Respect Review — Respect (2021) Film Review, a movie directed by Liesl Tommy and starring Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Tituss Burgess, Audra McDonald, Marc Maron, Heather Headley, Kimberly Scott, Hailey Kilgore, Saycon Sengbloh, LeRoy McClain, Albert Jones, Tate Donovan, Myk Watford, Skye Dakota Turner, Mary J. Blige, Gilbert Glenn Brown, Albert Jones and [...]
Continue reading: Film Review: Respect (2021): Jennifer Hudson is Remarkable in Overlong but Compelling Aretha Franklin Biopic...
Continue reading: Film Review: Respect (2021): Jennifer Hudson is Remarkable in Overlong but Compelling Aretha Franklin Biopic...
- 9/7/2021
- by Thomas Duffy
- Film-Book
Stars: Ryan Merriman, Jamie Tisdale, Myk Watford, Heather Langenkamp, Reinaldo Zavarce, Najarra Townsend, Lindsay Seim, Courtney Nightingale, Yan Birch | Written by Peter Dukes, Dean Alioto | Directed by Dean Alioto
What’s that, yet Another horror film featuring ghost hunters? Surely that subject has been done to death by now… In fact it’s so played out that the idea of ghost hunters in horror has led to more horror comedies than actual horror films. However Portal sticks firmly in fear with it’s tale of Steven, an ambitious ghost hunter (Ryan Merriman), who is winning a losing battle against the falling ratings for his show Ghostseekers and his competitors Ghost Trackers – who seemingly having more money, and more clout, to produce a much more successful ghost-hunting show.
Desperate for a hit season finale Steven steals information on a haunted house, the Dalvas House, from his competitors. However the whole thing...
What’s that, yet Another horror film featuring ghost hunters? Surely that subject has been done to death by now… In fact it’s so played out that the idea of ghost hunters in horror has led to more horror comedies than actual horror films. However Portal sticks firmly in fear with it’s tale of Steven, an ambitious ghost hunter (Ryan Merriman), who is winning a losing battle against the falling ratings for his show Ghostseekers and his competitors Ghost Trackers – who seemingly having more money, and more clout, to produce a much more successful ghost-hunting show.
Desperate for a hit season finale Steven steals information on a haunted house, the Dalvas House, from his competitors. However the whole thing...
- 11/14/2019
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Oh, what a movie The Kitchen could have been. It seems impossible to screw up a crime thriller starring Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish and Elisabeth Moss as mob wives who turn the tables on the men who done them wrong. On paper, it’s a great idea to have Andrea Berloff, the Oscar-nominated co-writer of Straight Outta Compton, make her feature directing debut with this adaptation of DC Vertigo comic book series by writer Ollie Masters and artist Ming Doyle.
Though the time is 1978 and the place is New York...
Though the time is 1978 and the place is New York...
- 8/8/2019
- by Peter Travers
- Rollingstone.com
Across the long history of gangster movies, women have usually been relegated to molls, mothers, or voices of conscience; sometimes tough, but never in control. “The Kitchen,” a violent gender corrective set in an Irish mafia-run ’70s New York, has other plans, eager to present its trio of Hell’s Kitchen wives — Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish and Elisabeth Moss — as badass, bloodthirsty bosses in their own right.
It’s an exploitation flip whose time has surely come, but what writer-director Andrea Berloff has cobbled together around this concept (based on a DC/Vertigo comic book series by Ollie Masters and Ming Doyle) is little more than another tone-challenged stumble through mob clichés as prevalent as the trash, graffiti and flared threads dominating the period design.
Coming a year after “Widows” disappointingly wrestled with a similar scenario of women taking on their husbands’ lawbreaking, “The Kitchen” has some of the same...
It’s an exploitation flip whose time has surely come, but what writer-director Andrea Berloff has cobbled together around this concept (based on a DC/Vertigo comic book series by Ollie Masters and Ming Doyle) is little more than another tone-challenged stumble through mob clichés as prevalent as the trash, graffiti and flared threads dominating the period design.
Coming a year after “Widows” disappointingly wrestled with a similar scenario of women taking on their husbands’ lawbreaking, “The Kitchen” has some of the same...
- 8/7/2019
- by Robert Abele
- The Wrap
When two movie studios launch projects built on a suspiciously similar concept — it could be asteroid-hitting-the-earth thrillers or animated bug comedies, biopics about Truman Capote writing “In Cold Blood” or reboots of classic old monster franchises — it’s sometimes a coincidence and sometimes a case of flat-out imitation (which is the nice word for it). So I won’t speculate as to which of those two scenarios describes the relationship between “The Kitchen,” a light-but-not-really-comic drama about a trio of mob wives in Hell’s Kitchen in 1978 who become players in the Irish underworld after their husbands are nabbed during a robbery and sent to the slammer, and “Widows,” last year’s drama about four criminal wives who become masters of their hellbent fate when their professional-thief husbands are chased down during a robbery and killed.
“The Kitchen,” written and directed by Andrea Berloff, is based on a DC Vertigo...
“The Kitchen,” written and directed by Andrea Berloff, is based on a DC Vertigo...
