someone to watch their two Australian shepherds when they were being stationed on opposite coasts.
- 3/12/2015
- by Sydney Berger, @sydneyberger
- PEOPLE.com
Instead of being forced to relinquish their pets, active members of the military now have a place to house their pets during deployment: Dogs on Deployment. DoD connects members of the military with able-bodied individuals willing to take in their pets while they serve their country. The organization came to fruition in June of 2011 when San Diego natives Alisa Sieber-Johnson (now a first lieutenant of the U.S. Marine Corps) and her husband, Shawn Johnson (a lieutenant of the U.S. Navy) struggled to find someone to watch their two Australian shepherds when they were being stationed on opposite coasts.
- 3/12/2015
- by Sydney Berger, @sydneyberger
- PEOPLE.com
“American Sniper," the $60 million budget feature, so effective reaching all sides of the war opinionists (pro, anti, veterans and civilians), started in four locations (N.Y., L.A. and Texas where Chris Kyle is so popular) and in its opening weekend made $677,000 over Christmas weekend, averaging $75,000 per theater. It earned $107.2 million when it expanded nationwide over Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend and has now
grossed $ $242.2 million, or 24 percent, of the total $1 billion grossed in January a mark hit for the first time since 2010! Even with a steep third weekend drop, “Sniper” remains on track to wind up over $330 million, which will rank second all-time among R-rated movies behind “The Passion of the Christ” ($370.8 million). (Thank you Ray Stubers of Box Office Mojo for this financial summary.)
One interesting article about “American Sniper” appears in Variety by guest writer, Paul Rieckhoff, and I am glad he mentions "Fort Bliss" a war story sleeper directed by Claudia Myers which never broke out but was, as he says, "masterful." Now Haifaa Al Mansour ("Wadjda") is making "Be Safe I Love You", another film about a young woman soldier who returns home to the U.S. after a tour in the Middle East and must grapple with Ptsd and the past she left behind.
Haifaa’s previous film “Wadjda," the first Saudi Arabian feature film and of course the first ever by a woman in Saudi Arabia was released in U.S. by Sony Pictures Classics and sold widely by The Match Factory. It opened September 2013 to critical acclaim and was the staple of the awards season. The National Board of Review awarded the film with the Freedom of Expression Award. It was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Non-English Language Film and was Saudi Arabia’s submission for Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards.
Al Mansour received her Bachelor’s Degree in Literature at the American University in Cairo and completed her Master’s Degree in Directing and Film Studies from the University of Sydney.
She lives with her American husband in Bahrain where living among the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain “has given me a unique perspective on these young men an women we have designated warriors. Tough, simple, and full of life, they were suddenly real these humans who have been turned into machines to kill. I always wonder about the families they left behind. The female soldiers, whose images rarely make the news and whose stories have never sufficiently been told, especially fascinate me.”
“I have seen first hand the affects of war on the fresh faced, child-like soldiers that come from the U.S. to serve in the Middle East. The ancient hatreds and tribal wars of our region seem capable of swallowing them whole, of tearing apart the beliefs and narratives that hold their world together.”
This film, “Be Safe I Love You” is a thriller, with a tempo and urgency that we can only follow or comprehend through Lauren’s eyes as this young soldier’s two worlds – a world at war and a world of peace -- collide in her memory.
“Be Safe I Love You” is being produced by Anonymous Content. Haifaa Al Mansour is being managed and mentored by the remarkable producer – manager, Rosalie Swedlin and is represented by UTA’s Rena Ronson, another outstanding figure in our independent cinema world.
She is also the winner of this year’s Sundance Institute’s Global Filmmaking Award. And still she believes in trusting her gut instinct and being humble enough to criticize herself. We wish her the greatest success as her career takes off.
grossed $ $242.2 million, or 24 percent, of the total $1 billion grossed in January a mark hit for the first time since 2010! Even with a steep third weekend drop, “Sniper” remains on track to wind up over $330 million, which will rank second all-time among R-rated movies behind “The Passion of the Christ” ($370.8 million). (Thank you Ray Stubers of Box Office Mojo for this financial summary.)
One interesting article about “American Sniper” appears in Variety by guest writer, Paul Rieckhoff, and I am glad he mentions "Fort Bliss" a war story sleeper directed by Claudia Myers which never broke out but was, as he says, "masterful." Now Haifaa Al Mansour ("Wadjda") is making "Be Safe I Love You", another film about a young woman soldier who returns home to the U.S. after a tour in the Middle East and must grapple with Ptsd and the past she left behind.
Haifaa’s previous film “Wadjda," the first Saudi Arabian feature film and of course the first ever by a woman in Saudi Arabia was released in U.S. by Sony Pictures Classics and sold widely by The Match Factory. It opened September 2013 to critical acclaim and was the staple of the awards season. The National Board of Review awarded the film with the Freedom of Expression Award. It was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Non-English Language Film and was Saudi Arabia’s submission for Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards.
Al Mansour received her Bachelor’s Degree in Literature at the American University in Cairo and completed her Master’s Degree in Directing and Film Studies from the University of Sydney.
She lives with her American husband in Bahrain where living among the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain “has given me a unique perspective on these young men an women we have designated warriors. Tough, simple, and full of life, they were suddenly real these humans who have been turned into machines to kill. I always wonder about the families they left behind. The female soldiers, whose images rarely make the news and whose stories have never sufficiently been told, especially fascinate me.”
“I have seen first hand the affects of war on the fresh faced, child-like soldiers that come from the U.S. to serve in the Middle East. The ancient hatreds and tribal wars of our region seem capable of swallowing them whole, of tearing apart the beliefs and narratives that hold their world together.”
This film, “Be Safe I Love You” is a thriller, with a tempo and urgency that we can only follow or comprehend through Lauren’s eyes as this young soldier’s two worlds – a world at war and a world of peace -- collide in her memory.
“Be Safe I Love You” is being produced by Anonymous Content. Haifaa Al Mansour is being managed and mentored by the remarkable producer – manager, Rosalie Swedlin and is represented by UTA’s Rena Ronson, another outstanding figure in our independent cinema world.
She is also the winner of this year’s Sundance Institute’s Global Filmmaking Award. And still she believes in trusting her gut instinct and being humble enough to criticize herself. We wish her the greatest success as her career takes off.
- 2/5/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
A gunman opened fire at a veterans’ medical clinic in El Paso, Texas, fatally shooting another person, according to Army Major General Stephen Twitty, commanding general of Fort Bliss, at a Tuesday night press conference. The shooter was also killed. "The alleged shooter is dead and the casualty is dead,” said Twitty. "It is an active crime scene, and the shooting incident is under investigation. Everything is under control, and there is no immediate threat to Fort Bliss or the immediate community.” It is unclear if the shooter committed suicide or had been killed. John Meza, spokesman for U.S.
- 1/7/2015
- by Christine Pelisek, @chrispelisek
- PEOPLE.com
At the beginning of (and throughout) every month, Netflix Streaming adds new movies and TV shows to its library. Here is a quick list of several that you might be interested in. Some of these may have previously been on Netflix, only to have been removed and then added back. Feel free to note anything we've left out in the comments below.Friends: The Complete Series (Jan. 1): We’ve been telling you about this all month! Play with our countdown calendar and clear some room on your schedule. Movies December 28 I, Frankenstein (2014)Labor Day (2013) January 1 101 Dalmatians (1996)Bad Boys II (2003)Batman & Robin (1997)Bruce Almighty (2003)Cast Away (2000)Get Low (2009)Election (1999)Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)Fort Bliss (2014)Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003)Mean Girls (2004)Shall We Dance? (2004)To Be Takei (2014)The French Connection (1971)The Quiet Man (1952)The War of the Worlds (1953)Wayne’s World 2 (1993) January 2 Big FishBowling...
- 1/5/2015
- by Vulture Editors
- Vulture
What better way to ring in the New Year than to spend time with Joey, Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler and Phoebe? That’s the question Netflix has posed to its subscribers across North America and Canada after all ten seasons of Friends arrived on the streaming service on New Year’s Day.
Heralding no less than 238 episodes of the beloved sitcom — which ran from 1994 up until 2004 — fans will be left spoilt for choice, and it’s an addition that will no doubt instigate its fair share of late-night marathons.
Friends isn’t the only new addition to the company’s online selection though, with the likes of Bad Boys II, Cast Away and Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas also cropping up from January 1 onwards. From that point on, Netflix also has plans to introduce several new titles incrementally. For action devotees, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit will make its bow tomorrow,...
Heralding no less than 238 episodes of the beloved sitcom — which ran from 1994 up until 2004 — fans will be left spoilt for choice, and it’s an addition that will no doubt instigate its fair share of late-night marathons.
Friends isn’t the only new addition to the company’s online selection though, with the likes of Bad Boys II, Cast Away and Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas also cropping up from January 1 onwards. From that point on, Netflix also has plans to introduce several new titles incrementally. For action devotees, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit will make its bow tomorrow,...
- 1/2/2015
- by Michael Briers
- We Got This Covered
By Scott Feinberg
The Hollywood Reporter
With just hours remaining in 2014, I wanted to document for myself — and share with you — the films that I enjoyed the most this year. I have seen hundreds of titles — on the big screen and on screeners, at festivals and at multiplexes — among them all of the top Oscar contenders, up to and including every film on the documentary and foreign language film shortlists. In other words, I have done my best to be well-versed in what’s out there — but, needless to say, no list of this sort is anything but a subjective exercise for anyone.
It pains me that I do not have room to acknowledge, on the list itself, more of 2014’s extraordinary films (i.e. the 12-year project Boyhood, the acting showcases Birdman and The Imitation Game, the timely Selma and films both profound and moving, such as Citizenfour, Finding Vivian Maier and Leviathan,...
The Hollywood Reporter
With just hours remaining in 2014, I wanted to document for myself — and share with you — the films that I enjoyed the most this year. I have seen hundreds of titles — on the big screen and on screeners, at festivals and at multiplexes — among them all of the top Oscar contenders, up to and including every film on the documentary and foreign language film shortlists. In other words, I have done my best to be well-versed in what’s out there — but, needless to say, no list of this sort is anything but a subjective exercise for anyone.
