Oscar winners and wannabes in February film releases

Posted on December 22, 2008 by admin

vicky-cristina-barcelona x650By Ray Bennett

Everything comes in pairs in the United Kingdom’s February film releases. Two Oscar-winning veteran filmmakers show how it’s done with Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino” and Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (pictured above).

Two famous characters from the past, one bringing chills and the other chuckles, also return — Jason Voorhees in a remake of “Friday the 13th” and Inspector Clouseau in “Pink Panther 2”.

There are two serious awards contenders in John Patrick Shanley’s drama “Doubt” and the second part of Steven Soderbergh’s biographical saga, “Che”. And a new film titled “Brothers” from Irish director Jim Sheridan is about two conflicted brothers played Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire.

Not content with just “Changeling” with its highly praised performance by Angelina Jolie in 2008, 78 year-old Clint Eastwood stars in as well as directs “Gran Torino” (Feb 20, Warner Bros.). He plays an extremely grouchy veteran of the Korean War whose racism undergoes a change when he defends his mixed-race neighbours from a local gang. Lean and gravel-voiced, the four-time Academy Award winner is said to deliver a performance that could finally win him a best actor award.

Woody Allen has three Oscars on his mantlepiece, two of them for writing, and he’s in the running for at least a third screenplay nomination for “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (Feb. 6 Optimum Releasing). Given a rousing welcome at this year’s Festival de Cannes, the picture sees British actress Rebecca Hall (daughter of director Peter Hall) and Scarlett Johansson as two young American women, Vicky and Christina respectively, on a vacation in Spain. There, they meet a suave and disarming artist played by Javier Bardem who charms them each into relationships that are heavily complicated when his flamboyant and dangerous ex-wife, played by Penelope Cruz, shows up.

Steve Martin got a mixed reception when he dared to step into the late Peter Sellers’ shoes as the bumbling French detective Clouseau in the 2006 remake of “The Pink Panther”. The film made enough at the box office, however, to tempt him back in “Pink Panther 2” (Feb. 13, Sony Pictures). This time Clouseau teams up with a team of international sleuths targeting a thief who steals historical artefacts. Jean Reno and Emily Mortimer return from the first remake with John Cleese replacing Kevin Kline as the much-abused Chief Inspector Dreyfuss.

The cast also includes Andy Garcia, Yuki Matsuzaki, Alfred Molina and Aishwarya Rai. Jason Voorhees was also known for creating havoc but accompanied by screams and he’s up to his old tricks in a remake of the 1980 original “Friday The 13th” (Feb. 13, Paramount). The machete wielding maniac, played by Derek Mears, causes mayhem when a group of young adults spend a playful weekend at Camp Crystal Lake, site of the first nightmare.

doubt x650

Meryl Streep, who has been nominated 14 times for an Academy Award and won twice, has two performances in possible contention this year. First there was her crowd-pleasing role in the global smash hit musical “Mamma Mia!” and now in a film version of the 2005 Tony Award winning play “Doubt” (Feb. 6, Walt Disney). Directed by playwright and screenwriter John Patrick Shanley, the story is set in 1964 at a Roman Catholic school in New York’s Bronx. Streep plays the domineering Sister Aloysius, a traditionalist who rules with an iron fist and who instigates a furious campaign against Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) based on flimsy suspicion of child molestation. Amy Adams, pictured with Streep, co-stars.

The second part of Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh’s epic “Che” (also known as “Guerilla”, Feb. 20, Optimum Releasing) is also likely to win plaudits from prize-givers. It finds the Argentine revolutionary in Bolivia participating in a failed coup. Puerto Rican-born Benicio del Toro continues as Che with cameos from Matt Damon and Franka Potenta. Jim Sheridan’s “Brothers” (Feb. 27, Lionsgate UK) is a remake of a 2004 Danish film with the same title directed by Susanne Bier. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Toby Maguire, Natalie Portman, Sam Shepherd and Mare Winningham, it tells of a young man who looks after his older brother’s wife and children when he is reported missing in Afghanistan.