- 8/7/2019
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
New York City, 1978. The 20 blocks of pawnshops, porn palaces and dive bars between 8th Avenue and the Hudson River owned by the Irish mafia and known as Hell’s Kitchen was never the easiest place to live. Or the safest. But for mob wives Kathy, Ruby and Claire–played by Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, and Elisabeth Moss–things are about to take a radical, dramatic turn. When their husbands are sent to prison by the FBI the women take business into their own hands, running the rackets and taking out the competition…literally. Now they own the neighborhood. The gritty, female-driven mob drama “The Kitchen,” from New Line Cinema and Bron Creative, is written and directed by Andrea Berloff, who was nominated for an Oscar for Original Screenplay for “Straight Outta Compton.”
The film also stars Domhnall Gleeson (“Star Wars: The Last Jedi”), James Badge Dale (“Only the Brave”), Brian d...
The film also stars Domhnall Gleeson (“Star Wars: The Last Jedi”), James Badge Dale (“Only the Brave”), Brian d...
- 7/26/2019
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Warner Bros has released a trailer for the gritty, female-driven mob drama ‘The Kitchen’ starring Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish and Elisabeth Moss.
Directed by Andrea Berloff, the film stars Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, Elisabeth Moss, Domhnall Gleeson, James Badge Dale, Brian d’Arcy James, with Margo Martindale, Oscar winner Common, and Bill Camp; as well as Jeremy Bobb, E.J. Bonilla, Wayne Duvall, Annabella Sciorra, Myk Watford.
Berloff’s screenplay was based on the comic book series created for DC Vertigo by Ollie Masters and Ming Doyle. The film was produced by multiple Oscar nominee Michael De Luca and Marcus Viscidi (“Rampage”). Serving as executive producers were Richard Brener, Michael Disco, Dave Neustadter, Aaron L. Gilbert, Jason Cloth, Elishia Holmes, and Adam Schlagman.
Also in trailers – Teaser trailer lands for ‘Kingsman’ prequel ‘The King’s Man’
The film is out in the UK September 20th
The Kitchen Synopsis
The Kitchen stars Oscar nominee Melissa McCarthy,...
Directed by Andrea Berloff, the film stars Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, Elisabeth Moss, Domhnall Gleeson, James Badge Dale, Brian d’Arcy James, with Margo Martindale, Oscar winner Common, and Bill Camp; as well as Jeremy Bobb, E.J. Bonilla, Wayne Duvall, Annabella Sciorra, Myk Watford.
Berloff’s screenplay was based on the comic book series created for DC Vertigo by Ollie Masters and Ming Doyle. The film was produced by multiple Oscar nominee Michael De Luca and Marcus Viscidi (“Rampage”). Serving as executive producers were Richard Brener, Michael Disco, Dave Neustadter, Aaron L. Gilbert, Jason Cloth, Elishia Holmes, and Adam Schlagman.
Also in trailers – Teaser trailer lands for ‘Kingsman’ prequel ‘The King’s Man’
The film is out in the UK September 20th
The Kitchen Synopsis
The Kitchen stars Oscar nominee Melissa McCarthy,...
- 7/17/2019
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Hey, "Elementary" fans. We hope you guys enjoyed tonight's episode 5. Now that it's officially over and in the history books, it's time to take a look at what's going to go down in the next, new episode 6. We were able to get a few teaser descriptions for it via a new CBS press release. So, that's certainly what we'll be using for this spoiler session. To get things started, CBS' press release revealed that episode 6 is entitled, "Command: Delete." So, that's a pretty innovative title. It sounds like episode 6 will feature some very interesting, action-filled and dramatic scenes as Bell tries to stop a sniper shooting! Watson and Holmes get a very unique offer and more. We'll go ahead and start off this spoiler session with the unique offer situation. It turns out that Watson and Holmes will have some more scenes with this new tech billionaire that's on the scene,...
- 6/20/2019
- by Andre Braddox
- OnTheFlix
Warner Bros has released a trailer for the gritty, female-driven mob drama ‘The Kitchen’ starring Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish and Elisabeth Moss.
Directed by Andrea Berloff, the film stars Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, Elisabeth Moss, Domhnall Gleeson, James Badge Dale, Brian d’Arcy James, with Margo Martindale, Oscar winner Common, and Bill Camp; as well as Jeremy Bobb, E.J. Bonilla, Wayne Duvall, Annabella Sciorra, Myk Watford.
Berloff’s screenplay was based on the comic book series created for DC Vertigo by Ollie Masters and Ming Doyle. The film was produced by multiple Oscar nominee Michael De Luca and Marcus Viscidi (“Rampage”). Serving as executive producers were Richard Brener, Michael Disco, Dave Neustadter, Aaron L. Gilbert, Jason Cloth, Elishia Holmes, and Adam Schlagman.
Also in trailers – Ansel Elgort embarks on an emotional journey in first trailer for ‘The Goldfinch’
The film hits UK cinemas September 20th
The Kitchen Synopsis
The Kitchen stars Oscar nominee Melissa McCarthy,...