It pains me that I do not have room to acknowledge, on the list itself, more of 2014’s extraordinary films (i.e. the 12-year project Boyhood, the acting showcases Birdman and The Imitation Game, the timely Selma and films both profound and moving, such as Citizenfour, Finding Vivian Maier and Leviathan,...
- 1/1/2015
- by Anjelica Oswald
- Scott Feinberg
With the new year comes a slew of new movies and TV shows on Netflix, and everyone's favorite streaming service is adding some great titles in January 2015.
On the movie side, a bevy of box-office heavyweights are being added to the instant mix, including Disney's live-action "101 Dalmatians," Jim Carrey's "Bruce Almighty," and Michael Bay actioner "Bad Boys II." Some smaller favorites are also coming to Netflix: Internet obsession "Mean Girls" returns (to stay?! Please!), Reese Witherspoon dark comedy "Election" gets a run, and this past summer's little-comedy-that-could, "Chef," makes its subscription service debut.
But wait, there's more!
"Friends" fans have been dying for the series to come to Netflix, and now that dream is coming true! Beginning January 1, subscribers will be able to watch every single episode, catching up with Monica, Joey, Chandler, Ross, Rachel, and Phoebe whenever and wherever they want. Other great shows being added in January...
On the movie side, a bevy of box-office heavyweights are being added to the instant mix, including Disney's live-action "101 Dalmatians," Jim Carrey's "Bruce Almighty," and Michael Bay actioner "Bad Boys II." Some smaller favorites are also coming to Netflix: Internet obsession "Mean Girls" returns (to stay?! Please!), Reese Witherspoon dark comedy "Election" gets a run, and this past summer's little-comedy-that-could, "Chef," makes its subscription service debut.
But wait, there's more!
"Friends" fans have been dying for the series to come to Netflix, and now that dream is coming true! Beginning January 1, subscribers will be able to watch every single episode, catching up with Monica, Joey, Chandler, Ross, Rachel, and Phoebe whenever and wherever they want. Other great shows being added in January...
- 12/16/2014
- by Tim Hayne
- Moviefone
Curious to know what movies are coming to Netflix Watch Instantly over the next few weeks? Get a head start and mark your calendars using the list below, just released to us by Netflix. Note: Listed below are just the movies, not the television shows. January 1 101 Dalmatians (1996) Bad Boys II (2003) Batman & Robin (1997) Bruce Almighty (2003) Cast Away (2000) Get Low (2009) Election (1999) Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) Fort Bliss (2014) Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003) Mean Girls (2004) Shall We Dance? (2004) To Be Takei (2014) The French Connection (1971) The Quiet Man (1952) The War of...
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- 12/16/2014
- by Movies.com
- Movies.com
While the Oscar race for Best Actor has heated up to a frenzy with, as previously reported here, at least 30 viable candidates and only five slots, most observers have labeled this year’s Best Actress crop from weak to thin with not even enough sure things at this point to make a list of five.
That’s a bit of an overstatement as pundits generally agree there are at least three, possibly four near-certainties for nominations: Julianne Moore for the still-unreleased Still Alice (out Dec. 5), Felicity Jones for The Theory Of Everything and Reese Witherspoon for Wild (also out Dec. 5).
When Gone Girl opened earlier this fall, it not only became by far the biggest awards contenders with a female lead released this year, it stirred up talk of an inevitable nod for Rosamund Pike. In terms of the campaign though, she has been a bit out of sight/out...
That’s a bit of an overstatement as pundits generally agree there are at least three, possibly four near-certainties for nominations: Julianne Moore for the still-unreleased Still Alice (out Dec. 5), Felicity Jones for The Theory Of Everything and Reese Witherspoon for Wild (also out Dec. 5).
When Gone Girl opened earlier this fall, it not only became by far the biggest awards contenders with a female lead released this year, it stirred up talk of an inevitable nod for Rosamund Pike. In terms of the campaign though, she has been a bit out of sight/out...
- 11/23/2014
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline
By Scott Feinberg
The Hollywood Reporter
It’s not often that one gets to spend 75 minutes talking about the good, bad and ugly sides of indie filmmaking with eight distinguished filmmakers, but that’s precisely what I had the pleasure of doing last Sunday when I moderated the AFI Fest’s Indie Contenders Roundtable, which was presented by The Hollywood Reporter.
Each of the eight panelists were associated with top-notch 2014 indies: writer-director J.C. Chandor (AFI Fest opener A Most Violent Year); writer-director Damien Chazelle (Sundance grand jury and audience award winner Whiplash); Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard (Belgian Oscar submission Two Days, One Night, as well as 2013 Cannes selection The Immigrant); Oscar-nominated actor Jake Gyllenhaal (Toronto selections Nightcrawler and, from 2013, Enemy); actor Bill Hader (a best actor Gotham Award nominee for Sundance selection The Skeleton Twins); actress Michelle Monaghan (Fort Bliss); actress Kristen Stewart (Toronto selection Still Alice, as well as...
The Hollywood Reporter
It’s not often that one gets to spend 75 minutes talking about the good, bad and ugly sides of indie filmmaking with eight distinguished filmmakers, but that’s precisely what I had the pleasure of doing last Sunday when I moderated the AFI Fest’s Indie Contenders Roundtable, which was presented by The Hollywood Reporter.
Each of the eight panelists were associated with top-notch 2014 indies: writer-director J.C. Chandor (AFI Fest opener A Most Violent Year); writer-director Damien Chazelle (Sundance grand jury and audience award winner Whiplash); Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard (Belgian Oscar submission Two Days, One Night, as well as 2013 Cannes selection The Immigrant); Oscar-nominated actor Jake Gyllenhaal (Toronto selections Nightcrawler and, from 2013, Enemy); actor Bill Hader (a best actor Gotham Award nominee for Sundance selection The Skeleton Twins); actress Michelle Monaghan (Fort Bliss); actress Kristen Stewart (Toronto selection Still Alice, as well as...
- 11/17/2014
- by Anjelica Oswald
- Scott Feinberg
AFI Fest 2014 presented by Audi today announced this year’s Jury and Audience Awards for features and short films included in the festivals New Auteur and Shorts programs. The New Auteurs section highlights first and second-time feature film directors and the Shorts selections represent diverse and varied international perspectives. Grand Jury Awards were presented to Self Made (Boreg), which received the New Auteurs Critics’ Award, and to The Tribe (Plemya), which received the Vizio Visionary Special Jury Award. Buffalo Juggalos by Scott Cummings received the Live Action Short Award, and Yearbook by Bernardo Britto received the Animated Short Award. Special Jury Award winners went to GÜEROS and Violet. Red Army, GÜEROS, 10,000 Km and The Midnight Swim received Audience Awards.
Select award-winning films will screen again today at the Chinese 6 Theatres. Admission is available to AFI Fest 2014 pass holders and the general public via the rush line, which begins forming one...
Select award-winning films will screen again today at the Chinese 6 Theatres. Admission is available to AFI Fest 2014 pass holders and the general public via the rush line, which begins forming one...
- 11/14/2014
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The 6th Annual Governors Awards took place on Saturday, November 8, 2014 in The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, CA.
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient Harry Belafonte, Honorary Award recipient Hayao Miyazaki, Honorary Award recipient Jean-Claude Carrière and Honorary Award recipient Maureen O’Hara were honored by their peers during the evening.
The Honorary Award, an Oscar statuette, is given “to honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy.”
The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, also an Oscar statuette, is given “to an individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.”
Pictured (left to right): Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient Harry Belafonte, Honorary Award recipient Hayao Miyazaki, Honorary Award recipient Jean-Claude Carrière and Honorary Award recipient Maureen O’Hara
Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs introduces the 2014 Governors Awards
Carrière,...
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient Harry Belafonte, Honorary Award recipient Hayao Miyazaki, Honorary Award recipient Jean-Claude Carrière and Honorary Award recipient Maureen O’Hara were honored by their peers during the evening.
The Honorary Award, an Oscar statuette, is given “to honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy.”
The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, also an Oscar statuette, is given “to an individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.”
Pictured (left to right): Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient Harry Belafonte, Honorary Award recipient Hayao Miyazaki, Honorary Award recipient Jean-Claude Carrière and Honorary Award recipient Maureen O’Hara
Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs introduces the 2014 Governors Awards
Carrière,...
- 11/10/2014
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Hollywood — The 6th annual Governors Awards were held in the Ray Dolby Ballroom in the middle of Hollywood Saturday night. Previously announced honorees Maureen O'Hara, Hayao Miyazaki, Jean-Claude Carrière and Harry Belafonte were of course on hand as the room teemed with familiar faces from this year's Oscar race. Jessica Chastain, Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Linklater, Logan Lerman, Michael Keaton, Jennifer Aniston, Patricia Arquette, Jean-Marc Vallée, Tilda Swinton, Oscar Isaac and Eddie Redmayne were just a few of the circuit's fixtures working the room, as the show has become a perennial stop on the Oscar campaign trail. "A Most Violent Year" director J.C. Chandor could be spotted talking over his upcoming Deepwater Horizon project with "The Gambler" star Mark Wahlberg. Clint Eastwood made his first appearance of the season with "American Sniper" around the corner (and was of course besieged upon arrival, ever the popular one). "Selma" director Ava DuVernay and...
- 11/9/2014
- by Kristopher Tapley
- Hitfix
An eclectic group of eight distinguished filmmakers who did celebrated work on independent films in 2014 will appear on the AFI Fest's inaugural Indie Contenders Roundtable, presented by The Hollywood Reporter and moderated by yours truly, on Nov. 9 in Hollywood. They are: writer/director J.C. Chandor (AFI Fest opener A Most Violent Year), writer/director Damien Chazelle (Whiplash), actress Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night), actor Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler), actor Bill Hader (The Skeleton Twins), actress Michelle Monaghan (Fort Bliss), actress Kristen Stewart (Still Alice) and actress Tilda Swinton (Snowpiercer). The 90-minute conversation — which will touch on the
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- 10/23/2014
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
By Scott Feinberg
The Hollywood Reporter
Michelle Monaghan, one of the most underappreciated actresses working today, has starred in two films — both tiny indies — in which she portrays a character employed in a stereotypically masculine job who is struggling to juggle her work responsibilities with the stereotypically feminine responsibility of raising a young child.
