‘David Lynch altered our brains’: fellow directors, friends and fans remember a titan of cinema

-
His unique, twisted visions shocked and seduced generations of filmgoers. Paul Schrader, Abel Ferrara, Coralie Fargeat and more pay tribute • Ranked: David Lynch’s films and TV shows • Cigarettes were Lynch’s magic wand – and his undoing Paul Schrader, director Continue reading... from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/GMHZC9Q via IFTTT
Post a Comment

Wish review – Disney’s throwback animation is missing some magic

-

Oscar winner Ariana DeBose voices an all-singing heroine in an overstuffed yet underpowered attempt to replicate the success of Frozen

A decade ago, at a time when both Disney and Pixar’s animation output was not exactly unsuccessful but entirely unmemorable, Frozen became a sticky $1.2bn game-changer, a box office hit that turned into an all-consuming phenomenon. It won Oscars, produced earworms that burrowed (a little too) deep, spawned a $1.45bn sequel, led to a hit Broadway musical and showed Disney how to dust off the contemporarily critiqued princess narrative rather than throw it away completely.

Opening in the same Thanksgiving slot 10 years later, with a script co-written by Frozen’s Jennifer Lee, Wish is a bullishly positioned successor, another self-aware, formula-tweaking Disney Princess narrative with as many radio-friendly power ballads as there are Christmas-timed merchandising opportunities. But Wish feels less like Disney’s new Frozen and more like an off-brand rip-off, aesthetically inferior, hampered by a mostly uninspired and underpowered plot and, most deadeningly, lacking in magic. As grotesque as Disney might still be as one of the most effectively illustrative go-tos for the horrors of mass-market capitalism, it’s impossible not to feel that swell of wonder when the studio logo kicks in. While that feeling might have been more absent in recent films that follow, a lifetime of examples have taught us to naively hope for more of it and despite Wish serving us all of the old-fashioned trimmings, from storybook opener to soaring finale, there remains an absence.

Continue reading...

from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/yH4bK0W
via IFTTT

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

‘I lied to get the part’: Melvyn Hayes on his ‘angry young man’ beginnings – and It Ain’t Half Hot Mum

-
He was tipped to be the next Richard Burton – but ended up as crossdressing Gunner Gloria in the now controversial sitcom. As his breakthrough classic returns to the screen, Hayes looks back One day in 1957, Melvyn Hayes was on the set of a film called Woman in a Dressing Gown when a man sat down next to him. “I was getting paid £5 a day and I’d been on location for three days,” the actor recalls. “All I had to do was walk up to a house and put a newspaper through a letterbox. That was my part. Finished. I said to this bloke, ‘I can’t believe the waste of money on this film. Take me. You could have got a newspaper boy on £1 a day to do what I’m doing.’ Then I said, ‘What do you do then, you lazy bugger?’ And he said, ‘I’m the producer.’” Hayes, now 89, giggles at the memory of the cheek of himself at 23. Back then, £5 a day was a decent whack. His first job in showbiz, in the early 1950s, was as assistant to The Great Masoni, a magician who tasked Hayes with “disappearing twice daily...
Read more

The Exorcism review – Russell Crowe v the Devil in cursed horror about a cursed horror

-
The actor plays an actor struggling with a demonically bad film shoot in a well-made yet increasingly messy chiller Like many other dethroned A-listers of his generation, Oscar winner Russell Crowe has found himself a steady career hustling far further down the food chain, headlining B-movies he once would have balked at. The last few years have seen the famed actor crop up in gonzo road rage thriller Unhinged , shepherd the other Hemsworths in war drama Land of Bad , lead the barely released crime thriller Sleeping Dogs earlier this year and become the pope’s exorcist in The Pope’s Exorcist . The latter became something of a surprise hit, first theatrically and then on Netflix, albeit in a rather jokey way, the film most easily remembered for the many memes of Crowe on a scooter. Its success was such that it not only guaranteed a sequel (The Pope’s Exorcist 2 is coming), but it also led to another of his exorcism movies getting saved from streaming hell and being delivered to th...
Read more

Karan Johar RRR stars Jr. NTR Ram Charan Siddharth Roy Kapur and Mani Ratnam invited by The Academy to join as members

-
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has extended invitations to 398 distinguished artists and executives to join the organization in 2023. As per the official website, the membership selection is based on professional qualifications, with an ongoing commitment to representation, inclusion, and equity. Amongst them are filmmakers Karan Johar and Mani Ratnam, producer Siddharth Roy Kapur and RRR stars Jr. NTR and Ram Charan. Amongst actors Jr. NTR and Ram Charan’s names crop up who’ve had an illustrious year with the massive success of RRR globally followed by an Oscar win for ‘Naatu Naatu’. Karan Johar has been named in the producers’ category whereas Mani Ratnam’s name is mentioned amongst the directors. "The Academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership. They represent extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines, and have made a vital impact on the arts and sciences of motion pictures and on movie fans worldwide," ...
Read more