Directed by Andrea Berloff, the film stars Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, Elisabeth Moss, Domhnall Gleeson, James Badge Dale, Brian d’Arcy James, with Margo Martindale, Oscar winner Common, and Bill Camp; as well as Jeremy Bobb, E.J. Bonilla, Wayne Duvall, Annabella Sciorra, Myk Watford.
Berloff’s screenplay was based on the comic book series created for DC Vertigo by Ollie Masters and Ming Doyle. The film was produced by multiple Oscar nominee Michael De Luca and Marcus Viscidi (“Rampage”). Serving as executive producers were Richard Brener, Michael Disco, Dave Neustadter, Aaron L. Gilbert, Jason Cloth, Elishia Holmes, and Adam Schlagman.
Also in trailers – Ansel Elgort embarks on an emotional journey in first trailer for ‘The Goldfinch’
The film hits UK cinemas September 20th
The Kitchen Synopsis
The Kitchen stars Oscar nominee Melissa McCarthy,...
- 5/30/2019
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Exclusive: Common is in advanced negotiations and James Badge Dale has closed his deal to join Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish and Elisabeth Moss in New Line’s film adaptation of The Kitchen, based on the DC/Vertigo female-led crime comic book series. Jeremy Bobb and Myk Watford (No Country for Old Men) also have been cast in this film written and directed by first-time helm Andrea Berloff.
Set in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen during the 1970s, the story follows wives of Irish mobsters who team up to take over running the business after their husbands are sent to prison.
Common is in talks for the role of FBI agent Gary Silvers. Dale will play Kevin O’Carroll, a mob boss married to Ruby (Haddish). Bobb is Rob Walsh, a violent mobster married to Claire (Moss), and Watford will portray Little Jackie, who initially assumes control of one...
Set in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen during the 1970s, the story follows wives of Irish mobsters who team up to take over running the business after their husbands are sent to prison.
Common is in talks for the role of FBI agent Gary Silvers. Dale will play Kevin O’Carroll, a mob boss married to Ruby (Haddish). Bobb is Rob Walsh, a violent mobster married to Claire (Moss), and Watford will portray Little Jackie, who initially assumes control of one...
- 4/18/2018
- by Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
Keep up with the wild and wooly world of indie film acquisitions with our weekly Rundown of everything that’s been picked up around the globe. Check out last week’s Rundown here.
– Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired the North American rights to the Tribeca Film Festival entry “November.” Directed by Rainer Sarnet, the film is based on Andrus Kivirähk’s novel “Rehepapp,” about about a peasant girl in 19th century Estonia who longs for village boy. The story of requited love takes place in an incredibly complicated, dark landscape where spirits, werewolves, plagues, and the devil himself converge.
Read More: Film Acquisition Rundown: The Orchard Picks Up ‘Thelma,’ Samuel Goldwyn Films Buys ‘Gook’ and More
“’November’ is one of the most unique and stunning films to come along in some time,” Oscilloscope president Dan Berger said in a statement. “It’s equal measures beautiful love story and balls-to-wall bonkers-ass folk tale.
– Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired the North American rights to the Tribeca Film Festival entry “November.” Directed by Rainer Sarnet, the film is based on Andrus Kivirähk’s novel “Rehepapp,” about about a peasant girl in 19th century Estonia who longs for village boy. The story of requited love takes place in an incredibly complicated, dark landscape where spirits, werewolves, plagues, and the devil himself converge.
Read More: Film Acquisition Rundown: The Orchard Picks Up ‘Thelma,’ Samuel Goldwyn Films Buys ‘Gook’ and More
“’November’ is one of the most unique and stunning films to come along in some time,” Oscilloscope president Dan Berger said in a statement. “It’s equal measures beautiful love story and balls-to-wall bonkers-ass folk tale.
- 4/28/2017
- by Graham Winfrey
- Indiewire
Distributor sets June 30 theatrical and VOD launch.
IFC Midnight has acquired the North American rights to Austin Reading’s Darkness Rising.
The film written by Vikram Weet centres on Madison, a young woman who decides to visit her childhood home when she finds out it is about to be torn down.
When she was a child, her mother killed her baby sister and Madison narrowly escaped with her life. Now, as she tries to confront the demons that have haunted her ever since, Madison, her boyfriend, and cousin find themselves trapped in the house by the forces that may have driven her mother to commit murder.
Katrina Law, Tara Holt, Bryce Johnson, Heather Mazur, Myk Watford and Ted Raimi star.
Reading’s debut feature film was produced by Storyboard Entertainment’s Jason Potash and Paul Finkel, in association with Compass Entertainment’s Marcus Fuller and Julie S. Fuller, and Daniel Hyman.
IFC will release...
IFC Midnight has acquired the North American rights to Austin Reading’s Darkness Rising.
The film written by Vikram Weet centres on Madison, a young woman who decides to visit her childhood home when she finds out it is about to be torn down.
When she was a child, her mother killed her baby sister and Madison narrowly escaped with her life. Now, as she tries to confront the demons that have haunted her ever since, Madison, her boyfriend, and cousin find themselves trapped in the house by the forces that may have driven her mother to commit murder.