Other coming attractions include:

Feb. 6: “He’s Just Not That Into You” (Entertainment) is a romantic roundelay set in Baltimore with Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly, Scarlett Johansson, and Drew Barrymore involved with the likes of Justin Lon, Ben Affleck and Kevin Connolly (from TV’s “Entourage”). It’s directed by Ken Kwapis, who helmed the US television version of “The Office”. “Push” (Icon) is a science-fiction adventure about a group of attractive young Americans with telekinetic and clairvoyant powers hiding from a sinister government agency.

“The Secret of Moonacre” (Warner Bros.) sees Dakota Blue Richards (“The Golden Compass”) as a young woman in a strange enchanted place with costars including Ioan Gruffudd, Tim Curry and Natascha McElhone. “The Soloist” (Universal) is directed by Britain’s Joe Wright (“Pride And Prejudice”, “Atonement”) and stars Robert Downey Jr. as a journalist who gets involved with a homeless and disturbed but talented musician played by Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx (“Ray”).

Feb. 13: “Bolt-3D” (Walt Disney) is an animated adventure about a superdog with a voice that sounds like John Travolta. “Cirque du Freak” (Universal) has John C. Reilly as a leading member of a very strange and scary troupe travelling entertainers. “Hotel For Dogs” (Paramount) stars Don Cheadle, Emma Roberts, Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Dillon (from TV’s “Entourage”) in a tale of two kids who make a home for stray animals in an abandoned building. “They Came From Upstairs” (20th Century Fox) involves aliens, mind control, dumb parents and smart kids.

Feb. 20: “Confessions of a Shopaholic” is based on the popular books by Sophie Kinsella and tells of best friends Rebecca (Isla Fisher) and Suze (Krysten Ritter) as they go shopping for great accessories and boyfriends. The cast includes Hugh Dancy, Joan Cusack, John Goodman, and Kristin Scott Thomas under the direction of P.J. Hogan (“My Best Friend’s Wedding”). “Outlander” (Momentum Pictures) pits Vikings against Aliens in 10th century Norway in a rousing and entertaining adventure featuring Jim Caviezel (“The Passion of the Christ”), Jack Huston, John Hurt, Sophia Myles and Ron Perlman. “Spread” (Delanic Films) is a sex comedy starring Anton Kutcher as a serial womaniser and Anne Heche as the woman he lives to regret jilting.

Feb. 27: “Hamlet 2” finds Steve Coogan as an over-the-top teacher at a high school in Arizona. “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” (Sony Pictures) features Adam Sandler sidekick Kevin James as a security guard fighting a crime spree. “The Unborn” (Universal) is a horror tale about a woman possessed with Gary Oldman playing a helpful Rabbi.

This article appeared in Cue Entertainment.

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THEATRE REVIEW: Ralph Fiennes in ‘Oedipus’

Posted on December 20, 2008 by admin

oedipus x650

By Ray Bennett

LONDON – Bloodied and screaming, Ralph Fiennes brings the tortured title role of Sophocles’ “Oedipus” to vivid life in a new version by Irish playwright Frank McGuinness.

On a set that is both stark and imposing and in the modern dress of a city banker about to go under, Fiennes portrays a character whose endless curiosity about himself leads to dire revelations and bleak self-imposed punishment.

McGuinness takes the tale of a would-be leader whose relationship with his mother is the source of much scandal making and fear, and turns it into a mystery story. The man’s tragedy is that the villain he is seeking turns out to be himself and that’s too great a burden to bear.

Fiennes has the ability to appear distant and severe both on screen and onstage and the early scenes in the play show him trying to overcome that reserve in order to win the support of the city-state elders.

They are played as a kind of Greek chorus, given to singing their lines of gossip and concern over the mental state of a leader whose grip on power is becoming as fragile as his grip on his imagination and emotions.

Director Jonathan Kent moves the action along at an increasingly biting pace as Oedipus gets closer to the truth about the nature of his birth and the identities of his father and, more important, his mother, played with typical force by Clare Higgins (pictured with Fiennes).

McGuinness makes the political circumstances and the quality of Oedipus’s hubris smack with topicality since this frantic character’s world is crumbling around him and he is increasingly lost in knowing what to do, like many a leader today.