The first, which came out six years ago, was James Mottern‘s Trucker, and she deserved a best actress Oscar nomination for her work. (Don’t take my word for it; the late Roger Ebert wrote at the time, “Her performance clearly deserves an Oscar nomination.”) Unfortunately, though, despite the best efforts of the film’s tiny distributor, Monterey Media, the film never quite made it onto the radar of the Academy’s acting branch.
The second, which was released in New York over the weekend, is Claudia Myers‘ Fort Bliss, in which Monaghan is equally...
The Hollywood Reporter
Michelle Monaghan, one of the most underappreciated actresses working today, has starred in two films — both tiny indies — in which she portrays a character employed in a stereotypically masculine job who is struggling to juggle her work responsibilities with the stereotypically feminine responsibility of raising a young child.
The first, which came out six years ago, was James Mottern‘s Trucker, and she deserved a best actress Oscar nomination for her work. (Don’t take my word for it; the late Roger Ebert wrote at the time, “Her performance clearly deserves an Oscar nomination.”) Unfortunately, though, despite the best efforts of the film’s tiny distributor, Monterey Media, the film never quite made it onto the radar of the Academy’s acting branch.
The second, which was released in New York over the weekend, is Claudia Myers‘ Fort Bliss, in which Monaghan is equally...
- 9/22/2014
- by Anjelica Oswald
- Scott Feinberg
Of all the films from its archives that Disney could unearth to be given a fresh coat of remake paint, we were surprised to see Pete’s Dragon among them. Still, it’s moving forward with Ain’t Them Bodies Saints director David Lowery overseeing the project and has just secured two young stars in Oakes Fegley and Oona Laurence.Fegley, who has appeared on Boardwalk Empire and has small roles in the upcoming This Is Where I Leave You and Fort Bliss, will be the titular Pete, an orphan who arrives in a small town with his magic dragon, attempting to escape his abusive adoptive parents. Laurence, meanwhile, is a newly created character, Natalie, who also befriends our hero. The young actress won a Tony on Broadway for her work in the Matilda musical and will be seen in boxing drama Southpaw alongside Jake Gyllenhaal.Lowery and co-writer Toby Halbrooks...
- 9/20/2014
- EmpireOnline
The stars looked super stylish this week! Reese Witherspoon looked beyond beautiful at the premiere of "The Good Lie" in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, rocking a floral Christian Dior dress with an asymmetrical skirt. The actress paired her glamorous look with black Stuart Weitzman "Nudist" sandals, a perfect pink lip and sleek straight tresses. Taylor Schilling stole the spotlight at the Netflix pre-launch party in Berlin, Germany on Tuesday, sporting a sequined dress with a striped design by Sachin & Babi. The blonde beauty completed her edgy ensemble with Aquazzura black leather perforated pumps and Vita Fede stud earrings. Michelle Monaghan was pretty in pink at a screening for "Fort Bliss" in Los Angeles on Thursday, wearing a fitted magenta shift dress that showed off her slim silhouette. Neutral heels, gold hoops and a simple 'do made this look modern and oh-so-chic. Who do you think is the best dressed star of the week?...
- 9/20/2014
- by tooFab Staff
- TooFab
Oakes Fegley ("Fort Bliss") has scored the role of 'Pete' in the upcoming remake of 1977 family classic "Pete's Dragon" at Disney Pictures.
The original followed a young boy whose best friend Elliot happens to be a massive dragon only he can see. The story follows them as they run away to a new town, to escape the boy's abusive foster parents.
While the dragon in the original was traditionally animated, in the remake he will be a CG animated creation. The remake is also expected to remove all the musical elements.
Newcomer Oona Laurence ("Southpaw") is also onboard in an unspecified role. David Lowery ("Ain't Them Bodies Saints") is directing from a screenplay he is co-writing with Toby Halbrooks
Source: The Orlando Sentinel...
The original followed a young boy whose best friend Elliot happens to be a massive dragon only he can see. The story follows them as they run away to a new town, to escape the boy's abusive foster parents.
While the dragon in the original was traditionally animated, in the remake he will be a CG animated creation. The remake is also expected to remove all the musical elements.
Newcomer Oona Laurence ("Southpaw") is also onboard in an unspecified role. David Lowery ("Ain't Them Bodies Saints") is directing from a screenplay he is co-writing with Toby Halbrooks
Source: The Orlando Sentinel...
- 9/19/2014
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
It figures that Michelle Monaghan, one of too many underutilized actresses usually relegated to playing the hero's wife, would have to go shoestring in order to find a role that allows her to display the range of her talents. She's at her best as Army medic/staff sergeant Maggie Swann in writer-director Claudia Myers's Fort Bliss, a returning-soldier drama that answers the annoyingly ubiquitous "Can women have it all?" question with an exasperated "no." After a 15-month deployment, Maggie returns home to a young son who hardly remembers her. Comfortable living with his dad (Ron Livingston) and soon-to-be stepmother (Emmanuelle Chriqui), he'd much prefer to keep things as they are than honor his parents' agreement to have him go home with his mother. Maggie is ins...
- 9/17/2014
- Village Voice
Avoiding the clichés one might expect to abound in a film about a beautiful young mother who enlists not once but twice to serve in Afghanistan, this is a feat of expert script writing and filmmaking.
Between the two stints in the Army, decorated U.S. Army medic and single mother Maggie Swann must renew her relationship with her five-year old son, adjust to her ex-husband’s new live-in and establish a new romance with a blue-eyed Mexican car mechanic, played by Manolo Cardona, who played Santiago in “Contracorriente” (“Undertow”) and is heart-throbbingly gorgeous. And she suffers from recurring memories of her stint in Afghanistan which don’t allow her to sleep much.
Michelle Monaghan who played Maggie Swann reminded me a little too much of Sandra Bullock though she is a good actress, playing the two ends of the emotional spectrum so well that I actually cried with her. Returning home and to Fort Bliss in Houston Texas after a horrendous stint in the army where she served as a medic, unable to sleep much and determined to take back her son, she plays the stoic decorated U.S. Army medic that she has become and yet, to win back her son and establish any other loving relationship, she must (and does) allow her emotions to rule in the end.
The director, Claudia Myers, who also wrote the screenplay was at the screening answering numerous questions afterward in both English and French. She is American but grew up in France. She worked extensively with the military making training movies and wanted to write a story about a woman with a career and family. This extreme situation of a career in the military also appealed to her because the woman had to play such emotional extremes, from not showing emotion in the worst circumstances of war to allowing her emotions for her son and for her lover to have free reign. This is the second feature she has directed after the 2006 Showtime movie, “ Kettle of Fish”.
The film premiered at Toronto Film Festival 2013 and is being sold internationally by Voltage who has sold it for Showgate for Japan and Umbrella for Australia, and Phase 4 for North America. “Fort Bliss” won the Audience Award at the Champs Elysees Film Festival this past June.
If only there were a family-friendly version, I would take my young grandson and his mother to see this as I think a child would empathize with the little boy, played marvelously by Oakes Fegley, if two very hot (and very meaningful) sex scenes were edited out for a family-friendly version.
The sex scenes, however, were great in that each showed the psychological needs of a long emotionally-suppressed military woman and latter the sad and determined lust of her and her lover. That was one cliché less: instead of showing the usual dreamy and loving sex motives of most films, sex revealed the emotional states of people under pressure.
The second cliché avoided was the emotional bond between mother and son. It was a film even a child could respond too, much the way children respond to the story of “Bambi” on film, and yet it avoided any sappiness. And the Army wants to see this story told, despite it showing troubling subject matter like Ptsd, reintegrating into society and sexual assault -- but to their credit they have supported it and helped the film get made in terms of accuracy.
The credits offered thanks to the 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss,American Legion, American Red Cross, Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos, CA, Patriot Guard Riders, U.S. Army Public Affairs, Union Editorial and the United Service Organizations (Uso).
“Fort Bliss” stars Michelle Monaghan (“True Detective”, “Source Code”), Ron Livingston (“Boardwalk Empire,” “Office Space”), Manolo Cardona (“Undertow”, “Beverly Hills Chihauhua”), Gbenga Akinnagbe (“The Wire”), Emmanuelle Chriqui (“Entourage”) and Pablo Schreiber (“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Orange is the New Black”).
Producers are John Sullivan, Adam Silver, Patrick Cunningham, Claudia Myers, and Brendan McDonald. Executive Producer is Matt Chessé. Cinematography is by Adam Silver with editing by Matt Chessé and Carsten Kurpanek. Original music by Asche & Spencer.
• Winner: Best Narrative Feature at the GI Film Festival
• Winner: Audience Award for "Best Feature - Independent American Film” at the Champs-Elysées Film Festival
• Winner: Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking Honors at the 2014 Newport Beach Film Festival
1 Hour, 49 Minutes / Not Yet Rated
"Fort Bliss" will play day-and-date in theaters and on VOD September 19 and will come out on DVD October 14. This is a film you want to see.
Between the two stints in the Army, decorated U.S. Army medic and single mother Maggie Swann must renew her relationship with her five-year old son, adjust to her ex-husband’s new live-in and establish a new romance with a blue-eyed Mexican car mechanic, played by Manolo Cardona, who played Santiago in “Contracorriente” (“Undertow”) and is heart-throbbingly gorgeous. And she suffers from recurring memories of her stint in Afghanistan which don’t allow her to sleep much.
Michelle Monaghan who played Maggie Swann reminded me a little too much of Sandra Bullock though she is a good actress, playing the two ends of the emotional spectrum so well that I actually cried with her. Returning home and to Fort Bliss in Houston Texas after a horrendous stint in the army where she served as a medic, unable to sleep much and determined to take back her son, she plays the stoic decorated U.S. Army medic that she has become and yet, to win back her son and establish any other loving relationship, she must (and does) allow her emotions to rule in the end.