Katrina Law, Tara Holt, Bryce Johnson, Heather Mazur, Myk Watford and Ted Raimi star.
Reading’s debut feature film was produced by Storyboard Entertainment’s Jason Potash and Paul Finkel, in association with Compass Entertainment’s Marcus Fuller and Julie S. Fuller, and Daniel Hyman.
IFC will release...
- 4/25/2017
- ScreenDaily
NY Prison Break: The Seduction of Joyce Mitchell is making its way to TV screens next month — and People has the exclusive sneak peek at the Lifetime trailer.
Two years ago, the United States watched the real-life story of prison tailor Joyce “Tillie” Mitchell (Penelope Ann Miller) unfold after she got swept up in the fantasy that two convicted murderers were in love with her — and then helped them escape from an upstate New York prison.
“Mrs. Mitchell, you knew that one of these men shot and ran over a Sheriff’s deputy? And that the other tortured a man to death,...
Two years ago, the United States watched the real-life story of prison tailor Joyce “Tillie” Mitchell (Penelope Ann Miller) unfold after she got swept up in the fantasy that two convicted murderers were in love with her — and then helped them escape from an upstate New York prison.
“Mrs. Mitchell, you knew that one of these men shot and ran over a Sheriff’s deputy? And that the other tortured a man to death,...
- 3/11/2017
- by Natalie Stone
- PEOPLE.com
The 2015 prison break that gripped the nation is coming to television, People has learned exclusively.
On Sunday, April 23, at 8 p.m. Et/Pt, Lifetime is premiering NY Prison Break: The Seduction of Joyce Mitchell.
The movie tells the real-life story of how Mitchell, a prison tailor, got swept up in the fantasy that two convicted murderers were in love with her — and then helped them escape from an upstate New New York prison.
Seduced by both Richard Matt and David Sweat, the married mother-of-three smuggled tools to the inmates in frozen hamburger meat, helping them to escape the Clinton...
On Sunday, April 23, at 8 p.m. Et/Pt, Lifetime is premiering NY Prison Break: The Seduction of Joyce Mitchell.
The movie tells the real-life story of how Mitchell, a prison tailor, got swept up in the fantasy that two convicted murderers were in love with her — and then helped them escape from an upstate New New York prison.
Seduced by both Richard Matt and David Sweat, the married mother-of-three smuggled tools to the inmates in frozen hamburger meat, helping them to escape the Clinton...
- 2/16/2017
- by KC Baker
- PEOPLE.com
If you want to be one of the first to hear brand new music from the world’s hottest DJs, you go to Ultra Music Festival. Each and every year, artists bring their latest and greatest to the fest and premiere tracks that have never been heard before.
This year was no different, especially in the case of superstar Martin Garrix, who brought with him no less than 10 brand new songs. It’s a risky move bringing that much new music to a festival set, especially when so many of the tracks sounded quite different than what we’re used to from the Dutch producer, but Garrix pulled it off with aplomb.
In what was a historic set for Ultra, given that the producer is the youngest person ever to close the main stage on opening night, Garrix unleashed an arsenal of new music, all of it showcasing a unique...
This year was no different, especially in the case of superstar Martin Garrix, who brought with him no less than 10 brand new songs. It’s a risky move bringing that much new music to a festival set, especially when so many of the tracks sounded quite different than what we’re used to from the Dutch producer, but Garrix pulled it off with aplomb.
In what was a historic set for Ultra, given that the producer is the youngest person ever to close the main stage on opening night, Garrix unleashed an arsenal of new music, all of it showcasing a unique...
- 3/19/2016
- by Matt Joseph
- We Got This Covered
New Law And Order Svu season 16,episode 10 official spoilers,plotline revealed by NBC. Recently, NBC finally served up the new,official synopsis/spoilers for their upcoming "Law And Order: Svu" episode 10 of season 16. The episode is entitled, "Forgiving Rollins," and it turns out that things will get quite interesting after a detective is found unconscious in her hotel bathroom as it leads to a rape claim, and more. In the new, 10th episode press release: "Rollins' old boss from Atlanta will visit New York City along with his newest detective, who is found unconscious in her hotel bathroom. The rookie detective is going to make a rape claim, but then she will recant it, leading Rollins to face a dark part of her own past." Guest stars feature: Dreama Walker as Reese Taymor, Delaney Williams as Counselor John Buchanan, Harry Hamlin as Deputy Chief Charles Patton, Jenna Stern as Judge...
- 1/2/2015
- by Chris
- OnTheFlix
Recently, NBC released the new, official synopsis/spoilers for their upcoming "Law And Order: Svu" episode 2 of season 16. The episode is entitled, "American Disgrace," and it sounds like things will get very intense and intriguing as serious serial rap charges are brought up on a pro basketball player, and more. In the new, 2nd episode press release: Barba (Raul Esparza) is going to try a pro basketball star on serial rape charges. Press release number 2: Basketball superstar Shakir “The Shark” Wilkins (guest star Henry Simmons) will announce his partnership with the Orion Bay clothing line, owned by billionaire Orion Bauer (guest star Stacy Keach) and his daughter Cordelia (guest star Teri Polo). But the Svu is going to intervene when Orion press rep ,Carla Cannon (guest star Kelley Missal), tells reporters she was raped by Wilkins. When more women come forward, Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Detective Carisi (guest star...
