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A string of auteur directors – from Orson Welles to Steven Soderbergh to Lorenza Mazzetti – have fallen for Kafka’s visionary brilliance, with always-intriguing results

There are director’s cuts, special editions, redux versions – and then there’s Mr Kneff. Normally, a recut film is the prerogative of a film-maker who feels abused by the studio they worked for, or for whom a streaming platform has given the opportunity to enlarge on their “vision”; but this isn’t quite the case for Steven Soderbergh. In 1991 Soderbergh released Kafka, a tricksy fiction-slash-biopic, which – notoriously – managed to extract nearly all the heat from a film-making career that had got off to a stellar start with the Palme d’Or-winning Sex, Lies and Videotape. Soderbergh, though, is nothing if not a trier, and after years of tinkering, has completed Mr Kneff, a whole new version of Kafka, under a whole new title.

Mr Kneff...

Maggie Smith, an acting giant who became beloved to younger generations through her work on the “Harry Potter” films and “Downton Abbey” TV Series, is dead at 89, IndieWire has confirmed.

Smith won two Academy Awards: Best Actress for 1969’s “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” and Best Supporting Actress for 1978’s “California Suite.” She also won five BAFTAs, four Emmys, three Golden Globes, and a Tony Award.

She was perhaps best known the world over in her last days, however, for her work as Professor McGonagall in eight “Harry Potter” films, as well as her role as the Dowager Countess Grantham on “Downton Abbey.” But those titles, though bringing her to a new generation and showing how she could impart her own indelible spin on even franchise material, were just the tiniest part of a career of legendary depth and breadth.

Smith was born December 28, 1934 in Essex. Her father was...

‘Midwich Cuckoos’ Composer Hannah Peel To Curate Mentor Program

Exclusive: The European branch of First Artists Management (Fam)—the international talent agency representing composers, music supervisors, and music editors— has announced a second edition of its UK Composer Assistant and Mentor Programme (C.A.M.P.). Ivor Novello award-winning composer Hannah Peel (Midwich Cuckoos) will be the C.A.M.P. 2024-25 ambassador and is co-curating the program. Composer Mentors already signed up include Alex Baranowski, Natalie Holt (Loki) and Ré Olunuga (Girl), with others to be announced. The initiative is designed for young music makers from underrepresented groups wanting to break into the industry, with the aim of launching new voices and creating new role models. “C.A.M.P. was created to both demystify the Music for Screen industry and to offer practical tips, mentoring and, most importantly, real-life working experience to help new voices to break into the industry,” said Hamish Duff,...

‘The Big Bang Theory’ star Kunal Nayyar has joined the cast of Gurnder Chadha’s festive offering ‘Christmas Karma’ from True Brit Entertainment, Bend It Films, Maven Screen Media and Civic Studios.

Inspired by Dickens ‘A Christmas Carol, Nayyar will lead the cast as Scrooge with a further cast including Eva Longoria, Boy George, Billy Porter, Hugh Bonneville, Leo Suter, Charithra Chandran, Pixie Lott, Danny Dyer, Bilal Hasna, Allan Corduner, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Rufus Jones, Eve, Nitin Ganatra.

On his casting Nayyar stated; “To explore a beloved holiday tale through the eyes of an immigrant story (much like my own) is exactly the kind of movie that I believe will resonate with so many of us who are searching for the meaning of home. It takes a visionary like Gurinder to take a chance on a story like this, and I am humbled to be a part of it.”

Also in...

‘Bend It Like Beckham’ helmer Gurinder Chadha is all set to start shooting for her next production, ‘Christmas Karma’, a Bollywood musical set in contemporary London and inspired by Charles Dickens’s ‘A Christmas Carol’.

Kunal Nayyar, who is best known for his role in the popular sitcom ‘The Big Bang Theory’, is the lead actor in a star-studded global cast, which includes Eva Longoria, Boy George, Billy Porter, Hugh Bonneville, Leo Suter, Charithra Chandran, Pixie Lott, Danny Dyer, Allan Corduner, Bilal Hasna, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Rufus Jones, Eve and Nitin Ganatra.

Chadha, a BAFTA-nominated director, is also the producer and writer, and the music is by the six-time Ivor Novello award-winning singer and songwriter Gary Barlow, apart from Shaznay Lewis and Nitin Sawhney. Shooting for the film will start on April 22.

‘Christmas Karma’ sees Chadha’s return to the big screen following her time working on the Indian historical television...

Sting is the latest songwriter to be given the highest honour of The Ivors Academy: Fellowship of the Academy.

The former The Police singer has sold over 100 million albums throughout his solo and band career, making him one of Britain’s most successful artists.

He has won more than seven Ivor Novellos, including the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.

The singer follows in the footsteps of the likes of Elton John, Paul McCartney and Kate Bush, who have all received the award.

“Becoming an Academy Fellow is an honour reserved for those who have truly reshaped and redefined the art and craft of music creation,” said the Academy.