The act of self-mutilation in which Oedipus stabs out his eyes takes place offstage but when he steps out with his white shirt splashed with bright red blood and Fiennes gives full voice to his anguish, it’s an unforgettable sight.

The National has assembled a typically fine cast with Alan Howard excellent as the mocking prophet Teiresias and Higgins almost wanton in her desire not to divulge intimations of motherhood. But it’s the performance of Ralph Fiennes that gets in the blood and stays there.

Venue: National Theatre, London, runs through Jan. 4; Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Clare Higgins, Alan Howard, David Burke, Jasper Britton, Malcolm Storry, Alfred Burke, Gwilym Lee; Playwright: Sophocles in a new version by Frank McGuinness; Director: Jonathan Kent; Set Designer: Paul Brown; Lighting Designer: Neil Austin; Music: Jonathan Dove; Sound Designer: Paul Groothuis.

This review appeared in The Hollywood Reporter.

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Movie star Van Johnson dies at 92

Posted on December 13, 2008 by admin

End of the Affair Johnson KerrBy Ray Bennett

LONDON – Colourful and self-deprecating American character actor Van Johnson, who has died aged 92, was never a great actor but he always gave good value when he stopped by the American TV talk shows.

He gave David Letterman a refreshingly honest and very funny reply when asked which of his movies was his favourite. Johnson said: “They paid me to make ’em. Nobody said I had to watch ’em.”

Here’s the New York Times obituary with a rare clanger. Deborah Kerr played opposite Johnson in Edward Dmytryk’s 1955 version of Graham Greene’s “The End of the Affair” not Sarah Miles. That was the name of her character.

By ALJEAN HARMETZ

Van Johnson, a film actor whose affable charm and boyish good looks helped turn him into a major Hollywood star during World War II, died Friday in Nyack, N.Y. He was 92. His death, at the Tappan Zee Manor assisted living facility, was announced by a spokesman, Daniel Demello, of Shirley Herz Associates in New York.

Mr. Johnson won praise in his first dramatic role, as the pilot whose story is told in “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo” (1944). He drew good notices for his work in “The Caine Mutiny,” Edward Dmytryk’s 1954 adaptation of the Herman Wouk novel, in which he played the naval lieutenant who is compelled to relieve the erratic Captain Queeg (Humphrey Bogart) of command while at sea.

And critics liked him as well the following year in Dmytryk’s adaptation of Graham Greene’s novel “The End of the Affair,” he which Mr. Johnson played an illicit lover opposite Sarah Miles.

Read the full obituary

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We shall not cease from exploration …

Posted on December 11, 2008 by admin

Nantmor 1 x650

We shall not cease from exploration

and the end of all our exploring

will be to arrive where we started

and know the place for the first time.

                                                                                         Nantmor in Wales. Photo: Ray Bennett

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How Radiohead helped Giles Borg to make rock film ‘1234’

Posted on December 9, 2008 by admin

By Ray Bennett

LONDON — If you want to make a film about kids who dream of becoming rock stars, it helps if you know one or two genuine rock stars. For Giles Borg, knowing Ed O’Brien of Radiohead from his days in the Oxford music scene made all the difference.

Funding for filmmakers from institutions such as regional bodies and the Film Council can be a mixed blessing. For some, it’s an essential tool for initiating or keeping afloat projects that might otherwise founder. For others, it’s one of the reasons so many British films fail as underdeveloped projects are propped up by Lottery cash.

1234_3Borg, a maker of music videos and commercials who has made a mark with short films, managed to avoid both those issues for his first feature, “1234”, by not resorting to what he calls “soft money”. He got rock money instead.

“I have nothing against the Film Council and would like to work with them one day, but going to the regional film bodies can take time. You can be looking at nine months of waiting,” Borg says. “We wanted to get on with it. We knew how to do it. We knew the audience. And we felt that we could raise the money.”

“1234” is an affectionate snapshot of four young and ambitious would-be rock stars that manages to combine gentle sweetness with a clear-eyed view of the slim chances of its hopeful musicians struggling to launch an indie rock band. Sales agent MovieHouse Entertainment got involved early and the film screened to acclaim at the London International Film Festival. It then went to the American Film Market and distribution deals are pending.