The director, Claudia Myers, who also wrote the screenplay was at the screening answering numerous questions afterward in both English and French. She is American but grew up in France. She worked extensively with the military making training movies and wanted to write a story about a woman with a career and family. This extreme situation of a career in the military also appealed to her because the woman had to play such emotional extremes, from not showing emotion in the worst circumstances of war to allowing her emotions for her son and for her lover to have free reign. This is the second feature she has directed after the 2006 Showtime movie, “ Kettle of Fish”.
The film premiered at Toronto Film Festival 2013 and is being sold internationally by Voltage who has sold it for Showgate for Japan and Umbrella for Australia, and Phase 4 for North America. “Fort Bliss” won the Audience Award at the Champs Elysees Film Festival this past June.
If only there were a family-friendly version, I would take my young grandson and his mother to see this as I think a child would empathize with the little boy, played marvelously by Oakes Fegley, if two very hot (and very meaningful) sex scenes were edited out for a family-friendly version.
The sex scenes, however, were great in that each showed the psychological needs of a long emotionally-suppressed military woman and latter the sad and determined lust of her and her lover. That was one cliché less: instead of showing the usual dreamy and loving sex motives of most films, sex revealed the emotional states of people under pressure.
The second cliché avoided was the emotional bond between mother and son. It was a film even a child could respond too, much the way children respond to the story of “Bambi” on film, and yet it avoided any sappiness. And the Army wants to see this story told, despite it showing troubling subject matter like Ptsd, reintegrating into society and sexual assault -- but to their credit they have supported it and helped the film get made in terms of accuracy.
The credits offered thanks to the 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss,American Legion, American Red Cross, Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos, CA, Patriot Guard Riders, U.S. Army Public Affairs, Union Editorial and the United Service Organizations (Uso).
“Fort Bliss” stars Michelle Monaghan (“True Detective”, “Source Code”), Ron Livingston (“Boardwalk Empire,” “Office Space”), Manolo Cardona (“Undertow”, “Beverly Hills Chihauhua”), Gbenga Akinnagbe (“The Wire”), Emmanuelle Chriqui (“Entourage”) and Pablo Schreiber (“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Orange is the New Black”).
Producers are John Sullivan, Adam Silver, Patrick Cunningham, Claudia Myers, and Brendan McDonald. Executive Producer is Matt Chessé. Cinematography is by Adam Silver with editing by Matt Chessé and Carsten Kurpanek. Original music by Asche & Spencer.
• Winner: Best Narrative Feature at the GI Film Festival
• Winner: Audience Award for "Best Feature - Independent American Film” at the Champs-Elysées Film Festival
• Winner: Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking Honors at the 2014 Newport Beach Film Festival
1 Hour, 49 Minutes / Not Yet Rated
"Fort Bliss" will play day-and-date in theaters and on VOD September 19 and will come out on DVD October 14. This is a film you want to see.
- 9/8/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
If you’re one of Vimeo’s 30 million users, brace yourself for more on-demand titles coming your way. Entertainment One Films (eOne) just signed a distribution deal with the video site for four of its fall titles, including Robin Williams’ A Merry Friggin’ Christmas, along with more releases from its library. According to Variety, the first title to be released will be Claudia Myers’ Fort Bliss on September 19. Ryan Phillipe’s directorial debut, Catch Hell, arrives on October 10, and The Culture High, which Vimeo obtained directly through the documentary’s producers instead of through eOne, arrives on October 17. Finally, fans of the recently-deceased Robin Williams can enjoy AMerry Friggin’ Christmas starting November 7. All films will be available in North America for rental or purchase through the Vimeo on Demand site. eOne and Vimeo’s announcement lines up with the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff). Vimeo is partnered with Tiff this...
- 9/5/2014
- by Bree Brouwer
- Tubefilter.com
Vimeo has signed a deal to distribute digitally titles from eOne’s library including four day-and-date autumn releases.
The Vimeo On Demand slate kicks off with Claudia Myers’ Fort Bliss (pictured) on September 19, followed by Catch Hell on October 10, The Culture High on October 17 and A Merry Friggin’ Christmas starring the late Robin Williams on November 7.
Additionally, Vimeo has closed a separate deal with the filmmaking team behind The Culture High to extend the film to global audiences by working on the worldwide release.
“As the industry’s largest global independent distributor, eOne, is a powerful partner for Vimeo and our mutual dedication to connecting content creators with audiences around the world makes it even more exciting,” said Vimeo’s vp of content acquisitions and business development Sam Toles.
“The Culture High is the perfect celebration of this, with eOne releasing the film on our platform to North American audiences while we directly empower the filmmaker to extend...
The Vimeo On Demand slate kicks off with Claudia Myers’ Fort Bliss (pictured) on September 19, followed by Catch Hell on October 10, The Culture High on October 17 and A Merry Friggin’ Christmas starring the late Robin Williams on November 7.
Additionally, Vimeo has closed a separate deal with the filmmaking team behind The Culture High to extend the film to global audiences by working on the worldwide release.
“As the industry’s largest global independent distributor, eOne, is a powerful partner for Vimeo and our mutual dedication to connecting content creators with audiences around the world makes it even more exciting,” said Vimeo’s vp of content acquisitions and business development Sam Toles.
“The Culture High is the perfect celebration of this, with eOne releasing the film on our platform to North American audiences while we directly empower the filmmaker to extend...
- 9/4/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Michelle Monaghan stars as a decorated Army medic who returns from a 15-month tour of duty in Afghanistan and tries desperately to reconnect with her 5-year-old son, who initially wants nothing to do with her. As they try to restore a bond, she is faced with redeployment — and the likelihood of losing everything she worked to rebuild. Ron Livingston, Pablo Schreiber, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Dash Mihok and young newcomer Oakes Fegley co-star in Fort Bliss, from writer-director-producer Claudia Myers. Phase 4 Films opens the drama September 19 in theaters and VOD. Here’s the new trailer:...
- 7/24/2014
- Deadline
Paris! What could be better than to be in Paris, when it sizzles and drizzles, with spectacular lightning, and an evening view of the Arc de Triomphe every night as the participants of the Champs Elysees Film Festival, U.S. in Progress and Paris Coproduction Village drink champagne and eat exciting and uniquely presented hors d’oevres.
Even as we left for the airport after our five nights at the festival, at 6 am we were treated to a full moon and the Eiffel Tower on our right, still enveloped by the navy blue night and on our left, the Seine River and the sun turning the sky rose with its long fingers of dawn.
The beautiful and erudite Jacqueline Bisset, Bertrand Tavernier, Agnes Varda, Keanu Reeves, Whit Stillman and Mike Figges were all here in this intimate and quintessentially Parisian film festival, being celebrated and giving master classes to a public which is eager to soak in American films and French films in the only film festival in Paris.
The American films showing here are indies, relevant, funny, and all special. The Official Selection of American features include Sundance premiere films “Obvious Child” which also screened in Rotterdam and is now playing in U.S., “See You Next Tuesday”, “American Promise”, “Rich Hill” (also played in Hot Docs) and “Test”; the Toronto hit about the French photographer of U.S. street scenes in 1940s and ‘50s U.S. “Searching for Vivian Maier”; Tiff’s “Fort Bliss”; Urbanworld Ff’s “The Magic City” the debut film of R. Malcolm Jones; the critical hit “Locke”; last year’s U.S. in Progress and Tiff films “ 1982”; “Summer of Blood” which went on to play in Tribeca and “Sunbelt Express” in its world premiere.
I have to mention that very relevant French films, both new and classic, are also showing. For me the standout is Jacques Tati’s “Playtime” with English subtitles by Art Buchwald which came out 1967 to the great surprise and delight of the American public lucky enough to see it. In this adventure, Monsieur Hulot has to contact an American official in Paris, but he gets lost in the maze of modern architecture which is filled with the latest technical gadgets. Caught in the tourist invasion, Hulot roams around Paris with a group of American tourists, causing chaos in his usual manner. (Written By Leon Wolters <wolters [at] strw.LeidenUniv.nl>)
Writing this after “Fort Bliss” won the Audience Award is great because I loved that film.
That it could avoid the clichés expected to abound in a film about a beautiful young mother who enlists not once but twice to serve in Afghanistan was a feat of expert script writing and filmmaking.
Between the two stints in the Army, Maggie Swann must renew her relationship with her five-year old son, adjust to her ex-husband’s new live-in and establish a new romance with a blue-eyed Mexican car mechanic, played by Manolo Cardona, who played Santiago in “Contracorriente” (“Undertow”) and is heart-throbbingly gorgeous.
Michelle Monaghan who played Maggie Swann reminded me a little too much of Sandra Bullock though she is a good actress, playing the two ends of the emotional spectrum so well that I actually cried with her. Returning home and to Fort Bliss in Houston Texas after a horrendous stint in the army where she served as a medic, unable to sleep much and determined to take back her son, she plays the stoic decorated U.S. Army medic that she has become and yet, to win back her son and establish any other loving relationship, she must (and does) allow her emotions to rule in the end.
The director, Claudia Myers, who also wrote the screenplay was at the screening answering numerous questions afterward in both English and French. She is American but grew up in France. She worked extensively with the military making training movies and wanted to write a story about a woman with a career and family. This extreme situation of a career in the military also appealed to her because the woman had to play such emotional extremes, from not showing emotion in the worst circumstances of war to allowing her emotions for her son and for her lover to have free reign. This is the second feature she has directed after the 2006 Showtime movie, “ Kettle of Fish”.
The film premiered at Toronto Film Festival 2013 and is being sold internationally by Voltage who has sold it for Showgate for Japan and Umbrella for Australia), and Phase 4 for North America.