Amazon Music has also been announced as the sponsor of the awards and will commemorate Sting’s honour by releasing an exclusive demo of “If It’s Love”.

“Of all the awards in the world of music, The Ivors are for me,...

Former One Direction singer Harry Styles successfully beat Ed Sheeran on The UK’s Top Hits of 2022 chart with his best-selling track ‘As It Was’. ‘As It Was’ became the most listened-to single of the year in the UK, according to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), based on its analysis of Official Charts Company data. It was streamed 180.9 million times and spent ten consecutive weeks at No.1 in the U.K. and 15 weeks at the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100, a new record for a British artist, reports aceshowbiz.com.

Official Charts’ website also stated that Styles “leads an all-British takeover of the Top 10 biggest tracks of the year in the U.K., marking the first time in 50 years that all ten of the year’s most successful singles were released by British artists.”

In the meantime, Ed bagged the second and third spots on the list with his...

The Red Sea International Film Festival (Red Sea Iff), in partnership with Vox Cinemas and the Mbc Group, has unveiled the program for its second edition, which will run from 1-10 December in Jeddah, nestled on the eastern shore of the Red Sea. The Festival will welcome filmmakers, talent, media, industry professionals, and film fans for a 10-day celebration of global cinema.

The Red Sea Iff is thrilled to announce the opening night gala, What’s Love Got to Do with It? directed by Shekhar Kapur, written by Jemima Khan and produced by Studiocanal and Working Title. The film stars Lily James, Shazad Latif, Shabana Azmi, Sajal Aly, Asim Chaudhry and Academy Award winner Emma Thompson. Sliding between London and Lahore, love and friendship, tradition and iconoclasm, What’s Love Got to Do with It? is a cross-cultural British romantic comedy that follows a filmmaker who decides to...

The Oscars don’t always get it right. There have been many notable injustices since the first ceremony took place in 1929, but surely none more surprising than the absence of Alfred Hitchcock’s name from the list of winners.

The man responsible for some of the greatest films ever made, and who committed many of cinema’s most deathless images to celluloid, never won an Academy Award despite being nominated for best director on five occasions: Rebecca in 1940, Lifeboat in 1944, Spellbound in 1945, Rear Window in 1954 and Psycho in 1960.

However, these five movies represent just a small percentage of Hitchcock’s magnificent oeuvre of 52 films. To counteract this injustice, here is my selection of his 20 greatest.

20. Blackmail (1929)

A young woman kills a man who tries to rape her and then finds herself caught between the investigating policeman, who happens to be her fiance, and a blackmailer. Generally considered to be the first British talkie,...

The Oscars don’t always get it right. There have been many notable injustices since the first ceremony took place in 1929, but surely none more surprising than the absence of Alfred Hitchcock’s name from the list of winners.

The man responsible for some of the greatest films ever made, and who committed many of cinema’s most deathless images to celluloid, never won an Academy Award despite being nominated for best director on five occasions: Rebecca in 1940, Lifeboat in 1944, Spellbound in 1945, Rear Window in 1954 and Psycho in 1960.

However, these five movies represent just a small percentage of Hitchcock’s magnificent oeuvre of 52 films. To counteract this injustice, here is my selection of his 20 greatest.

20. Blackmail (1929)

A young woman kills a man who tries to rape her and then finds herself caught between the investigating policeman, who happens to be her fiance, and a blackmailer. Generally considered to be the first British talkie,...

The Oscars don’t always get it right. There have been many notable injustices since the first ceremony took place in 1929, but surely none more surprising than the absence of Alfred Hitchcock’s name from the list of winners.

The man responsible for some of the greatest films ever made, and who committed many of cinema’s most deathless images to celluloid, never won an Academy Award despite being nominated for best director on five occasions: Rebecca in 1940, Lifeboat in 1944, Spellbound in 1945, Rear Window in 1954 and Psycho in 1960.

However, these five movies represent just a small percentage of Hitchcock’s magnificent oeuvre of 52 films. To counteract this injustice, here is my selection of his 20 greatest.

20. Blackmail (1929)

A young woman kills a man who tries to rape her and then finds herself caught between the investigating policeman, who happens to be her fiance, and a blackmailer. Generally considered to be the first British talkie,...

Most biopics are thuddingly prosaic: There’s a lot of “this happened, then that happened,” performed by a famous person covering themselves in latex in an attempt to resemble another famous person.

In the hands of British auteur Terence Davies, however, biopics can be poetry, although his choice of subject matter probably helps in that department. On the heels of his gorgeous and contemplative “A Quiet Passion,” about the life of Emily Dickinson, he returns with another passionately quiet portrait, this time exploring Siegfried Sassoon in “Benediction.”

It’s an impressionistic collage, and Davies skillfully jumps from the 1910s to the 1960s and back again. “Benediction” fleetingly encapsulates the horrors of WWI — Sassoon went from being a decorated soldier to an outspoken critic against those who would prolong the conflict — the shadow-world of British gay men in the decades before homosexuality was decriminalized in the UK, and the bitterness of...