Borg started out playing in bands and then moved into pop videos and tour documentaries featuring such acts as Ride, DJ Hurricane, Ronnie Wood and Tom Jones. In his spare time he made short films that did well at festivals and hooked up with documentary producer Simon Kearney to make a short film titled “Home”, which travelled to festivals far and wide. Together, they formed Carson Films, named for “The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter” author Carson McCullers, whom Borg greatly admires, and set about creating a slate of low-budget projects.

“Simon and I worked out what kind of money we could realistically raise as first-time producer and first-time writer-director,” Borg says. “There was no point in trying to make a huge sci-fi epic. We decided to look for stories that we could actually budget, and stories we felt could reach an audience with that budget. The good thing about working on a very low budget is that we really could make the film we wanted to make.”

Knowing what it’s like to be aspiring rock musicians, their environment proved immediately appealing. “It was a world I knew very well and we wanted to make a film for those people in that world,” he says.

Borg and Kearney settled on a budget of £250,000 and intended to seek financing from the music industry. “But our timing was terrible since the music business was falling apart,” Borg says. “But we produced a brochure for the film, a full-colour booklet, and through a friend it got to Ed O’Brian, whom I had met in Oxford when Radiohead were called On a Friday.”

Oxford has a very small music community, Borg recalls, and everyone pulls together. “He knew me from bands and films and the script appealed to him. He said it reminded him of the early days, struggling to keep down a job,” he says. “And he didn’t ask for input into the making of the film. All the executive producers were fantastic. They were happy to invest and then hand over the job to us.”

With a big rock name attached Borg and Kearney found it easier to raise the money through friends of friends and in the City. They did six weeks of pre-production and started shooting last April 14 over 21 days in London, mainly Hackney. Borg originally wanted to shoot in Tilden but found Camden Council tricky to work with and so moved the location.

“Hackney was wonderful and they rushed through the permits. Everything was done on location, we were very definite about wanting that,” Borg says. “We wanted it to be authentic with real places. I talked to our DP, Mike Eley (“Touching The Void”), and he agreed that Hackney had to look like Hackney. I’m a big fan of London, and it annoys me when I see it on film and it’s a London I don’t know, a touristy one or it’s filthy. London has so much character.”

Casting was a challenge but they came up with a good group of youngsters in Ian Bonar as wannabe frontman Steve, Matthew Baynton as drummer Neil, Kieran Bew as lead guitarist Billy and Lyndsey Marshal as ace basist Emily.

But it was the actual shoot that took Borg by surprise. “Nothing could have prepared me for what it was like,” he says. “The first week was like being hit by a train. It was non-stop being asked questions, all perfectly valid questions, from the first minute to the last. By the end, of course, I didn’t want it to stop.”

Then came the news in postproduction that no director wants to hear. “Post was interesting because we had two months and then we kind of ran out of money. We had a pretty good rough cut but we were out of cash and we had to figure out where to get more,” says Borg. “But then MovieHouse submitted the rough cut to the London Film Festival and that changed everything.”

The film was accepted and equity investors came on board so they could complete the picture. While the film still has to find its audience, Borg says the experience was a huge learning curve. He says, “I never learned so much. It was the best film school ever. What I’m most pleased about is that we made the film we wanted to make.”

This story appears in Cue Entertainment.

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Don’t read about ‘Dean Spanley’, just go see it

Posted on December 8, 2008 by admin

dean stanley x650By Ray Bennett

If you like droll, dry and eccentric English movies then “Dean Spanley” is for you.

It’s a small picture set in Edwardian times and stars Jeremy Northam, Sam Neill (pictured) and Peter O’Toole, who all perform beautifully. But it’s the type of film it’s better to know nothing about before you see it. I had no idea what it was about and my smile started very soon and got wider as it played out.

The film is released in the United Kingdom on Friday but although it screened at the Toronto International Film Festival this year, no United States release has been announced. That’s a real shame as it should do well, and it also prevents me listing “Dean Spanley” in my Top 10 films of the year for The Hollywood Reporter.