If only there were a family-friendly version, I would take my young grandson and his mother to see this as I think a child would empathize with the little boy, played by if the two very hot (and very meaningful) sex scenes were edited out for a family-friendly version. The sex scenes, however, were great in that each showed the psychological needs of a long emotionally-suppressed military woman and latter the sad and determined lust of her and her lover. That was one cliché less: instead of showing the usual dreamy and loving sex motives of most films, sex revealed the emotional states of people under pressure. The second cliché avoided was the emotional bond between mother and son. It was a film even a child could respond too, much the way children respond to the story of Bambi on film, and yet it avoided any sappiness. And the Army wants to see this story told, despite it showing troubling subject matter like Ptsd, reintegrating into society and sexual assault -- but to their credit they have supported it and helped the film get made in terms of accuracy.
The credits offered thanks to the 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss,
American Legion, American Red Cross, Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos, CA, Patriot Guard Riders, U.S. Army Public Affairs, Union Editorial and the United Service Organizations (Uso).
Also playing were my favorite Tiff film “Searching for Vivian Maier” and “1982” which we (the jury) voted Best Film of Us in Progress last year in Paris and which also went on to play in Toronto. We’re waiting to see how Tommy Oliver releases it. He is now producing two other films: “ Halfway” and “Black Eyed Dog”.
Watch this moving picture of Tommy Oliver lighting up for the Us in Progress organizer Ula Sniegowska, Trust Nordisk’s Silje Glimsdal and others last year in Paris at the Champs Elysees Film Festival
My other personal favorites and wonderful discoveries were “Sun Belt Express” and “Summer of Blood”. The next blog will be about these two films and their filmmakers.
The Champs Elysees Film Festival: American Independent Film Competition
My runner-ups to the Audience Favorite, “Fort Bliss” are “Sun Belt Express” and “Summer of Blood”.
“Sun Belt Express” was named in 2012 as the Indiewire Project of the Day as it began its trajectory by raising money on Kickstarter.
See the article Here
"Sun Belt Express" is a funny movie about illegal immigration, set to the south of Tucson in the Sonoran Desert. The story follows Allen King, an offbeat ethics professor who ends up on a run across the Mexican border with his conservative teenage daughter in tow - and four illegal immigrants in the trunk. What follows is a family road trip where anything that can go wrong – does. Set on both sides of the border, the film is a testament to the enduring power of humor, even in the most trying of situations.
My interview with the Writer – Director Evan Buxbaum and the Producer Noah Lang took place at the Hotel Marceau, not far from the Champs Elysees where seven theaters were showing films from the Champs Elysees Film Festival, put on for the third year by Sophie Dulac – producer, distributor, arthouse exhibitor and vice-president of family-founded, Publicis, the third largest advertising agency in the world.
Women to Watch: Sophie Dulac and the Champs Elysees Film Festival
Evan Buxbaum started life as a totally unexposed-to-the-world upper Westside (NY) Jewish boy. He didn’t even go to film school. He studied political science and political conflict resolution at Swarthmore. He graduated in ’06 and learned filmmaking by making three or four shorts at the same time as he tended bar.
His “barback” (that is the busboy for bars) Gregorio Castro, shared his story of how he came to U.S. As they became better friends, Evan met other Latinos who had some insane stories about crossing the border which were oddly uplifting. They always showed an indominable spirit in telling these tough stories; they always laughed. It was a unique way to approach life with such a sense of humor.
He and Gregorio set about writing a script and made a 10 minute short, “La Linea” about people in the trunk of a car, as a test of the concept, to see if it would resonate in the way they wanted. They wanted to create a film in a space that didn’t exist. Terrible things happen on the border and the film gave him the opportunity to explore humor in adversity.
The short played in a lot of festivals and some people wanted to finance his feature and so his life was shaped over the next five years (from ages 20 to 30).
Producer Noah Lang -- who incidently is the son of actor Stephen Lang, who played a cameo in this film and was the bad guy in “Avatar” and will be again in “Avatar” 2, 3 and 4 – also went to Swarthmore but did not know Evan there. Noah was working at Cinetic when he went to Headsets and Highballs, a networking operation in NYC where a producer, telling a funny story, got him interested him in reading the script. Over the next four months, while working at Cinetic, he helped out in the development of the script and subsequently left Cinetic to produce independently and subsequently was accepted into a program The Dogfish Accelerator. There he met one of the producers and got involved. That was two years ago…and he didn’t grow broke.
A first feature is usually sheer blindness, stupidity and luck. Financing began with Kickstarter to raise seed money. That was the most difficult part of making the movie. Kickstarter is a great platform to make you do something! They had 650 donors and raised $40,000 to hire actors, an attorney, asting director and location scout. Kickstarter also created a big following. From crowdfunding they moved to private equity and cash flowed through New Mexico tax credit. They raised some money from Indiegogo for post-production and their very rough cut won the Us in Progress prize in the fall of 2013 in Wroclaw, Poland, sharing with “Lake Los Angeles ” for color, sound, foley and a full music mix. They will still use the Polish Us in Progress prize to do a final print mix and color pass and get a Dcp.
Says Noah: “This account of how we raised money is not a replicating model. The first film is a constant bargain for what you can do.”
The creative notes they received during Us in Progress were very important. It was the first time they knew what they needed to do.
“In editing you’re blind. The emotional connection is very powerful, the process however is a slog, filled with doubts,” Evan says.
The speed dating model of networking gave Evan and Noah a way to approach problems.
One French distribution company showed interest in the film and lots of international sales agents gave them advice. Some told them that the film would do well in U.K. and Russia, but would not play to a French audience.
Here in Paris, however, many people gave them their cards for French distribution. The French audience was very good and made them optimistic as their reception was overwhelmingly positive, in fact some in the audience were very passionate about the immigration issue.
“And this was supposed to be the difficult audience”, they said.
Even the French international sales agents had underestimated the French audiences. The strength of this well told story was in dealing with the issue of transplantation in a humanized, humanitarian way. The audience was very emotional and spoke of their own or their great-grandparents’ coming to France. I noticed questions were asked by Africans and North Africans as well as by French.
They are now in talks with sales agents and a domestic distributor. Stay tuned!
They have several projects jockeying for priority now. One is to work with the “Summer of Blood” team on a coproduction. This is still pre-script stage. More on “Summer of Blood” and their team to follow. Both the investors in “Summer of Blood” and “Sunbelt Express” are interested in continuing.
For more information, go to SunBeltExpressMovie.com.
Based on Noah Lang and Evan Buxbaum’s recommendations and on the fact that like it had also been in Us in Progress and in Tribeca Film Festival, I went to see “Summer of Blood” and was not disappointed.
In fact, I was surprised by the humor of this so-called “mumble gore” movie which Mpi is releasing in the U.S. The best of it all was the presentation and post screening Q&A by the director and star Onur Tukel, a Turkish Woody Allen. This is a New York story of a guy who is afraid to commit and becomes a vampire and is still afraid to commit but has a great time having sex until he realizes his former girlfriend is still the one he loves.
Onur, a Turkish guy who grew up in North Carolina, and his producer Clifford McCurdy were in Paris with “Summer of Blood”. The two could not appear more disparate. One loose, dresses in plaid shirts, has a beard and long hair, the other straight-laced, short haired, reserved. When Onur begins talking, you don’t know if he is serious or joking and he gets pretty outrageous. He says this film is a cross between “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “True Blood” and it is very Woody Allen. One of the actresses, Juliette Fairley was also there. She was sexy, drole, perky and funny in the movie. Her mother – French Jewish, her father African American met when he went to France during World War 2. She has a script about it which she is also beginning to show people. At one point in the Q&A, someone in the audience asked how Onur could be so brazen about how he portrayed his Jewish landlord or the African American date in one scene (Juliette) and he had no shame or trace of bigotry in his answer. As a Turkish American growing up in North Carolina, he had never met a Jew until he moved to New York and his landlord was actually like the landlord in the movie…why not? The question was made to seem like one in “Sunbelt Express” when the daughter asks her father how he can dare to call these people “Mexicans” and he replies, “but they are Mexicans”. The fun of poking holes in peoples’ politically corrected prejudices make both of these comedies subversively funny.
See the movie when Mpi releases it. As for “Sun Belt Express”, you’ll have to wait until they sign a distribution deal.
Even as we left for the airport after our five nights at the festival, at 6 am we were treated to a full moon and the Eiffel Tower on our right, still enveloped by the navy blue night and on our left, the Seine River and the sun turning the sky rose with its long fingers of dawn.
The beautiful and erudite Jacqueline Bisset, Bertrand Tavernier, Agnes Varda, Keanu Reeves, Whit Stillman and Mike Figges were all here in this intimate and quintessentially Parisian film festival, being celebrated and giving master classes to a public which is eager to soak in American films and French films in the only film festival in Paris.
The American films showing here are indies, relevant, funny, and all special. The Official Selection of American features include Sundance premiere films “Obvious Child” which also screened in Rotterdam and is now playing in U.S., “See You Next Tuesday”, “American Promise”, “Rich Hill” (also played in Hot Docs) and “Test”; the Toronto hit about the French photographer of U.S. street scenes in 1940s and ‘50s U.S. “Searching for Vivian Maier”; Tiff’s “Fort Bliss”; Urbanworld Ff’s “The Magic City” the debut film of R. Malcolm Jones; the critical hit “Locke”; last year’s U.S. in Progress and Tiff films “ 1982”; “Summer of Blood” which went on to play in Tribeca and “Sunbelt Express” in its world premiere.
I have to mention that very relevant French films, both new and classic, are also showing. For me the standout is Jacques Tati’s “Playtime” with English subtitles by Art Buchwald which came out 1967 to the great surprise and delight of the American public lucky enough to see it. In this adventure, Monsieur Hulot has to contact an American official in Paris, but he gets lost in the maze of modern architecture which is filled with the latest technical gadgets. Caught in the tourist invasion, Hulot roams around Paris with a group of American tourists, causing chaos in his usual manner. (Written By Leon Wolters <wolters [at] strw.LeidenUniv.nl>)
Writing this after “Fort Bliss” won the Audience Award is great because I loved that film.
That it could avoid the clichés expected to abound in a film about a beautiful young mother who enlists not once but twice to serve in Afghanistan was a feat of expert script writing and filmmaking.