English filmmaker Terence Davies, from painting working-class portraits to sketching urbane artistic figures like Emily Dickinson, has long been public about his discomfort with being gay and his feelings of banality toward life in general. He’s not an especially hopeful storyteller, from the closeted anguish of a Liverpool boy in “The Long Day Closes” to the suicidal Hester Collyer’s unquenchable thirst for passion in “The Deep Blue Sea.”

His pessimistic but searching sensibilities, always hungering for a redemption or answer that can’t be found and then resigning to that lack, find their purest expression in “Benediction.” The riotously well-penned but deeply despairing film is a portrait of World War I-era English poet Siegfried Sassoon, who lived a comfortably gay shadow life on the fringes of the Bright Young Things, settled into marriage in middle age, and died a late-minted Catholic, bereft, in 1967. He outlived many of his peers,...

Talk

Emmy-nominated Michael Sheen (“Good Omens”) will join the upcoming TEDxSoho talk on May 30 at London’s Cambridge Theatre virtually via a pre-recorded session. The event will also feature an in-person talk from actor Ray Panthaki, recently BIFA-nominated for “Boiling Point,” while Brit and Ivor Novello-winning singer-songwriter Tom Odell will be performing.

Hosted by “The Battersea Poltergeist” podcast creator Danny Robins, the curated program of short inspirational talks features previously announced speakers including U.K Cinema Association CEO Phil Clapp, Variety international editor Manori Ravindran, author and computational biologist, autism advocate and winer of the 2020 Science Book Award, Dr. Camilla Pang, and a performance from ex-Razorlight guitarist David Ellis. Confirmed speakers also include Karl Lokko, a former gang leader turned activist, poet, public speaker, adventurer and personal advisor to Prince Harry; Professor Katy Shaw, author of a report into post-covid cultural recovery; restaurateur Paulo De Tarso; author and journalist Janet Wang; and art critic,...

Alfred Hitchcock described his third film, The Lodger, as the true beginning of his directorial career but it would prove a near fatal screen debut for its leading light June Tripp

December 1925 was a busy month for June. A fixture of the West End stage since childhood, her surname, Tripp, had been excised by the impresario Charles B Cochran because it “sounds a bit comical for a dancer”. She spent the days rehearsing for a musical, Kid Boots, the evenings starring in another, Mercenary Mary, and then would “rush to the studio at midnight”, to act in a horse-racing short film opposite the fading American film star Carlyle Blackwell. The studio was at Poole Street, Islington, in north London, built five years earlier by Paramount but now rented out, most often to a British company, Gainsborough, run by Michael Balcon.

The short, Riding for a King, starred the celebrated jockey...

Matthew Vaughn’s Marv is teaming with Warner Music Group (Wmg) on joint venture Marv Music.

Through a multi-year, worldwide agreement, the newly formed Marv Music label will work with new and established artists to create original music for films as well as standalone soundtrack and film-inspired album releases.

With the launch of the label, Colin Barlow – former head of Polydor Records, RCA Records UK, and Geffen UK – has joined Marv Music as President, overseeing development, production, and distribution.

The label’s first release will be a joint release with Parlophone entitled ‘Measure of a Man,’ performed by FKA twigs featuring Central Cee and written by Ivor Novello winner Jamie Hartman, John Hill, Amanda Ghost, Dominic Lewis, Jane Goldman, and Matthew Vaughn.

The song will be released on 19th November 2021 and will be featured in Vaughn’s 20th Century Studios’ film, The King’s Man, which is released in December.

Another upcoming Marv film,...

As the New York Film Festival wrapped late last weekend, the bulk of the fall film festival season has now come to a close after a dizzying few weeks that saw Venice, Telluride, Toronto, New York, and the more genre-leaning Fantastic Fest roll out in somewhat normal fashion. While some of this year’s festival lineups were understandably truncated and some of the buzziest titles arrived at events with distribution already in hand (as was the case with many of the biggest titles at Venice and NYFF), a number of hot titles are still looking for homes.

These films include some of IndieWire’s favorites from the past few weeks, including both new and established talents, exciting features for distributors looking for awards contenders or simply to get into biz with bright talents on the rise, and much more. Open up those pocketbooks, and take a chance on these standouts.

“You’re shivering. Keep your handcuffs hidden and we’ll get some brandy.”

Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lodger: A Story Of The London Fog (1927) will be showing Wednesday, October 13 at 8 pm. This night is presented by Silents, Please Stl. Tickets are free, but donations are highly appreciated. All donations go to Silents, Please Stl. The Arkadin is located at 5228 Gravois Ave, St Louis, Mo 63116. Films are currently showing on the Backlot Patio (Enter through the Heavy Anchor) and bringing extra lawn chairs is strongly encouraged. Donations are accepted that evening or in advance Here. The Arkadin Cinema site can be found Here

In The Lodger: A Story Of The London Fog, a serial killer known as “the avenger” is murdering blonde women in London. A new lodger, Jonathan Drew, arrives at Mr. and Mrs. Bounting’s in Bloomsbury and rents a room. The man has some strange habits, he...