Directed by New Zealander Toa Fraser, it’s based on a novel by Irish writer Lord Dunsany (1878-1957) with a screenplay by veteran Scottish writer Alan Sharp, who has some very interesting credits that will not at all prepare you for “Dean Spanley”.

Amongst many other films, Sharp wrote the scripts for some terrific little pictures from the 1970s including Richard Fleischer’s “The Last Run” (1971, starring George C. Scott; Peter Fonda’s “The Hired Hand” (1971, starring Fonda and Warren Oates; Robert Aldrich’s “Ulzana’s Raid” (1972), starring Burt Lancaster; Ted Kotcheff’s “Billy Two Hats” (1974), starring Gregory Peck; and Arthur Penn’s “Night Moves”, starring Gene Hackman.

Sharp also wrote Sam Peckinpah’s last feature, “The Osterman Weekend” (1983), starring Rutger Hauer, and Michael Caton-Jones’s “Rob Roy” (1995), starring Liam Neeson.

“Dean Spanley,” for which he is also executive producer, was obviously a labour of love and it shows.

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‘Slumdog Millionaire’ tops British Indie Film Awards

Posted on November 30, 2008 by admin

 

slumdog millionaireBy Ray Bennett

LONDON – Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire” (pictured), a tale of a young boy from Mumbai who becomes a surprise success on “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire”, was named best film at the British Independent Film Awards tonight and Boyle won as best director.

Dev Patel, who plays the boy in the film, won the most promising newcomer award. Vera Farmiga won as best actress for “The Boy In the Striped Pyjamas” and Michael Fassbender won as best actor for “Hunger”. Steve McQueen was named best debut director for “Hunger” and Sean Bobbitt, cinematographer on “Hunger”, won the best technical achievement award.

Although Sally Hawkins, star of Mike Leigh’s “Happy-Go-Lucky” was overlooked as best actress, her co-stars Alexis Zegerman and Eddie Marsan won the awards for best supporting actress and actor.

Rupert Wyatt’s prison drama “The Escapist” won the prize for best achievement in production; James Marsh’s “Man On Wire” was named best documentary and Ari Folman’s “Waltz With Bashir” won for best foreign film. Martin McDonagh won the screenplay award for “In Bruges”.

Actors David Thewlis and Martin Sheen won career achievement awards.

This story appeared in Cue Entertainment.

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Lots of awards contenders in UK January film releases

Posted on November 25, 2008 by admin

the reader. x650jpgBy Ray Bennett

The January UK release schedule is chock-a-block with awards contenders including two with much-anticipated Kate Winslet performances, another with Anne Hathaway, and several films featuring potential BAFTA and Oscar candidates for best actor such as Benicio Del Toro, Michael Sheen, Frank Langella, Sean Penn, Viggo Mortensen, Mickey Rourke, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Cruise.

Nominations for the 2009 British Film Academy Awards are due on Jan. 15 but although BAFTA rules require entered films to be screened for voting members by Dec. 18, distributors have until Feb. 6 to put them on general release ahead of awards night on Feb. 8. The US Academy Awards will be handed out on Feb. 22.

Kate Winslet won a BAFTA award as best supporting actress for “Sense and Sensibility” in 1996 and she has added three more British Academy and five Oscar nominations since then. Expectations are high for both of her new films, “The Reader” (pictured top) directed by Stephen Daldry and “Revolutionary Road” directed by husband Sam Mendes, who won an Oscar as best director for “American Beauty” in 2000.

Ralph Fiennes co-stars in “The Reader” (Jan. 9, Entertainment), which is set in post-war Germany but delves back into Nazi war crimes. David Hare wrote the screenplay, adapted from a novel by Bernhard Schlink. “Revolutionary Road” (Jan. 30, Paramount) teams Winslet with her “Titanic” co-star Leonard DiCaprio (also an awards contender) in a story of an American couple in the 1950s who give up their comfortable suburban life in New England and move to France.

rachel getting married hathaway x650Anne Hathaway (“The Devil Wears Prada”, “Get Smart”) has won high praise for her performance in Oscar-winner Jonathan Demme’s “Rachel Getting Married” (above) playing a rehab habitué who goes home for her sister’s wedding with mixed results.