- 9/24/2014
- by Chris
- OnTheFlix
Earth to Echo Trailer. Dave Green‘s Earth to Echo (2014) movie trailer 2 stars Chris Wylde, Valerie Wildman, Arthur Darbinyan, Myk Watford, and Samantha Elizondo. Earth to Echo‘s plot synopsis: “In Relativity’s PG summer family adventure movie, Tuck, Munch and Alex are a trio of inseparable friends whose lives are [...]
Continue reading: Earth To Echo (2014) Movie Trailer 2: Space Signals on Cell Phones...
Continue reading: Earth To Echo (2014) Movie Trailer 2: Space Signals on Cell Phones...
- 5/28/2014
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
Recently, Fox released the new,official,synopsis/spoilers for their upcoming "Bones" episode 21 of season 9. The episode is entitled, "The Cold in the Case," and it sounds like things will get pretty interesting as the team discovers a cryogenically frozen dead body that leads them to other intel, and more. In the new, 21st episode press release: a murder victim will be found cryogenically frozen. Press release number 2: The Jeffersonian team will investigate the murder of a woman whose remains were found in a swamp. When the team realizes that her body was cryogenically frozen before it was disposed, it will lead them to a cryogenic preservation facility where they will learn more about the victim's personal life. In the meantime, Cam is going to be hesitant to meet Arastoo's father and mother (guest star Shohreh Aghdashloo) for the first time and Booth is going to be up for...
- 4/7/2014
- by Megan
- OnTheFlix
Sometimes I have to wonder how much excitement can possibly be shoved into one 42 minute episode. But Person of Interest (TV) continues to take my expectations and turn them on their heads. Not only was this week's Number a hell of a lot more intricate than we first expect, I think we can also say that Finch (Michael Emerson) may have met his match in the hacking department! A Moriarty to his Holmes, perhaps? God I hope so! When we catch up with our daring heroes, Finch seems to have picked the wrong time to check in with Reese (James Caviezel). He's in the middle of battling it out with a parolee who looks like King Kong. No Finch, you don't have a bad connection, Reese is just a bit busy putting the beat down on someone; please call back later! The Number of the Week is Scott Powell (Myk Watford...
- 2/3/2012
- by mbijeaux@corp.popstar.com (Melissa Bijeaux)
- PopStar
In the spirit of Halloween '09, we're breaking out reviews (some new, some old) of some Fall Frights you may want to work into your monthly viewing.
Originally Published in February, 2008:
I have to be honest: I wasn’t looking forward to seeing this film, despite the buzz at the Slamdance Film Festival, where I caught its premiere last week. At the fest’s headquarters at the Treasure Mountain Inn in Park City, Utah, the place was awash with half-drunk weirdos pumped to catch the late-night screening. I hid my press badge, hoping to avoid any conversation about what was sure to be a stinker—how could it not be with a title like Trailer Park Of Terror? Settling into my uncomfortable seat in the makeshift theater, I sighed and waited for the war between sleep and cinematic schlock to begin. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
On...
Originally Published in February, 2008:
I have to be honest: I wasn’t looking forward to seeing this film, despite the buzz at the Slamdance Film Festival, where I caught its premiere last week. At the fest’s headquarters at the Treasure Mountain Inn in Park City, Utah, the place was awash with half-drunk weirdos pumped to catch the late-night screening. I hid my press badge, hoping to avoid any conversation about what was sure to be a stinker—how could it not be with a title like Trailer Park Of Terror? Settling into my uncomfortable seat in the makeshift theater, I sighed and waited for the war between sleep and cinematic schlock to begin. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
On...
- 10/1/2009
- by no-reply@fangoria.com (Sarah Walker)
- Fangoria
No Country for Old Men
This review was written for the festival screening of "No Country for Old Men".CANNES -- Joel and Ethan Coen's In Competition film is titled "No Country for Old Men", but it's set in an unforgiving 1980s West Texas landscape that appears to be populated with nothing but old men. Lawmen, mostly, like Tommy Lee Jones' Sheriff Bell, pining for the old days when outlaws weren't relentless killing machines like the one who has come to menace his hardscrabble community.
The film attains an extraordinary level of tension as a fiercely dedicated drug runner named Anton Chigurh, brilliantly played by Javier Bardem, pursues a man who has stumbled upon and taken his money. The Coens' typically superior filmmaking sustains the electrifying mood for most of the picture, but they are undone by being too faithful to the source novel by Cormac McCarthy.
Plot holes, cracker-barrel philosophizing and setting a major climactic scene offscreen serve to undo all their fine work. The entire premise of the film is to pitch three men onto a path that will lead to a final reckoning, but it just peters out. Audiences will flock to see a mainstream Coen Bros. film with such a colorful villain, but word-of-mouth about its fizzled conclusion may do damage at the boxoffice.