Terence Davies’ lyrical, gorgeous and elegant film “Benediction” is an unusual biopic about British war poet Siegfried Sassoon in that it jumps around in time and finds Sassoon as both a young and old man. Scholars may be left hunting for the film’s specific timeline, but the film no doubt packs an emotional wallop.

In speaking with TheWrap, Davies said that was certainly an intentional choice, and that when many linear narrative films are done poorly, they’re “incredibly dull” to watch.

“In any film, I’m interested in not literally what happened next. What’s more important is what happens emotionally next,” Davies told TheWrap at the Toronto International Film Festival. “From the first three shots in the film you can tell how it’s going to end. That’s just not interesting.”

British audiences will know Siegfried Sassoon as one of the great war poets of the...

In multiple interviews over the years, British filmmaker Terence Davies has baldly stated that being gay has ruined his life: “I hate it, I’ll go to my grave hating it … it has killed part of my soul,” he said in 2011, adding that his sexuality is the reason he remains single and celibate. Davies’ professed loneliness and sensitivity has bled through many of his films, wistfully entrenched as they often are in an unattainable past, most recently in a series of female-centered character studies: his swooningly melodramatic, cut-glass adaptation of Terence Rattigan’s “The Deep Blue Sea,” his amber-cast farm drama “Sunset Song” and his mannered, internalized Emily Dickinson portrait “A Quiet Passion.” Yet Davies has never directly addressed homosexuality in his oeuvre, for all its queer undercurrents; that it’s so openly and sensually a part of his intricate, intensely felt new film “Benediction” is the first of its many surprises.

Time is everything in a Terence Davies film. In Benediction, his biopic about English poet Siegfried Sassoon (Jack Lowden), he eventually covers his subject’s marriage to Hester Gatty (Kate Phillips). There’s a shot of the couple standing still, facing the camera as they pose for a wedding photo (a shot that tends to pop up throughout the director’s filmography). The camera flashes, we see the black-and-white photo, and then a fade transitions us to the future, where it rests on their bedside while Hester looks at their newborn child. The sequence is an encapsulation of what Davies does best: observing life with one’s head facing backwards, the cumulative weight of the past bearing down on every moment of the present.

Benediction shows how Sassoon got to that point in his life and beyond, hopping back and forth from his younger days to his older self (played...

Terence Davies, that most meticulous of auteurs, returns to the Toronto International Film Festival with “Benediction,” a lush biopic of Siegfried Sassoon, the poet and decorated veteran who became an outspoken critic of World War I. The film should be catnip for Davies admirers. It’s another beautifully composed portrait of genius, repression and loneliness, and a film that compliments his last cinematic outing “A Quiet Passion,” the acclaimed 2016 drama about Emily Dickinson.

“Benediction” stars Jack Lowden as Sassoon and charts his tortured romances with male lovers such as the screen star Ivor Novello, his break with the ruling class over the conduct of the war, as while as his later embrace of religion. Ahead of the film’s debut on Sept. 12, Davies spoke with Variety about what draws him to a project, his hatred for films based on Jane Austen novels and his general amazement that he has managed...

"The feeling was: just to be nutty. Moving the head like a trojan." AMC TV in the UK recently debuted this new documentary series titled Before We Was We: Madness by Madness, a inside and comprehensive look at the popular British ska band known as Madness, which originally formed in 1976. We're only now catching up with this trailer - but it's really worth a look. "The docu-series traces the humble beginnings of the band that would go on to set the record for the biggest audience ever for the BBC's Live New Year's Eve Broadcast – the most watched TV music event of 2018, and perform on top of Buckingham Palace as part of the Queen's Jubilee celebrations. Throughout their career, Madness have had 10 UK top ten albums, 15 top ten singles and have won a multitude of awards including a prestigious Ivor Novello. And the story isn't over yet." What a tease.

The Notebook Primer introduces readers to some of the most important figures, films, genres, and movements in film history.Above: The Light that FailedShe had the beauty and talent of the most captivating star, the unwavering determination of the most ambitious producer, and the fervent creative vision of the most gifted director. Ida Lupino could fall into any number of categories, yet with a significance that remains almost immeasurable, perhaps the one word best describing this groundbreaking artist is simply this: she was a pioneer. Born February 4, 1918, in South London, Lupino belonged to a revered family of entertainers. Her mother, actress Connie O’Shea (also known as Connie Emerald), and her father, music hall comedian Stanley Lupino, were part of an ancestral dynasty of performers, and young Ida was accordingly encouraged to take the stage during her earliest years. In addition to writing her first play at the age of seven,...

WaterTower Music announced today’s digital release of the soundtrack to “It Chapter Two”, the conclusion to the highest-grossing horror film of all time, director Andy Muschietti’s critically acclaimed It. The film is slated for release in theatres and IMAX on September 6, 2019, and features new music by Golden Globe®, Emmy®, Ivor Novello® and World …

The post Now Available ‘It Chapter Two’ – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack appeared first on Hnn | Horrornews.net.