Benicio Del Toro won a best supporting actor Oscar for “Traffic” in 2001 and Steven Soderberg won as best director for that film. The two pair up again in a two-part saga about Latin American revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevera. Given a mixed reception when shown in one piece at this year’s Festival de Cannes, the 268-minute epic is being distributed as two films, “The Argentine” (Jan. 2, Optimum Releasing) and “Guerilla” (Feb. 20). The first picture is a rousing depiction of Che’s involvement with Fidel Castro in the victory over Cuban dictator Batista. The second one is the downbeat story of a failed coup and his death in Bolivia. Both films are almost entirely in the Spanish language but the Puerto Rican Del Toro has received warm reviews for his performance.

Michael Sheen and Frank Langella recreate their award-winning stage performances as David Frost and US President Richard Nixon in Ron Howard’s film version of the Peter Morgan play “Frost/Nixon” (Jan. 9, Universal). Langella won Broadway’s Tony Award playing the disgraced Nixon who expected his televised interviews with Frost to be a breeze until the British TV talk-show host turned the tables.

Milk Penn x650Sean Penn (above with James Franco), who won the 2003 Oscar as best actor for “Mystic River”, plays another real-life character in “Milk” (Jan. 16, Momentum), 1970s San Francisco politician Harvey Milk. He was the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the US and was shot to death by a former city supervisor, played in the film by Josh Brolin.

Viggo Mortensen stars in “The Road” (originally Jan. 16, Icon, but now postponed), adapted from the doomsday novel by Cormac McCarthy (“No Country For Old Men”). Directed by Australia’s John Hillcoat (“The Proposition”), it’s a fable about a man trying to keep his son safe in a barren post-apocalyptic world. Co-stars include Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce and Robert Duvall.

British cult-film director Darren Aronofsky tries a more mainstream approach in “The Wrestler” (Jan. 16, Optimum Releasing), which won the Golden Lion at this year’s Venice International Film Festival. Mickey Rourke delivers a career-best performance as an over-the-hill wrestler dealing with the effects of a life misspent. Marisa Tomei, who won the best supporting actress Oscar in 1992 for “My Cousin Vinny”, is in contention for honours as well playing a sympathetic stripper, and Hollywood-based British composer and Aronofsky regular Clint Mansell delivers another topline score.

benjamin button pitt x650Brad Pitt has the lead in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (above, Jan. 23, Warner), which has been likened to “Forrest Gump”, not least because the screenplay is by Eric Roth, who won the 1994 adapted screenplay Oscar for that film. Based on a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it relates the saga of a man who is born in his 80s and ages backwards, starting in New Orleans in 1918 and ending in the 21st century. David Fincher directs a cast that also features Oscar-winners Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton.

The US Academy has nominated Tom Cruise twice as best actor and once as supporting actor and word is that his performance in “Valkyrie” (Jan. 30, 20th Century Fox) could put him in contention again. He plays Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, the Nazi officer who conspired to kill Hitler during World War II. Rumours had suggested that all was not well with the production but now everything seems very positive. Bryan Singer directs a cast that includes several German stars and Brits such as Stephen Fry, Eddie Izzard, Bill Nighy and David Bamber as Hitler.

Other coming attractions include:

Jan. 2: “The Spirit” (Lionsgate UK) stars Gabriel Macht (“A Love Song For Bobby Long”) as a murdered rookie cop who returns to clean up the city, based on a comic book series and directed by Frank Miller (“Sin City”). Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson and Eva Mendes co-star.

Jan. 9: “Bride Wars” (20th Century Fox) stars Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson as best friends who fall out when they plan their weddings on the same day. “Sex Drive” (Contender Films) tells of teenaged American boys trying to lose their virginity. “Surveillance” (Odeon Sky Filmworks) features Julia Ormond and Bill Pullman in a violent and quite twisted tale of murder on the open road directed by Jennifer Lynch (“Boxing Helena”).

Jan. 16: “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” (Walt Disney), which was No. 1 when it opened in the US, is a shaggy tale about a spoiled pooch suddenly adrift in Mexico City with a voice cast including Drew Barrymore and Andy Garcia. “Seven Pounds” stars Will Smith as a depressed and guilt-ridden taxman who attempts redemption by helping seven strangers.

