The blog Film (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009
There is more ingenuity, guts and brilliance in the developing world as depicted in Uberto Pasolini's film than anything Hollywood can cobble together Tomorrow sees the release of Machan, one the most important films to come out the developing world in recent years – and the best film about illegal immigration I've ever seen. It's a topic that's been addressed by prominent western directors...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 14/11/2009
He's our Paul Schrader, on an idiosyncratic journey, so why haven't my US friends heard of Poliakoff? Whenever my American friends ask me to name a good English director they've not heard of, I always push them towards the work of Stephen Poliakoff , whose Glorious 39 arrives this week. And those who take up my recommendation/challenge usually come back about three weeks later, after a bracing immersion...
DVD Talk (Free subscription) | 12/11/2009
Rent It The Film: Within the first eleven minutes of Stephen Frears' Ch ri , nearly-retired courtesan Lea (Michelle Pfeiffer) discovers a passionate, physical link between her and far-younger acquaintance Fred Pelaux (Rupert Friend) -- a womanizing lush who refers to Lea as "noun-noun" in a babyish voice leading up to their first enamored kiss. It's his sweet nickname for Lea from his childhood,...
Fin de Cinema (Free subscription) | 09/11/2009
Organizing and ranking the work of the '00s is probably the main focus of a lot of publications right now, and so far I've only stumbled on two of them (one thanks to Adrian Curry). The UK Times Online made their 100 Best Films of the Noughties, as per UK release, with some surprising and frankly unfortunate choices. Any list that includes Paul Haggis' Crash is automatically tossed in the bin for me...
Get the Big Picture (Free subscription) | 07/11/2009
High Fidelity should have done better at the box office a million years ago. It did OK considering - $27 million plus about another $20 million internationally, but I think Disney was probably the wrong place to distribute it, and it probably never made a big impression on a lot of people until it hit the home video market. One of the things the film shows is the versatility of director Stephen Frears...
Cinematical (Free subscription) | 06/11/2009
Having dipped into the seductive waters of sexy courtesans, Stephen Frears is now looking towards the future, and the future's got lots of gambling. The trades are reporting that Frears is set to direct Lay the Favorite , a dramedy that will rejoin him with High Fidelity scribe D.V. De Vincentis . The project stems from an upcoming memoir by Beth Raymer called Lay the Favorite, Take the Dog , which...
FirstShowing.net (Free subscription) | 06/11/2009
If we listed the top movies about break-ups, there's no doubt High Fidelity would be near the top. Well, good news, as the team behind one of John Cusack's best is moving to the arguably more dangerous world of gambling as THR reports that director Stephen Frears and writer D.V. DeVincentis are re-teaming for an adaptation of Beth Raymer's upcoming memoir Lay the Favorite, Take the Dog. The story centers...
JoBlo (Free subscription) | 06/11/2009
Director Stephen Frears and writer D.V. DeVincentis last worked together on the John Cusack classic, HIGH FIDELITY back in 2000, but now they’ve reteamed for a new project, titled LAY THE FAVORITE, based on an upcoming memoir by Beth Raymer. Raymer's memoir is set amid a group of fiftyish math geeks who figure out how to work the sportsbook system in Las Vegas for their own profit. It centers...
Frankly My Dear... (Free subscription) | 06/11/2009
Novelist and screenwriter Nick Hornby's back in demand, thanks to the Oscar-buzzed An Education, which he adapted. The Hollywood Reporter says he may re-team with the director who launched his transition from books to movies, Stephen Frears, for a film...
Digital Spy (Free subscription) | 06/11/2009
High Fidelity makers Stephen Frears and D.V. DeVincentis may reunite on dramedy Lay The Favorite.
Vulture (Free subscription) | 06/11/2009
Disco Stick: Lady Gaga will perform her single “Bad Romance” on the November 16 episode of Gossip Girl . The cast and crew were especially happy that she stuck around for almost an entire half-day of production in October to lip-sync in the background of the other shots in her scene. The episode is titled “The Last Days of Disco Stick,” which makes us think that something even...
Entertainment News - MovieWeb.com (Free subscription) | 06/11/2009
The film chronicles a young woman as enters the world of sports gambling.
WHAT WOULD TOTO WATCH? (Free subscription) | 28/10/2009
Actresses north of forty are too often cast as the Supportive Wife or the Aggrieved Mother. All the while male actors play the resourceful, even sexy lead well into their golden years. And then there’s Michelle Pfeiffer’s luscious turn in “Cheri,” just released on DVD. Director Stephen Frears’ puckish period drama gives the actress a full-bodied role her [...] Related...
John Rentoul (Free subscription) | 24/10/2009
It has come to something when Jon Snow, the Channel Four News presenter, asks the question that has been puzzling me : What on earth has Tony Blair done to ignite such bile? (Not that I would mix metaphors like that.) Snow was surprised by the response to his blog on Blair's chances of becoming President of the European Council. One of the reasons, I would tentatively suggest, was the attitude of news...
LAist (Free subscription) | 21/10/2009
[ed. note: so, yeah, my new job has been keeping me incredibly busy so the DVD Tuesday column has slipped to Wednesday for a second consecutive week. I apologize to my one, true fan who logs in every Tuesday at two o'clock to read my blurbs. I know I have at least one fan because -- yes -- he writes to me and tells me how funny he thinks I am. I love him. He is incredibly smart.] Great to see Stephen...
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