In honor of Stephen Sondheim’s 90th birthday next March, London’s Queen’s Theatre will be renamed Sondheim Theatre after the influential American composer and lyricist. This will make Sondheim the only living artist to have a theatre named for him both in the West End and on Broadway.

Theater owner Cameron Mackintosh today announced that the West End theater, which has been home to the world’s longest running musical Les Misérables since 2004, will close July 13 for four months of renovations and a complete restoration of the auditorium and backstage. It will reopen in December as the newly named Sondheim Theatre and will continue as the home of Les Mis as it enters its 35th year.

Sondheim said he had loved British theatre since he saw his first play in London in 1958 and is honored by Mackintosh’s gesture. “I am chuffed, as you say in British English,...

At least twenty fine actors and stars make Robert Altman’s period piece about a party in a big English country house into a gala occasion. The show is also a fascinating entree into a classed world of masters and servants. The drama of manners could also be described as a mystery who-dunnit. Either way, we’re floored by excellent work from a stellar cast.

Gosford Park

Blu-ray

Arrow Academy USA

2001 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 131 min. / Street Date , 2018 / Available from Arrow Video

Starring: Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas, Camilla Rutherford, Charles Dance, Geraldine Somerville, Tom Hollander, Natasha Wightman, Jeremy Northam, Bob Balaban, James Wilby, Claudie Blakley, Laurence Fox, Trent Ford, Ryan Phillippe, Stephen Fry, Ron Webster, Kelly Macdonald, Clive Owen, Helen Mirren, Eileen Atkins, Emily Watson, Alan Bates, Derek Jacobi, Richard E. Grant.

Cinematography: Andrew Dunn

Film Editor: Tim Squyres

Production Design: Stephen Altman

Original Music: Patrick Doyle

Written by Julian Fellowes,...

Robert Altman’s Gosford Park will be available on Blu-ray November 27th from Arrow Academy

Tea At Four. Dinner At Eight. Murder At Midnight.

In 2001, Robert Altman took the unexpected step into Agatha Christie territory with Gosford Park, a murder-mystery whodunit set in an English country house starring a host of British acting greats and with an Oscar-winning screenplay by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes. It would become a huge success with audiences and critics alike.

Set in 1932, the action unfolds during a weekend shooting party hosted by Sir William McArdle (Alan Bates), and his wife Lady Sylvia (Kristin Scott Thomas) at his estate, Gosford Park. Among the guests are friends, relatives, the actor and composer Ivor Novello (Jeremy Northam), and an American film producer (Bob Balaban). When Sir William is found murdered in the library, everyone and their servants becomes a suspect.

Also starring Charles Dance, Michael Gambon, Richard E. Grant,...

“Hitch Begins”

By Raymond Benson

The British silent film period of director Alfred Hitchcock is simultaneously interesting and frustrating. It’s the former because it allows one to view a genius at the very beginning of his career—the kernels of motifs and themes, as well as stylistic choices, can be spotted and analyzed. It’s the latter because only one or two of the nine silent pictures he made are truly memorable and most are available today solely as poor quality public domain transfers.

The Criterion Collection has just released a bang-up, marvelous new edition of Hitchcock’s most celebrated silent work, The Lodger—A Story of the London Fog. The disk also contains one of the rarer silent titles, Downhill (also 1927), which might be reason enough for Hitchcock enthusiasts to purchase the package.

A bit of history: Hitchcock was working for Gainsborough Pictures under the auspices of Michael Balcon...

Of all the individuals ever assigned the task of sitting alongside the camera operator to direct a motion picture, I feel confident saying that none have been subjected to closer analytical scrutiny and more widespread popular acclaim than Alfred Hitchcock. Routinely considered one of the greatest, if not the preeminent, cinematic geniuses of all time, the “Master of Suspense” boasts an unparalleled litany of superlative achievements dating back to the silent film era and continuing over the course of five decades. His career can conveniently be broken down and digested in a handful of different eras, with most Hitchcock fans beginning their acquaintance with his work based on the legendary run he enjoyed through the 1950s in perennial “greatest film of all time” candidates like Vertigo and Rear Window, then moving either forward in time to classic shockers like Psycho and The Birds from the 1960s, or backward into his...

Hitchcock’s first self-professed ‘Hitch’ picture is still a winner. Many of his recurring themes are present, and some of his visual fluidity – in this finely tuned commercial ‘shock’ movie with witty visual tricks from Hitchcock’s own background as an art director. And hey, he secured a real box office name to star as the mysterious maybe-slayer, ‘The Avenger.’

The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 885

1927 / B&W + Color tints / 1:33 Silent Ap / 91 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date June 27, 2017 / 39.95

Starring: Ivor Novello, June Tripp, Marie Ault, Arthur Chesney, Malcolm Keen.