There is a lot of carnage in "Old Men", and some of it has already taken place when Vietnam veteran Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) comes across the scene of what is obviously a big-time drug deal gone bad. Bodies litter the ground between shot-out vehicles, there's a truckload of neatly packed dope and a satchel containing millions of dollars. One man remains alive and asks for water. Absurdly, for a seasoned hunter on that arid terrain, Moss doesn't have any. He takes the money back to the trailer he shares with a devoted young wife played convincingly by Kelly MacDonald, but in the middle of the night he is stricken with guilt. Not about taking the money but about leaving a dying man with no water. So goes in the dark to the isolated killing scene where he knows there's a vast quantity of drugs.
Inevitably, men with guns who have a proprietary interest in the contraband make their presence felt and Moss is fast on the run. Leading the chase is Chigurh, a man of perhaps East European extraction, who carries a tank of compressed air attached to the kind of bolt gun used to slaughter cattle. It sounds like something Carl Hiaasen would come up with, but Bardem plays the drug runner with such humorless conviction that his weapon of choice becomes truly threatening. Chiguhr, however, joins the list of implacable murderers such as Hannibal Lecter and the Terminator whose encounters with terrified innocent people are played for laughs. Chiguhr mostly just slays anyone he encounters but now and then he lets the toss of a coin decide someone's fate.
Sheriff Bell is on the case, looking to prevent the madman from killing too many people, especially Moss, but instead of being the Tommy Lee who always gets his man, this officer of the law is an ineffectual old windbag. Woody Harrelson has a brief and redundant role as a mistakenly cocky bounty hunter.
Brolin is terrific as the likable country boy who sees his shot at the main chance and grabs it, although mid-way through the film when he has survived long enough to reach Mexico, he inexplicably doesn't stay there. His vet is tough and resourceful, though, and the film cries out for a resolution that, if not a happy one, would at least be satisfying. But McCarthy and the Coens would rather offer macho posturing about lost ideals than get down to business.
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Paramount Vantage and Miramax Films
A Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss production
Credits:
Screenwriter-directors: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Producers: Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Based on the novel by: Cormac McCarthy
Executive producers: Robert Graf, Mark Roybal
Director of photography: Roger Deakins
Production designer: Jess Gonchor
Music: Carter Burwell
Costume designer: Mary Zophres
Editor: Roderick Jaynes
Cast:
Sheriff Ed Tom Bell: Tommy Lee Jones
Anton Chigurh: Javier Bardem
Llewelyn Moss: Josh Brolin
Carson Wells: Woody Harrelson
Carla Jean Moss: Kelly MacDonald
Wendell: Garret Dillahunt
Loretta Ball: Tess Harper;
Ellis: Barry Corbin
Man who hires Wells: Stephen Root
El Paso sheriff: Rodger Boyce
Carla Jean's mother: Beth Grant
Poolside woman: Ana Reeder
Sheriff Bell's secretary: Kit Gwin
Strangled deputy: Zach Hopkins
Man in Ford: Chip Love
Agua man: Eduardo Antonio Garcia
Gas station proprietor: Gene Jones
Managerial victims: Myk Watford, Boots Southerland
Desert Aire manager: Kathy Lamkin
Cabbie at bus station: Johnnie Hector
Waitress: Doris Hargrave
Gun store clerk: Rutherford Cravens
Sporting goods clerk: Matthew Posey
Mexican in bathtub: George Adelo
Hitchhike driver: Mathew Greer
Nervous accountant: Trent Moore
Hotel Eagle clerk: Marc Miles
Pickup driver: Luce Rains
Border bridge youths: Philip Bentham, Eric Reeves, Josh Meyer
Flatbed driver: Chris Warner; INS official: Brandon Smith
Well-dressed Mexican: H. Roland Uribe
Chicken farmer: Richard Jackson
Boys on bikes: Josh Blaylock, Caleb Jones
Odessa cabbie: Dorsey Ray
Norteno band: Angel H. Alvarado Jr., David A. Gomez, Milton Hernandez, John Mancha
Running time -- 122 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
The film attains an extraordinary level of tension as a fiercely dedicated drug runner named Anton Chigurh, brilliantly played by Javier Bardem, pursues a man who has stumbled upon and taken his money. The Coens' typically superior filmmaking sustains the electrifying mood for most of the picture, but they are undone by being too faithful to the source novel by Cormac McCarthy.
Plot holes, cracker-barrel philosophizing and setting a major climactic scene offscreen serve to undo all their fine work. The entire premise of the film is to pitch three men onto a path that will lead to a final reckoning, but it just peters out. Audiences will flock to see a mainstream Coen Bros. film with such a colorful villain, but word-of-mouth about its fizzled conclusion may do damage at the boxoffice.
There is a lot of carnage in "Old Men", and some of it has already taken place when Vietnam veteran Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) comes across the scene of what is obviously a big-time drug deal gone bad. Bodies litter the ground between shot-out vehicles, there's a truckload of neatly packed dope and a satchel containing millions of dollars. One man remains alive and asks for water. Absurdly, for a seasoned hunter on that arid terrain, Moss doesn't have any. He takes the money back to the trailer he shares with a devoted young wife played convincingly by Kelly MacDonald, but in the middle of the night he is stricken with guilt. Not about taking the money but about leaving a dying man with no water. So goes in the dark to the isolated killing scene where he knows there's a vast quantity of drugs.