Between the two stints in the Army, Maggie Swann must renew her relationship with her five-year old son, adjust to her ex-husband’s new live-in and establish a new romance with a blue-eyed Mexican car mechanic, played by Manolo Cardona, who played Santiago in “Contracorriente” (“Undertow”) and is heart-throbbingly gorgeous.
Michelle Monaghan who played Maggie Swann reminded me a little too much of Sandra Bullock though she is a good actress, playing the two ends of the emotional spectrum so well that I actually cried with her. Returning home and to Fort Bliss in Houston Texas after a horrendous stint in the army where she served as a medic, unable to sleep much and determined to take back her son, she plays the stoic decorated U.S. Army medic that she has become and yet, to win back her son and establish any other loving relationship, she must (and does) allow her emotions to rule in the end.
The director, Claudia Myers, who also wrote the screenplay was at the screening answering numerous questions afterward in both English and French. She is American but grew up in France. She worked extensively with the military making training movies and wanted to write a story about a woman with a career and family. This extreme situation of a career in the military also appealed to her because the woman had to play such emotional extremes, from not showing emotion in the worst circumstances of war to allowing her emotions for her son and for her lover to have free reign. This is the second feature she has directed after the 2006 Showtime movie, “ Kettle of Fish”.
The film premiered at Toronto Film Festival 2013 and is being sold internationally by Voltage who has sold it for Showgate for Japan and Umbrella for Australia), and Phase 4 for North America.
If only there were a family-friendly version, I would take my young grandson and his mother to see this as I think a child would empathize with the little boy, played by if the two very hot (and very meaningful) sex scenes were edited out for a family-friendly version. The sex scenes, however, were great in that each showed the psychological needs of a long emotionally-suppressed military woman and latter the sad and determined lust of her and her lover. That was one cliché less: instead of showing the usual dreamy and loving sex motives of most films, sex revealed the emotional states of people under pressure. The second cliché avoided was the emotional bond between mother and son. It was a film even a child could respond too, much the way children respond to the story of Bambi on film, and yet it avoided any sappiness. And the Army wants to see this story told, despite it showing troubling subject matter like Ptsd, reintegrating into society and sexual assault -- but to their credit they have supported it and helped the film get made in terms of accuracy.
The credits offered thanks to the 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss,
American Legion, American Red Cross, Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos, CA, Patriot Guard Riders, U.S. Army Public Affairs, Union Editorial and the United Service Organizations (Uso).
Also playing were my favorite Tiff film “Searching for Vivian Maier” and “1982” which we (the jury) voted Best Film of Us in Progress last year in Paris and which also went on to play in Toronto. We’re waiting to see how Tommy Oliver releases it. He is now producing two other films: “ Halfway” and “Black Eyed Dog”.
Watch this moving picture of Tommy Oliver lighting up for the Us in Progress organizer Ula Sniegowska, Trust Nordisk’s Silje Glimsdal and others last year in Paris at the Champs Elysees Film Festival
My other personal favorites and wonderful discoveries were “Sun Belt Express” and “Summer of Blood”. The next blog will be about these two films and their filmmakers.
The Champs Elysees Film Festival: American Independent Film Competition
My runner-ups to the Audience Favorite, “Fort Bliss” are “Sun Belt Express” and “Summer of Blood”.
“Sun Belt Express” was named in 2012 as the Indiewire Project of the Day as it began its trajectory by raising money on Kickstarter.
See the article Here
"Sun Belt Express" is a funny movie about illegal immigration, set to the south of Tucson in the Sonoran Desert. The story follows Allen King, an offbeat ethics professor who ends up on a run across the Mexican border with his conservative teenage daughter in tow - and four illegal immigrants in the trunk. What follows is a family road trip where anything that can go wrong – does. Set on both sides of the border, the film is a testament to the enduring power of humor, even in the most trying of situations.
My interview with the Writer – Director Evan Buxbaum and the Producer Noah Lang took place at the Hotel Marceau, not far from the Champs Elysees where seven theaters were showing films from the Champs Elysees Film Festival, put on for the third year by Sophie Dulac – producer, distributor, arthouse exhibitor and vice-president of family-founded, Publicis, the third largest advertising agency in the world.
Women to Watch: Sophie Dulac and the Champs Elysees Film Festival
Evan Buxbaum started life as a totally unexposed-to-the-world upper Westside (NY) Jewish boy. He didn’t even go to film school. He studied political science and political conflict resolution at Swarthmore. He graduated in ’06 and learned filmmaking by making three or four shorts at the same time as he tended bar.
His “barback” (that is the busboy for bars) Gregorio Castro, shared his story of how he came to U.S. As they became better friends, Evan met other Latinos who had some insane stories about crossing the border which were oddly uplifting. They always showed an indominable spirit in telling these tough stories; they always laughed. It was a unique way to approach life with such a sense of humor.
He and Gregorio set about writing a script and made a 10 minute short, “La Linea” about people in the trunk of a car, as a test of the concept, to see if it would resonate in the way they wanted. They wanted to create a film in a space that didn’t exist. Terrible things happen on the border and the film gave him the opportunity to explore humor in adversity.
The short played in a lot of festivals and some people wanted to finance his feature and so his life was shaped over the next five years (from ages 20 to 30).
Producer Noah Lang -- who incidently is the son of actor Stephen Lang, who played a cameo in this film and was the bad guy in “Avatar” and will be again in “Avatar” 2, 3 and 4 – also went to Swarthmore but did not know Evan there. Noah was working at Cinetic when he went to Headsets and Highballs, a networking operation in NYC where a producer, telling a funny story, got him interested him in reading the script. Over the next four months, while working at Cinetic, he helped out in the development of the script and subsequently left Cinetic to produce independently and subsequently was accepted into a program The Dogfish Accelerator. There he met one of the producers and got involved. That was two years ago…and he didn’t grow broke.
A first feature is usually sheer blindness, stupidity and luck. Financing began with Kickstarter to raise seed money. That was the most difficult part of making the movie. Kickstarter is a great platform to make you do something! They had 650 donors and raised $40,000 to hire actors, an attorney, asting director and location scout. Kickstarter also created a big following. From crowdfunding they moved to private equity and cash flowed through New Mexico tax credit. They raised some money from Indiegogo for post-production and their very rough cut won the Us in Progress prize in the fall of 2013 in Wroclaw, Poland, sharing with “Lake Los Angeles ” for color, sound, foley and a full music mix. They will still use the Polish Us in Progress prize to do a final print mix and color pass and get a Dcp.
Says Noah: “This account of how we raised money is not a replicating model. The first film is a constant bargain for what you can do.”
The creative notes they received during Us in Progress were very important. It was the first time they knew what they needed to do.
“In editing you’re blind. The emotional connection is very powerful, the process however is a slog, filled with doubts,” Evan says.
The speed dating model of networking gave Evan and Noah a way to approach problems.
One French distribution company showed interest in the film and lots of international sales agents gave them advice. Some told them that the film would do well in U.K. and Russia, but would not play to a French audience.
Here in Paris, however, many people gave them their cards for French distribution. The French audience was very good and made them optimistic as their reception was overwhelmingly positive, in fact some in the audience were very passionate about the immigration issue.
“And this was supposed to be the difficult audience”, they said.
Even the French international sales agents had underestimated the French audiences. The strength of this well told story was in dealing with the issue of transplantation in a humanized, humanitarian way. The audience was very emotional and spoke of their own or their great-grandparents’ coming to France. I noticed questions were asked by Africans and North Africans as well as by French.
They are now in talks with sales agents and a domestic distributor. Stay tuned!
They have several projects jockeying for priority now. One is to work with the “Summer of Blood” team on a coproduction. This is still pre-script stage. More on “Summer of Blood” and their team to follow. Both the investors in “Summer of Blood” and “Sunbelt Express” are interested in continuing.
For more information, go to SunBeltExpressMovie.com.
Based on Noah Lang and Evan Buxbaum’s recommendations and on the fact that like it had also been in Us in Progress and in Tribeca Film Festival, I went to see “Summer of Blood” and was not disappointed.
In fact, I was surprised by the humor of this so-called “mumble gore” movie which Mpi is releasing in the U.S. The best of it all was the presentation and post screening Q&A by the director and star Onur Tukel, a Turkish Woody Allen. This is a New York story of a guy who is afraid to commit and becomes a vampire and is still afraid to commit but has a great time having sex until he realizes his former girlfriend is still the one he loves.
Onur, a Turkish guy who grew up in North Carolina, and his producer Clifford McCurdy were in Paris with “Summer of Blood”. The two could not appear more disparate. One loose, dresses in plaid shirts, has a beard and long hair, the other straight-laced, short haired, reserved. When Onur begins talking, you don’t know if he is serious or joking and he gets pretty outrageous. He says this film is a cross between “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “True Blood” and it is very Woody Allen. One of the actresses, Juliette Fairley was also there. She was sexy, drole, perky and funny in the movie. Her mother – French Jewish, her father African American met when he went to France during World War 2. She has a script about it which she is also beginning to show people. At one point in the Q&A, someone in the audience asked how Onur could be so brazen about how he portrayed his Jewish landlord or the African American date in one scene (Juliette) and he had no shame or trace of bigotry in his answer. As a Turkish American growing up in North Carolina, he had never met a Jew until he moved to New York and his landlord was actually like the landlord in the movie…why not? The question was made to seem like one in “Sunbelt Express” when the daughter asks her father how he can dare to call these people “Mexicans” and he replies, “but they are Mexicans”. The fun of poking holes in peoples’ politically corrected prejudices make both of these comedies subversively funny.
See the movie when Mpi releases it. As for “Sun Belt Express”, you’ll have to wait until they sign a distribution deal.
- 6/22/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The fog of war is no match for the domestic tempest experienced by an Army medic back home in Fort Bliss, writer-director Claudia Myers’ well-observed and endearing account of one woman grappling with allegiances to her fellow soldiers and her estranged 5-year-old son. Starring Michelle Monaghan in a demanding role that further brings out a dark side revealed last year on True Detective, this character-driven drama offers up a unique distaff viewpoint on a subject usually reserved for men, underlining the burdens placed on mothers torn between their country and their family. Though it drags
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read more...