Cinematography: Gaetano di Ventimiglia

Film Editor + titles: Ivor Montagu

Assistant director: Alma Reville

Written by Eliot Stannard from the book by Marie Belloc Lowndes

Produced by Michael Balcon and Carlyle Blackwell

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock became the most notable English film director for all the right reasons — he was talented and creative,...

A straw poll of the average music fan on what the biggest British albums of all time are is likely to consist of: Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd; (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? by Oasis; probably 21 by Adele; maybe Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits; Queen’s Greatest Hits Vol. 1, perhaps; but most definitely, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles. The latter of these has reached the grand old age of fifty, and so in way of celebration has been remastered and re-released in a sparkly new boxed set, which also includes a plethora of alternative recordings, outtakes and interviews, over four CDs and two DVDs and 100 minutes of extra footage. Imagine the 1995 release of The Beatles era defining anthology series, but focused purely on 1967. The release is also supported by a feature length documentary, directed by long time Beatles fan Alan G. Parker...

After premiering at the 2016 Toronto Film Festival, Ben Wheatley’s “Free Fire” is finally gearing up for its theatrical debut on April 21. But before that, we get to enjoy the film’s score, which was created by Portishead’s Geoff Barrow and composer Ben Salisbury. The soundtrack, which also includes songs by John Denver, Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Real Kids, was released Friday via Invada and Lakeshore Records.

Read More: ‘Free Fire’ Review: Brie Larson Stars In the Craziest Shootout of All Time

Barrow and Salisbury previously created the soundtrack for Alex Garland’s 2015 sci-fi psychological thriller “Ex Machina,” which earned them an Ivor Novello Award. The duo also collaborated on the score for Garland’s follow-up, “Annihilation,” which is slated for release in September; as well as an episode of the Netflix original series “Black Mirror.”

Read More: ‘Free Fire’ Trailer: Brie Larson and Ben Wheatley Unleash A...

Marcel Pagnols’ Marseille Trilogy, Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog” and Nicholas Ray’s “They Live by Night” are among the new titles joining the Criterion Collection this June. In addition, Kenji Mizoguchi’s “Ugetsu” and Sam Peckinpah’s “Straw Dogs” are being upgraded in new Blu-ray editions. More information below.

Read More: The Criterion Collection Announces May Titles: ‘Ghost World,’ ‘Dheepan,’ ‘Jeanne Dielman’ and More

“Ugetsu”

“Having refined his craft in the silent era, Kenji Mizoguchi was an elder statesman of Japanese cinema-fiercely revered by Akira Kurosawa and other younger directors-by the time he made ‘Ugetsu.’ And with this exquisite ghost story, a fatalistic wartime tragedy derived from stories by Akinari Ueda and Guy de Maupassant, he created a touchstone of his art, his long takes and sweeping camera guiding the viewer through a delirious narrative about two villagers whose pursuit of fame and...

Dubois Records, in cooperation with Mammoth Screen and Masterpiece will release the Victoria – Original Soundtrack digitally on all music streaming platforms to coincide with the Us release of the television series on PBS this coming weekend. The album features the limited series’ original score by multi-bafta and Ivor Novello winning composer Martin Phipps (Woman In Gold, The Keeping Room) and Ruth Barrett (City Of Tiny Lights, Whitechapel) with vocals from the Mediaeval Baebes. Victoria was first aired on ITV in the UK on August 28, 2016.

Phipps says: “The idea was to give Victoria a dynamic voice, an explosive theme through which we could rejoice in her strength & courage. The Mediaeval Baebes were the perfect sound for this. With one foot in the classical world & one in the commercial, they gave Victoria the mixture of refinement & attitude I was after.”

Barrett says: “I started composing from episode 2, weaving in some of Martin...

Jenny Morrill Sep 6, 2016

Den Of Geek raises a glass to some lesser-known soap star pop singles, from Coronation Street to Neighbours and more...

“Do you remember the guy who played that guy in that thing? His song was good wasn't it?”

The above is an example of a conversation regularly heard in our house. The only variants are that sometimes it was 'that girl from that thing', and a lot of the time the song was far from good.

Well sod it – I think we as a nation need to have more discussions about Craig McLachlan and Stefan Dennis. It's the only way our society will grow. So here are 12 songs from Soapland that weren't done by Kylie, Jason, or Kylie and Jason.

1. Kevin Kennedy (Curly Watts) – Bulldog Nation

Here we see Coronation Street's finest and supermarket manager extraordinaire with an indie effort from 2000. Did You Know - Kennedy...

Sondheim is the winner of an Academy Award, eight Tony Awards, including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award. Described by Frank Rich of the New York Times as 'the greatest, and perhaps best-known artist working in musical theatre', his most famous scores include as composerlyricist A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, and Assassins. He also wrote the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy.Lloyd Webber has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, two film scores, and a Latin Requiem Mass. He has also gained a number of honours, including a knighthood in 1992, followed by a peerage from the British Government for services to Music, seven Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards,...