Inevitably, men with guns who have a proprietary interest in the contraband make their presence felt and Moss is fast on the run. Leading the chase is Chigurh, a man of perhaps East European extraction, who carries a tank of compressed air attached to the kind of bolt gun used to slaughter cattle. It sounds like something Carl Hiaasen would come up with, but Bardem plays the drug runner with such humorless conviction that his weapon of choice becomes truly threatening. Chiguhr, however, joins the list of implacable murderers such as Hannibal Lecter and the Terminator whose encounters with terrified innocent people are played for laughs. Chiguhr mostly just slays anyone he encounters but now and then he lets the toss of a coin decide someone's fate.
Sheriff Bell is on the case, looking to prevent the madman from killing too many people, especially Moss, but instead of being the Tommy Lee who always gets his man, this officer of the law is an ineffectual old windbag. Woody Harrelson has a brief and redundant role as a mistakenly cocky bounty hunter.
Brolin is terrific as the likable country boy who sees his shot at the main chance and grabs it, although mid-way through the film when he has survived long enough to reach Mexico, he inexplicably doesn't stay there. His vet is tough and resourceful, though, and the film cries out for a resolution that, if not a happy one, would at least be satisfying. But McCarthy and the Coens would rather offer macho posturing about lost ideals than get down to business.
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Paramount Vantage and Miramax Films
A Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss production
Credits:
Screenwriter-directors: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Producers: Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Based on the novel by: Cormac McCarthy
Executive producers: Robert Graf, Mark Roybal
Director of photography: Roger Deakins
Production designer: Jess Gonchor
Music: Carter Burwell
Costume designer: Mary Zophres
Editor: Roderick Jaynes
Cast:
Sheriff Ed Tom Bell: Tommy Lee Jones
Anton Chigurh: Javier Bardem
Llewelyn Moss: Josh Brolin
Carson Wells: Woody Harrelson
Carla Jean Moss: Kelly MacDonald
Wendell: Garret Dillahunt
Loretta Ball: Tess Harper;
Ellis: Barry Corbin
Man who hires Wells: Stephen Root
El Paso sheriff: Rodger Boyce
Carla Jean's mother: Beth Grant
Poolside woman: Ana Reeder
Sheriff Bell's secretary: Kit Gwin
Strangled deputy: Zach Hopkins
Man in Ford: Chip Love
Agua man: Eduardo Antonio Garcia
Gas station proprietor: Gene Jones
Managerial victims: Myk Watford, Boots Southerland
Desert Aire manager: Kathy Lamkin
Cabbie at bus station: Johnnie Hector
Waitress: Doris Hargrave
Gun store clerk: Rutherford Cravens
Sporting goods clerk: Matthew Posey
Mexican in bathtub: George Adelo
Hitchhike driver: Mathew Greer
Nervous accountant: Trent Moore
Hotel Eagle clerk: Marc Miles
Pickup driver: Luce Rains
Border bridge youths: Philip Bentham, Eric Reeves, Josh Meyer
Flatbed driver: Chris Warner; INS official: Brandon Smith
Well-dressed Mexican: H. Roland Uribe
Chicken farmer: Richard Jackson
Boys on bikes: Josh Blaylock, Caleb Jones
Odessa cabbie: Dorsey Ray
Norteno band: Angel H. Alvarado Jr., David A. Gomez, Milton Hernandez, John Mancha
Running time -- 122 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 5/20/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
No Country for Old Men
This review was written for the festival screening of "No Country for Old Men".
CANNES -- Joel and Ethan Coen's In Competition film is titled "No Country for Old Men", but it's set in an unforgiving 1980s West Texas landscape that appears to be populated with nothing but old men. Lawmen, mostly, like Tommy Lee Jones' Sheriff Bell, pining for the old days when outlaws weren't relentless killing machines like the one who has come to menace his hardscrabble community.
The film attains an extraordinary level of tension as a fiercely dedicated drug runner named Anton Chigurh, brilliantly played by Javier Bardem, pursues a man who has stumbled upon and taken his money. The Coens' typically superior filmmaking sustains the electrifying mood for most of the picture, but they are undone by being too faithful to the source novel by Cormac McCarthy.
Plot holes, cracker-barrel philosophizing and setting a major climactic scene offscreen serve to undo all their fine work. The entire premise of the film is to pitch three men onto a path that will lead to a final reckoning, but it just peters out. Audiences will flock to see a mainstream Coen Bros. film with such a colorful villain, but word-of-mouth about its fizzled conclusion may do damage at the boxoffice.
There is a lot of carnage in "Old Men", and some of it has already taken place when Vietnam veteran Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) comes across the scene of what is obviously a big-time drug deal gone bad. Bodies litter the ground between shot-out vehicles, there's a truckload of neatly packed dope and a satchel containing millions of dollars. One man remains alive and asks for water. Absurdly, for a seasoned hunter on that arid terrain, Moss doesn't have any. He takes the money back to the trailer he shares with a devoted young wife played convincingly by Kelly MacDonald, but in the middle of the night he is stricken with guilt. Not about taking the money but about leaving a dying man with no water. So goes in the dark to the isolated killing scene where he knows there's a vast quantity of drugs.