Jan. 23: “Slumdog Millionaire” (Pathe) is the latest from Danny Boyle, a tale about a contestant in the Indian version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” that is also the subject of much awards chatter. “Role Models” (Universal) stars Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott as cocky salesmen doing reluctant community service. “Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans” (Entertainment) is more of the same but without Kate Beckinsale.

Jan. 30: “Franklyn” (Contender Films) stars Sam Riley (“Control”) in a story about a London ruled by religious fanatics. “My Bloody Valentine” (Lionsgate UK) is a tale of mythic horror while “Nick And Norah’s Infinite Playlist” (Sony Pictures) follows Manhattan teenagers seeking a mythical rock band.

This article appeared in Cue Entertainment.

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Ry Cooder at home in the California desert

Posted on November 23, 2008 by admin

Ry Cooder in the desert

There are nearly 100 Ry Cooder tracks on my iPod, just ahead of Randy Newman, including songs, film scores and his last three releases, the superb trilogy “Chávez Ravine” (2005), “My Name Is Buddy” (2007 ) and “I, Flathead” (2008), all from Nonesuch Records.

And so it was a pleasure to see in today’s travel section in The New York Times a fascinating piece by Lawrence Tones exploring the relationship between Cooder’s songs and the working class towns of the Southern California desert. There’s also a terrific audio slide show with photos by Erik Grigorian (as above) and links to his albums.

Here’s an excerpt:

Ry Cooder — the rock and blues guitarist, roots musician, record producer, songwriter and composer — is a son of Santa Monica who has spent nearly 40 years exploring all corners of the musical planet, like a sharp-eared extraterrestrial on a lifelong voyage of discovery. (His two-CD career anthology, released last month, has a perfect title: “The U.F.O. Has Landed.”)

But even that barely covers it — it’s strictly from his solo albums and the haunting scores he wrote for films like “Alamo Bay” and “Paris, Texas”. If you add all the records he has made with other musicians, like Gabby Pahinui, Flaco Jiménez, Ali Farka Touré, Mavis Staples, the Chieftains and, most famously, the Cuban all-stars of the Buena Vista Social Club, you can only wonder where on earth he could go next.

The answer: his own backyard.

Read the full story.

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Carl Morgan, a real newspaperman, dies at 77

Posted on November 22, 2008 by admin

By Ray Bennett

LONDON – I was sad to get a phone call last night from Trevor Wilhelm, a reporter at Canada’s Windsor Star, who said Carl Morgan (pictured), former editor of that newspaper, had died. Carl was city editor in my early years at the paper a very long time ago.

My connections to the Star are strong with many friends still there and my daughter Shannon Bennett is in the marketing department.

CarlMorgan.jpgI immediately called lifelong friend Ron Base in Canada, who was also there at that time, and broke the news. We chatted about those treasured days and wondered how impersonal the obituary would be, but Wilhelm (who also spoke to another lifelong friend, Jimmy Bruce) did a great job and indulged our nostalgia.

Here are some excerpts:

Carl Morgan hated cliches so he’ll have to forgive his grieving friends and colleagues. Former colleagues of Morgan, the volunteer, family man and former Windsor Star editor who died Friday after a battle with cancer, couldn’t avoid cliches while talking about him no matter how hard they tried.

“He was a real newspaper man’s newspaper man,” said former Star reporter Ron Base. “He was a throwback to the kind of hard drinking, tough talking, no-nonsense editors that you usually only see in newspaper movies.”

“We used to call him the whirling dervish, because he was going in many directions at one time and wanted everything done that very minute,” said former Star editor and publisher Jim Bruce. “We never called him that to his face. He didn’t suffer fools very easily. He was not very happy when he didn’t think people were pulling their weight or living up to their potential.”

“I’ve worked in two great newspaper environments in my life,” said Ray Bennett, a former Star reporter now working at the Hollywood Reporter in London, England. “One was at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner in the late 80s. The other one was definitely at The Windsor Star in the early 70s. It was a great group to work for. We had fun. We played hard, we worked hard. And Carl was very much leader of his boys in the newsroom.”

Read the full obituary

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