'Sunset Blvd.': Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond. The Charles Brackett Diaries: Gay Rumors quashed, troubled Billy Wilder partnership discussed in Q&A with Anthony Slide See previous post: “Charles Brackett Diaries: Politics and Gossip During the Studio Era.” First of all, how did you become involved in this Charles Brackett project? And what did your editorial job entail? I discovered the diaries about six years ago when I was asked by Brackett's grandson, Jim Moore, to place a financial value on them during the process of his donating them to the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It was clear to me that these diaries had not only considerable financial worth, but also, and perhaps more importantly, they were primary resources in the study of Hollywood history. Happily, Charles Brackett's family (who own the copyright) gave permission for me to edit the diaries,...

Varèse Sarabande will release the Everest – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack digitally and on CD September 18, 2015.

The album features the original music composed by Dario Marianelli (Atonement, The Boxtrolls). The score is great and it’s what makes the movie even more intense!

“My initial instinctive approach to the score, which our director, Baltasar Kormákur, liked and encouraged me to follow, was to have a calling voice, a distant siren call,” explained Marianelli. “It is at the same time a voice that represents the ancient goddess-like mountain, but also a luring and irresistible calling to one’s own destiny.”

Marianelli’s musical “siren call” was performed by singer Melanie Pappenheim. “The same tune that I wrote for Melanie was also played by two wonderful string players in many variations—Caroline Dale and David La Page, with whom I also have worked on several other movies,” he said. “There were also moments...

The Hand Down the Staircase, "The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog" (1927)The silent film that first earned the director considerable praise from British critics and audiences, "The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog" plays like a prototype Hitchcock film, introducing many of the visual storytelling techniques and thematic overtones that he would continue to explore over the next several decades. Set in London as a serial killer is murdering attractive young blondes, the movie's taut suspense centers on whether or not the Bunting family's new renter is the killer. As played by Ivor Novello, the lodger's haunting appearance and gestures recall Nosferatu, and his interest in the Bunting's beautiful blonde daughter, Daisy (June Tipp), ominously suggests he may be the murderer the police are looking for. In the chilling shot above, the lodger sneaks out of his room late one night to take to the streets for unspecified reasons.

When Shaun decides to take the day off and have some fun, he gets a little more action than he bargained for. A mix up with The Farmer, a caravan, and a very steep hill lead them all to the Big City and it’s up to Shaun and the flock to return everyone safely to Mossy Bottom Farm.

Shaun The Sheep Movie powers through visual puns, sight gags and rollicking plot twists to arrive at a hard-won realization: there’s no place like home.

As there is no dialogue from any of the characters, the music plays such an important role in the movie. That’s where the fantastic, colorful score from composer Ilan Eshkeri comes in.

Complete with the Shaun the Sheep theme, lively cues, and songs, including the award-friendly “Feels Like Summer” song, Eshkeri score is a wonderful soundtrack for a very funny film.

Eshkeri’s recent film work includes Still Alice,...

Working across a wide range of musical mediums, Ivor Novello Award-winning and BAFTA-nominated composer Daniel Pemberton has embraced everything from large scale orchestral and choral works to innovative electronic sound design, live salsa bands to post-rock guitar line-ups.

From The Counselor, The Awakening and the upcoming Steve Jobs film, to name a few, Pemberton has delivered another eclectic score – this time Guy Ritchie’s latest movie The Man From U.N.C.L.E., in theatres Friday, August 14.

Fans of the TV show are familiar with the theme music from composer Jerry Goldsmith, with additional music for the various seasons provided by Morton Stevens, Walter Scharf, Lalo Schifrin, Gerald Fried, Robert Drasnin and Nelson Riddle.

Now comes the film version and a 5-star, international score that exudes the 1960’s as if it was pulled from a time vault. You’re right into the film from the first musical note and drum beat.

Recently the...

"Out of the ruins, out from the wreckage

Can't make the same mistakes this time.

We are the children, the last generation

We are the ones they left behind…"

From the moment you hear Tina Turner's powerful wailing over the opening credits, you know Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome is going to be a very different proposition to its glorious predecessors. Could that offbeat, anarchic energy be successfully retained for a film clearly designed for mass market appeal? Not quite.

The plot is an uninvolving mishmash of ideas and characters that never feel fully formed or realised. Max is thrust into the dangerous realms of Bartertown, a skewed remnant of society that's superbly well designed. After agreeing a deal with Turner's crooked ruler Aunty Entity, he faces a fight to the death in a steel cage called the Thunderdome.

A similar narrative structure to franchise revival Fury Road then ensues,...

Channel 4 drama Glue captivated audiences in 2014, and now the series's official soundtrack has been released.

Ivor Novello-nominated composed Walter Mair produced the score for the show, which followed events surrounding a murder in rural England.

Mair said: "Glue was a fantastic experience that required me to leave the picturesque countryside of England behind and dive into a gloomy and sinister England.