- 6/18/2014
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Once again I have the good fortune of spending some time with Sophie Dulac who is not only President of the Champs Elysees Film Festival but producer currently of three coproductions, one with Germany and one with Armenia and whose past co-productions include "Hannah Arendt" by Margarethe Von Trotta, "Last Days in Jerusalem" by Tawfik Abu-Wael and "The Band's Visit". She is also a distributor of over 70 films since the 2003 founding of Sophie Dulac Distribution with films of Bela Tarr, Frederick Wiseman, Alexandre Sokourov, Jacques Doillon and Theo Angelopoulos as well as new talents like Katel Quillévéré or Eva Ionesco, from festivals such as Cannes, Locarno, Berlin, Toronto, Sundance or Venice among others.
She also owns key theaters in Paris without whose support films would flounder and die. The company, Screens in Paris (Les Ecrans de Paris), is a circuit of five independent cinemas with 13 screens and 2,300 seats on Paris: Harlequin, the Medici Reflection Panorama El Escorial, the Majestic and Majestic Passy Bastille. When a film shows in some of these, then its success is nearly guaranteed. And last, but hardly least, she is Vice President of Publicis, founded by her grandfather, Marcel Blaustein, in 1926, abandoned while he fought in the Resistance and reclaimed after the war and rebuilt into the third largest public relations/ advertising corporation in the world. Marcel Blaustein was first to use radio as a means of advertising,
When we spoke two years ago, the Champs Elysees Film Festival was just beginning.
See Women to Watch.
Now in its third edition, taking place June 11 - 17, 2014, it has grown in recognition among professionals and the public worldwide, and it is enhancing the Champs Elysees as a place for the French to attend cinema once again. It is also creating ties between the French and American cineastes in many new ways. This popular and festive Franco-American film festival taking place on the most prestigious avenue offered an even more eclectic and exciting program this year. It was presided over by Bertrand Tavernier and Jacqueline Bisset.
Guests of Honor giving master classes include :
- Agnès Varda, present to talk about her films shot in the States
- Keanu Reeves, who presented the documentary "Side by Side" which he produced
- Whit Stillman whose cult film "Metropolitan" was shown in the festival and will shortly be released in France. He spoke French as did many other American filmmakers during their presentations.
- Mike Figgis spoke about fashion and film following a documentary and several short films he has made this subject
The Feature Film Competition of newly released American Independent films includes "1982" by Tommy Oliver which won U.S. in Progress in 2013 and will soon be released in the U.S., "American Promise", a documentary by Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, "Fort Bliss" by Claudia Myers, "Obvious Child" by Gillian Robespierre, "Rich Hill" a documentary by Andrew Droz Palermo & Tacy Droz Tragos, "See You Next Tuesday" by Drew Tobia, "Summer of Blood" by Onur Tukel, a former U.S. in Progress entry, "Sun Belt Express" by Evan Buxbaum - another former U.S. in Progress entry, "The Magic City" by R. Malcolm Jones.
There is also a short film competition of over 35 French and American shorts, including a selection from film schools (AFI, USC and Columbia in the States and La Fémis, Eicar, ArtFx and Les Gobelins schools in France).
Since the Paris Film Festival lost its funding by the city earlier this year, Ceff is the only Film Festival in the city and the Paris Coproduction Village moved over to it with 12 features. Run by the same team which runs the Les Arcs Coproduction Village in the French Alps in December, CEO Pierre Emmanuel Fleurantin, head of industry Vanja Kaludjercic, general manager Guillaume Calop and consultant co-founder Jeremy Zelni, it kept up the high quality of its projects. More than 130 companies registered and 160 professionals attended. There were 560 one-to-one meetings over the two days. The main focus of the event is to connect international filmmakers with potential French sales agents and producers but alongside representatives of companies such as Bac Films, Other Angle, Les Films d’ici 2 a number of international companies also attended including the UK’s WestEnd Films, Bankside, The Match Factory and The Works.
The festival poster is a cross between movie icon Marilyn Monroe and the icon of French Liberty, Marianne. Nicknamed "Marilyanne", it is being featured on T shirts, buttons, post cards and are all for sale. A new pass for full entry for the week is offered for 50 Euros.
She also owns key theaters in Paris without whose support films would flounder and die. The company, Screens in Paris (Les Ecrans de Paris), is a circuit of five independent cinemas with 13 screens and 2,300 seats on Paris: Harlequin, the Medici Reflection Panorama El Escorial, the Majestic and Majestic Passy Bastille. When a film shows in some of these, then its success is nearly guaranteed. And last, but hardly least, she is Vice President of Publicis, founded by her grandfather, Marcel Blaustein, in 1926, abandoned while he fought in the Resistance and reclaimed after the war and rebuilt into the third largest public relations/ advertising corporation in the world. Marcel Blaustein was first to use radio as a means of advertising,
When we spoke two years ago, the Champs Elysees Film Festival was just beginning.
See Women to Watch.
Now in its third edition, taking place June 11 - 17, 2014, it has grown in recognition among professionals and the public worldwide, and it is enhancing the Champs Elysees as a place for the French to attend cinema once again. It is also creating ties between the French and American cineastes in many new ways. This popular and festive Franco-American film festival taking place on the most prestigious avenue offered an even more eclectic and exciting program this year. It was presided over by Bertrand Tavernier and Jacqueline Bisset.
Guests of Honor giving master classes include :
- Agnès Varda, present to talk about her films shot in the States
- Keanu Reeves, who presented the documentary "Side by Side" which he produced
- Whit Stillman whose cult film "Metropolitan" was shown in the festival and will shortly be released in France. He spoke French as did many other American filmmakers during their presentations.
- Mike Figgis spoke about fashion and film following a documentary and several short films he has made this subject
The Feature Film Competition of newly released American Independent films includes "1982" by Tommy Oliver which won U.S. in Progress in 2013 and will soon be released in the U.S., "American Promise", a documentary by Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, "Fort Bliss" by Claudia Myers, "Obvious Child" by Gillian Robespierre, "Rich Hill" a documentary by Andrew Droz Palermo & Tacy Droz Tragos, "See You Next Tuesday" by Drew Tobia, "Summer of Blood" by Onur Tukel, a former U.S. in Progress entry, "Sun Belt Express" by Evan Buxbaum - another former U.S. in Progress entry, "The Magic City" by R. Malcolm Jones.
There is also a short film competition of over 35 French and American shorts, including a selection from film schools (AFI, USC and Columbia in the States and La Fémis, Eicar, ArtFx and Les Gobelins schools in France).
Since the Paris Film Festival lost its funding by the city earlier this year, Ceff is the only Film Festival in the city and the Paris Coproduction Village moved over to it with 12 features. Run by the same team which runs the Les Arcs Coproduction Village in the French Alps in December, CEO Pierre Emmanuel Fleurantin, head of industry Vanja Kaludjercic, general manager Guillaume Calop and consultant co-founder Jeremy Zelni, it kept up the high quality of its projects. More than 130 companies registered and 160 professionals attended. There were 560 one-to-one meetings over the two days. The main focus of the event is to connect international filmmakers with potential French sales agents and producers but alongside representatives of companies such as Bac Films, Other Angle, Les Films d’ici 2 a number of international companies also attended including the UK’s WestEnd Films, Bankside, The Match Factory and The Works.
The festival poster is a cross between movie icon Marilyn Monroe and the icon of French Liberty, Marianne. Nicknamed "Marilyanne", it is being featured on T shirts, buttons, post cards and are all for sale. A new pass for full entry for the week is offered for 50 Euros.
- 6/17/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Entertainment One has picked up North American rights to fashion documentary "Dior And I" for a theatrical release later this year. Frederic Tcheng's behind-the-scenes dock looks at the creation of Raf Simons’ first Haute Couture collection for the House of Christian Dior.
Magnolia Pictures has acquired North American rights for Susanna Fogel's "Life Partners". Leighton Meester, Gillian Jacobs, Adam Brody and Gabourey Sidibe star in the story of a straight woman and a lesbian best friend who find their relationship dynamics changing after the former falls for a new man.
Lionsgate has acquired U.K. rights to Adam Smith's directorial debut "Trespass Against Us" which begins shooting this Summer. Michael Fassbender, Brendan Gleeson, Lyndsey Marshal and Rory Kinnear star in the story of three generations of the rowdy outlaw Cutler family.
The Weinstein Company has payed an estimated $3 million for U.S. rights to the Irish filmmaker John Carney...
Magnolia Pictures has acquired North American rights for Susanna Fogel's "Life Partners". Leighton Meester, Gillian Jacobs, Adam Brody and Gabourey Sidibe star in the story of a straight woman and a lesbian best friend who find their relationship dynamics changing after the former falls for a new man.
Lionsgate has acquired U.K. rights to Adam Smith's directorial debut "Trespass Against Us" which begins shooting this Summer. Michael Fassbender, Brendan Gleeson, Lyndsey Marshal and Rory Kinnear star in the story of three generations of the rowdy outlaw Cutler family.
The Weinstein Company has payed an estimated $3 million for U.S. rights to the Irish filmmaker John Carney...
- 5/17/2014
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
• Lionsgate has purchased the North American rights for Dark Blood, the last film starring River Phoenix (My Own Private Idaho) before he passed away in 1993. Directed and written by George Sluizer (The Vanishing), the upcoming thriller follows the story of Boy (Phoenix), a young widower living as a hermit on a nuclear testing site in the desert. While traveling solo on his “second” honeymoon, Boy discovers a stranded Hollywood couple. Desiring the woman, Boy decides to hold them captive because he finds himself under the impression that he can create a better world with her. The upcoming drama, set to be released via VOD,...
- 5/16/2014
- by Pamela Gocobachi
- EW - Inside Movies
The Weinstein Company, Focus Features, Open Road and A24 were among a pack of buyers understood to be chasing Us rights to Jake Gyllenhaal crime drama Nightcrawler on Friday evening.
