Accidental Genius: How John Cassavetes Invented the American Independent Film
Movie City Indie (Free subscription) | 22/11/2009
At the "Great Ideas" forum at the John Cassavetes Cine in Thessaloniki, Greece, sponsored by the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, the Fulbright Foundation, the U.S. Embassy in Greece and Stavros Niarchos Foundation, co-chief executive of Fox Filmed Entertainment Jim Gianopulos talks about "Jim" Cameron's "Avatar," which he says he has seen tens of times in various...
Coffee Coffee and More Coffee (Free subscription) | 18/11/2009
Damien Chazelle - 2009 If John Cassavetes directed an MGM musical produced by Arthur Freed, it might look something like Guy and Madeline. I am referring to the earlier Cassavetes, of Shadows and Faces, with the hand held 16mm...
The Sheila Variations (Free subscription) | 13/11/2009
John Cassavetes has been everywhere the last week. Alex and I watched Opening Night while she was here (she had never seen it). She said to me, "You know what I feel like seeing right now? Woman Under the...
Variety.com (Free subscription) | 12/11/2009
Legit News: 'Husbands,' 'Document' among fest's highlights -- A new piece from SITI Company and a stage version of John Cassavetes pic "Husbands" are among the offerings of the annual Under the Radar fest.
Only The Cinema (Free subscription) | 11/11/2009
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie is, at least superficially, John Cassavetes' stab at a gangster thriller. In fact, though, the film's genre trappings are incidental to its central purpose, a character study of the charismatic loser Cosmo Vitelli (Ben Gazzara), a strip club owner who fancies himself an artist as he arranges his club's lame, unsexy nightly shows. Cosmo is a kind of vaudeville showman,...
Slate Magazine (Free subscription) | 11/11/2009
If American independent cinema could be said to have a birthday, Nov. 11 is as good a date to celebrate as any. On that night 50 years ago, John Cassavetes, an actor then best known for his TV roles, unveiled for a downtown New York audience his directing debut, Shadows. Cassavetes had financed the production with his paychecks from Hollywood and made the film with a cast and crew of novice actors...
A.V. Club (Free subscription) | 09/11/2009
The actor: Ben Gazzara, who studied with The Actors Studio in the ‘50s before moving on to Broadway—where he originated the role of Brick in Tennessee Williams’ Cat On A Hot Tin Roof —and then, inevitably, Hollywood. Gazzara starred in two TV series ( Arrest And Trial and Run For Your Life ) in the ‘60s, but didn’t really find his niche until he connected with indie...
look back in anger (Free subscription) | 01/11/2009
in 1959 john cassavetes directed his first film. 'shadows' is everything we love about this filmmaker: the honest truth. cassavetes loved faces like no one else and always gave it to us close up and very personal. actress lelia goldoni starred and has been a working actress ever since.
GreenCine Daily (Free subscription) | 31/10/2009
Among other things, Tom Noonan is a musician , playwright, and writer-director of two acclaimed films ( What Happened Was , The Wife ), but most will sooner recognize this tall, reserved but eerily intense gentleman as a memorable character actor from films as diverse as Manhunter , Mystery Train , and Synecdoche New York . His latest chance to effortlessly steal scenes arrives in Ti West 's wonderfully...
The House Next Door (Free subscription) | 22/10/2009
By Chris Gisonny On September 21, 1970, television viewers beheld Dick Cavett welcoming John Cassavetes, Peter Falk and Ben Gazzara to the set of his show. Cavett initially describes them as “three animals” and before long their behavior supports his claim. They were there to promote Husbands (1970), a film directed by the notoriously unorthodox Cassavetes and starring all three of them....
Trippist (Free subscription) | 20/10/2009
Fans of the films of John Cassavetes are in for a treat this week as 't Hoogt in Utrecht, a theater/restaurant, is hosting a Cassavetes Retrospective, showcasing some of his most famous films. The American actor and director is considered...
MovingPictureBlog (Free subscription) | 04/10/2009
The third feature by Blaine Thurier , keyboardist for the Canadian indie rock band The New Pornographers , A Gun to the Head resembles nothing so much as a senior project by a film-school student who isn't quite as clever as he assumes. There's an amateurish look to much of this noirish dark comedy -- the blocking of fight scenes is especially maladroit -- and the derivative plot rather too obviously...
Althouse (Free subscription) | 04/10/2009
I'd like to hear what she has to say. She worked closely with him on "Rosemary's Baby" and she had her experience with Woody Allen (who has made a show of supporting Polanski). Without any current statement, I looked for what she had to say about Polanski in her memoir, "What Falls Away." This passage follows a paragraph about the difference between the filmmaking methods of Roman...
The Evening Class (Free subscription) | 23/09/2009
The Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF) announced its 2009 line-up last week, adhering to what has become a proven formula for the 32-year-old festival: Start with a dozen or so indie-ish, autumn-release prestige pics, often with stars and directors in tow. Next, throw in a couple big name tributes and high profile selections from the year's fest circuit. Then round things out with a big helping of docs,...
Moon in the Gutter (Free subscription) | 18/09/2009
You remember the surprise you felt the day you met up with your buddy, Private Eye John Shaft, to check out a Western Double Bill on that particularly cold New York afternoon in 1971? Neither film was that good but you both had a good time with your feet propped up, and you still smile when you recall throwing popcorn at a guy sleeping a few rows down from you. You both did your best Dean Martin impersonations...
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