"The music focuses on the relationship between the main characters and their playful and emotive nature, which ultimately heads into much darker territory."

Glue director Daniel Nettheim added: "Walter is a wonderful collaborator and true craftsman of music for the screen.

"His entrancing score elevates the emotion and drama of the series to another cinematic level."

The official Glue soundtrack is released by eOne Music.

Glue's young cast included Yasmin Paige (Submarine), Rizzle Kicks' Jordan Stephens, Charlotte Spencer (Line of Duty), Tommy Lawrence Knight (The Sarah Jane Adventures...

Errol Brown, frontman of British soul band Hot Chocolate, known for the 1975 hit "You Sexy Thing," has died at age 71. The singer passed away at his home in the Bahamas after battling liver cancer, Sky News reported on Wednesday. He is survived by his wife and two daughters. His manager, Phil Dale, told the U.K. TV station that Brown was "a wonderful gentleman," adding, There was always music around wherever he was." Brown was born in Jamaica in 1948 and later moved to the United Kingdom. He was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2003. A year later, he received the Ivor Novello award, Britain's most prestigious music award, for...

Sondheim is the winner of an Academy Award, eight Tony Awards, including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award. Described by Frank Rich of the New York Times as 'the greatest, and perhaps best-known artist working in musical theatre', his most famous scores include as composerlyricist A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, and Assassins. He also wrote the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy.Lloyd Webber has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, two film scores, and a Latin Requiem Mass. He has also gained a number of honours, including a knighthood in 1992, followed by a peerage from the British Government for services to Music, seven Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards,...

Copyright Desert Dancer Productions Ltd 2014

Relativity Studios has released a new, behind-the-scenes featurette for their upcoming film Desert Dancer. The movie stars Freida Pinto, Reece Ritchie, Tom Cullen, Nazanin Boniadi and Makram J. Khoury.

Check out the featurette now for an inside look at the cast’s dance rehearsals with acclaimed choreographer Akram Khan.

The video features Benjamin Wallfisch’s original score throughout.

Set in Iran, this powerful and unbelievable true story follows the brave ambition of Afshin Ghaffarian. During the volatile climate of the 2009 presidential election, where many cultural freedoms were threatened, Afshin and some friends (including Elaheh played by Freida Pinto) risk their lives and form an underground dance company.

Through banned online videos, they learn from timeless legends who cross all cultural divides, such as Michael Jackson, Gene Kelly and Rudolf Nureyev. Afshin and Elaheh also learn much from each other, most importantly how to embrace their...

Walt Disney Records will release the original motion picture soundtrack for Cinderella on March 10, 2015.

The album features original music by Patrick Doyle (“Brave,” “Thor”) marking the eleventh time Doyle has teamed with director Kenneth Branagh. The score was recorded at Air Lyndhurst Studio in London, and was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Shearman and produced by Maggie Rodford. The film arrives in theaters on March 13, 2015.

Patrick Doyle’s long-time creative collaboration with Branagh began in 1989 with “Henry V.” The film’s song ‘Non Nobis Domine’ was awarded the 1989 Ivor Novello Award for Best Film Theme. In 1991, they re-teamed for “Dead Again,” which earned Doyle a Golden Globe-nomination. Subsequent collaborations include “Frankenstein,” “Much Ado About Nothing,” “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” “As You Like It,” “Hamlet” (for which Doyle received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Score), “Sleuth,” and “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.”

Patrick Doyle at the World Premiere of Cinderella.

[Press Release] Burbank, Calif., Feb. 25, 2015 -- Walt Disney Records will release the original motion picture soundtrack for Cinderella on March 10, 2015. The album features original music by Patrick Doyle ("Brave," "Thor") marking the eleventh time Doyle has teamed with director Kenneth Branagh. The score was recorded at Air Lyndhurst Studio in London, and was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Shearman and produced by Maggie Rodford. The film arrives in theaters on March 13, 2015. Patrick Doyle's long-time creative collaboration with Branagh began in 1989 with "Henry V." The film's song 'Non Nobis Domine' was awarded the 1989 Ivor Novello Award for Best Film Theme. In 1991, they re-teamed for "Dead Again," which earned Doyle a Golden Globe®-nomination....

Go behind the scenes with Jude Law and the cast with three new featurettes from Black Sea.

In his review of the film, James Rocchi (The Wrap) says the film, “will have any thrillseekers in the theater clutching their armrest and shivering with imagined terrors.”

Black Sea is a suspenseful adventure thriller centering on a rogue submarine captain (two-time Academy Award nominee Jude Law) who pulls together a misfit crew to go after a sunken treasure rumored to be lost in the depths of the Black Sea. As greed and desperation take control onboard their claustrophobic vessel, the increasing uncertainty of the mission causes the men to turn on each other to fight for their own survival.

Back Lot Music is issuing the digital soundtrack album for Black Sea, directed by Academy Award winner Kevin Macdonald, it was announced today. The soundtrack features 25 new score cues by composer Ilan Eshkeri.