According to sources, Fox Searchlight was also circling the project. Bids were in the $4m region for Bold Films’ story of a man who discovers the nocturnal world of La freelance crime journalism.
CAA and Wme Global jointly represent Us rights and Sierra/Affinity handles international sales.
Meanwhile XLrator Media has acquired Us rights from eOne Séville International to comedic thriller The Mule.
Phase 4 Films has acquired North America on the Michelle Monaghan drama Fort Bliss and A24 was understood to have picked up Us rights to the Australian heist thriller Son Of A Gun starring Ewan McGregor.
Earlier in the week Paramount reportedly paid a $20m Mg for North American and Chinese rights to Story Of Your Life in a deal with FilmNation and Wme...
According to sources, Fox Searchlight was also circling the project. Bids were in the $4m region for Bold Films’ story of a man who discovers the nocturnal world of La freelance crime journalism.
CAA and Wme Global jointly represent Us rights and Sierra/Affinity handles international sales.
Meanwhile XLrator Media has acquired Us rights from eOne Séville International to comedic thriller The Mule.
Phase 4 Films has acquired North America on the Michelle Monaghan drama Fort Bliss and A24 was understood to have picked up Us rights to the Australian heist thriller Son Of A Gun starring Ewan McGregor.
Earlier in the week Paramount reportedly paid a $20m Mg for North American and Chinese rights to Story Of Your Life in a deal with FilmNation and Wme...
- 5/16/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The Weinstein Company, Focus Features, Open Road and A24 were among a small pack of buyers understood to be chasing Us rights to Jake Gyllenhaal thriller Nightcrawler on Friday evening.
According to sources, Fox Searchlight was also circling the project. Bids were in the $4m region for Bold Films’ story of a man who discovers the nocturnal world of La freelance crime journalism.
CAA and Wme jointly represent Us rights and Sierra/Affinity handles international sales.
Meanwhile XLrator Media has acquired Us rights from eOne Séville International to comedic thriller The Mule.
Phase 4 Films has acquired North America on the Michelle Monaghan drama Fort Bliss and A24 was understood to have picked up Us rights to the Australian heist thriller Son Of A Gun starring Ewan McGregor.
Earlier in the week Paramount reportedly paid a $20m Mg for North American and Chinese rights to Story Of Your Life in a deal with FilmNation and WMEGlobal. [link...
According to sources, Fox Searchlight was also circling the project. Bids were in the $4m region for Bold Films’ story of a man who discovers the nocturnal world of La freelance crime journalism.
CAA and Wme jointly represent Us rights and Sierra/Affinity handles international sales.
Meanwhile XLrator Media has acquired Us rights from eOne Séville International to comedic thriller The Mule.
Phase 4 Films has acquired North America on the Michelle Monaghan drama Fort Bliss and A24 was understood to have picked up Us rights to the Australian heist thriller Son Of A Gun starring Ewan McGregor.
Earlier in the week Paramount reportedly paid a $20m Mg for North American and Chinese rights to Story Of Your Life in a deal with FilmNation and WMEGlobal. [link...
- 5/16/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Phase 4 Films has landed North American distribution on Fort Bliss, the Claudia Myers-directed drama that stars Michelle Monaghan, Ron Livingston, Freddy Rodriguez, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Gbenga Akkinagbe, Pablo Schreiber and John Savage. Phase 4′s Katharyn Howe and brokered the deal with Voltage’s Elisabeth Costa de Beauregard. Pic will be released in the fall. The film tells the story of a decorated U.S. Army medic and single mother who returns home after an extended tour of duty in Afghanistan to discover the bond with her 5-year-old son has been broken. While struggling to reclaim her son’s affection, she must also reintegrate into life after war, haunted by harrowing memories from Afghanistan. Fort Bliss not only explores the incredible sacrifices made every day by men and women in the armed services, but the price that’s paid by their families as well. Myers wrote the script, and...
- 5/16/2014
- by MIKE FLEMING JR
- Deadline
Fort Bliss Trailer. Claudia Myers‘ Fort Bliss (2014) movie trailer stars Michelle Monaghan, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Pablo Schreiber, Ron Livingston, and Freddy Rodríguez. Fort Bliss‘ plot synopsis: “After returning home from an extended tour in Afghanistan, a decorated U.S. Army medic and single mother struggles to rebuild her relationship [...]
Continue reading: Fort Bliss (2014) Movie Trailer: Michelle Monaghan is a War Veteran...
Continue reading: Fort Bliss (2014) Movie Trailer: Michelle Monaghan is a War Veteran...
- 4/9/2014
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
Michelle Monaghan is a single mother returning home from Afghanistan as a stranger to her 5-year-old son in the upcoming drama Fort Bliss.
The True Detective actress plays Maggie, a decorated U.S. Army medic who, after saving lives abroad, struggles to balance her own when she discovers her son, Paul, has become more attached to her ex-husband (Ron Livingston) and his new girlfriend. The film, written and directed by Claudia Myers (Kettle of Fish), will premiere later this month at the Newport Film Festival in California as part of the “Women Direct!” series and will later be shown on...
The True Detective actress plays Maggie, a decorated U.S. Army medic who, after saving lives abroad, struggles to balance her own when she discovers her son, Paul, has become more attached to her ex-husband (Ron Livingston) and his new girlfriend. The film, written and directed by Claudia Myers (Kettle of Fish), will premiere later this month at the Newport Film Festival in California as part of the “Women Direct!” series and will later be shown on...
- 4/4/2014
- by Jake Perlman
- EW - Inside Movies
The powerful story about a single mother who tries to balance her career as a decorated U.S. Army medic with caring for her five-year-old son will premiere at the Newport Film Festival in California this month. Part of the festival's "Women Direct!" series, Fort Bliss was written and directed by Claudia Myers and stars True Detective actress Michelle Monaghan (as Maggie Swann), Ron Livingston (Richard), Emmanuelle Chriqui (Alma) and Pablo Schreiber (Staff Sergeant Donovan). Voltage, the company behind The Hurt Locker, which won the Oscar for best picture and best director in 2008, is handling international sales. Story: 'True Detective' Was Ultimately About the Journey, Not the Finale The first look
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- 4/4/2014
- by Debbie Emery
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
With her new HBO series “True Detective” continuing to be a huge success, Michelle Monaghan soaked up the spotlight by covering the Winter 2014 issue of Michgan Avenue magazine.
The “Fort Bliss” actress adorned herself in designer garbs from Escada and Burberry Prorsum for the Brian Bowen Smith-shot spread while opening up about everything from her first acting experience to juggling both motherhood and her career.
Highlights from Miss Monaghan’s interview are as follows. For more, be sure to visit Michgan Avenue!
On her life as a mother:
“Listen, it’s always a challenge. When I had my daughter Willow, it was a whole new ball game, trying to figure where is this job shooting, how long is it shooting for, can I be away from home? My husband Pete is such a hands-on father – I could not do it without him, and fortunately his career allows him to work from home,...
The “Fort Bliss” actress adorned herself in designer garbs from Escada and Burberry Prorsum for the Brian Bowen Smith-shot spread while opening up about everything from her first acting experience to juggling both motherhood and her career.
Highlights from Miss Monaghan’s interview are as follows. For more, be sure to visit Michgan Avenue!
On her life as a mother:
“Listen, it’s always a challenge. When I had my daughter Willow, it was a whole new ball game, trying to figure where is this job shooting, how long is it shooting for, can I be away from home? My husband Pete is such a hands-on father – I could not do it without him, and fortunately his career allows him to work from home,...
- 1/28/2014
- GossipCenter
Kids. Such as Sex, Lies, and Videotape or Reservoir Dogs before it, and such as Winter’s Bone, Blue Valentine and Fruitvale Station after it, Larry Clark & Harmony Korine’s seminal film is forever connected in “spirit” to the lieu where it received its secret midnight premiere screening in 1995. The Sundance Film Festival might be known as the birthplace of U.S indie filmmaking innovation, avant-gardism, a larger definition of the low budgeted film response to Hollywood in not only narrative but in the non-fiction form, but it is a festival made strong by its renewal and familiarity. That close acquaintanceness exists in Kids‘ starlets Rosario Dawson and Chloë Sevigny filmography/career path trajectory and connection to Park City (both have several indie films slated for ’14 – of which I’ve included in our predictions list) and it is that “familiarity” that is visibly noticeable in how I map out my annual predictions list.
- 11/18/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
The ‘Mission Impossible’ and ‘Source Code’ actress gave birth to her first son on Oct. 30. This is her second child with her Australian graphic artist husband. Congrats to the happy couple!
Michelle Monaghan and her husband Peter White welcomed their second child together on Oct. 30. Find out their newborn son’s super cute name right here!
Michelle Monaghan Baby Born: Actress Welcomes A Baby Boy With Peter White
Michelle, 37, and her husband “have welcomed their second child to the world,” Michelle’s rep confirmed to People on Nov. 1. Take Our Poll
Their second baby is their first son — their baby boy Tommy Francis White was born on Oct. 30.
Michelle and Peter are also proud parents to their daughter Willow Katherine, who is nearly 5 years old. Willow welcomed her little brother just days before her own Nov. 4 birthday — what a great little present!
“I love children and it’s something that I’ve always wanted,...
Michelle Monaghan and her husband Peter White welcomed their second child together on Oct. 30. Find out their newborn son’s super cute name right here!
Michelle Monaghan Baby Born: Actress Welcomes A Baby Boy With Peter White
Michelle, 37, and her husband “have welcomed their second child to the world,” Michelle’s rep confirmed to People on Nov. 1. Take Our Poll
Their second baby is their first son — their baby boy Tommy Francis White was born on Oct. 30.
Michelle and Peter are also proud parents to their daughter Willow Katherine, who is nearly 5 years old. Willow welcomed her little brother just days before her own Nov. 4 birthday — what a great little present!
“I love children and it’s something that I’ve always wanted,...
- 11/4/2013
- by Kristine Hope Kowalski
- HollywoodLife
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