Inevitably, men with guns who have a proprietary interest in the contraband make their presence felt and Moss is fast on the run. Leading the chase is Chigurh, a man of perhaps East European extraction, who carries a tank of compressed air attached to the kind of bolt gun used to slaughter cattle. It sounds like something Carl Hiaasen would come up with, but Bardem plays the drug runner with such humorless conviction that his weapon of choice becomes truly threatening. Chiguhr, however, joins the list of implacable murderers such as Hannibal Lecter and the Terminator whose encounters with terrified innocent people are played for laughs. Chiguhr mostly just slays anyone he encounters but now and then he lets the toss of a coin decide someone's fate.
Sheriff Bell is on the case, looking to prevent the madman from killing too many people, especially Moss, but instead of being the Tommy Lee who always gets his man, this officer of the law is an ineffectual old windbag. Woody Harrelson has a brief and redundant role as a mistakenly cocky bounty hunter.
Brolin is terrific as the likable country boy who sees his shot at the main chance and grabs it, although mid-way through the film when he has survived long enough to reach Mexico, he inexplicably doesn't stay there. His vet is tough and resourceful, though, and the film cries out for a resolution that, if not a happy one, would at least be satisfying. But McCarthy and the Coens would rather offer macho posturing about lost ideals than get down to business.
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Paramount Vantage and Miramax Films
A Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss production
Credits:
Screenwriter-directors: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Producers: Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Based on the novel by: Cormac McCarthy
Executive producers: Robert Graf, Mark Roybal
Director of photography: Roger Deakins
Production designer: Jess Gonchor
Music: Carter Burwell
Costume designer: Mary Zophres
Editor: Roderick Jaynes
Cast:
Sheriff Ed Tom Bell: Tommy Lee Jones
Anton Chigurh: Javier Bardem
Llewelyn Moss: Josh Brolin
Carson Wells: Woody Harrelson
Carla Jean Moss: Kelly MacDonald
Wendell: Garret Dillahunt
Loretta Ball: Tess Harper
Ellis: Barry Corbin
Man who hires Wells: Stephen Root
El Paso sheriff: Rodger Boyce
Carla Jean's mother: Beth Grant
Poolside woman: Ana Reeder
Sheriff Bell's secretary: Kit Gwin
Strangled deputy: Zach Hopkins
Man in Ford: Chip Love
Agua man: Eduardo Antonio Garcia
Gas station proprietor: Gene Jones
Managerial victims: Myk Watford, Boots Southerland
Desert Aire manager: Kathy Lamkin
Cabbie at bus station: Johnnie Hector
Waitress: Doris Hargrave
Gun store clerk: Rutherford Cravens
Sporting goods clerk: Matthew Posey
Mexican in bathtub: George Adelo
Hitchhike driver: Mathew Greer
Nervous accountant: Trent Moore
Hotel Eagle clerk: Marc Miles
Pickup driver: Luce Rains
Border bridge youths: Philip Bentham, Eric Reeves, Josh Meyer
Flatbed driver: Chris Warner; INS official: Brandon Smith
Well-dressed Mexican: H. Roland Uribe
Chicken farmer: Richard Jackson
Boys on bikes: Josh Blaylock, Caleb Jones
Odessa cabbie: Dorsey Ray
Norteno band: Angel H. Alvarado Jr., David A. Gomez, Milton Hernandez, John Mancha
Running time -- 122 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
CANNES -- Joel and Ethan Coen's In Competition film is titled "No Country for Old Men", but it's set in an unforgiving 1980s West Texas landscape that appears to be populated with nothing but old men. Lawmen, mostly, like Tommy Lee Jones' Sheriff Bell, pining for the old days when outlaws weren't relentless killing machines like the one who has come to menace his hardscrabble community.
The film attains an extraordinary level of tension as a fiercely dedicated drug runner named Anton Chigurh, brilliantly played by Javier Bardem, pursues a man who has stumbled upon and taken his money. The Coens' typically superior filmmaking sustains the electrifying mood for most of the picture, but they are undone by being too faithful to the source novel by Cormac McCarthy.
Plot holes, cracker-barrel philosophizing and setting a major climactic scene offscreen serve to undo all their fine work. The entire premise of the film is to pitch three men onto a path that will lead to a final reckoning, but it just peters out. Audiences will flock to see a mainstream Coen Bros. film with such a colorful villain, but word-of-mouth about its fizzled conclusion may do damage at the boxoffice.
There is a lot of carnage in "Old Men", and some of it has already taken place when Vietnam veteran Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) comes across the scene of what is obviously a big-time drug deal gone bad. Bodies litter the ground between shot-out vehicles, there's a truckload of neatly packed dope and a satchel containing millions of dollars. One man remains alive and asks for water. Absurdly, for a seasoned hunter on that arid terrain, Moss doesn't have any. He takes the money back to the trailer he shares with a devoted young wife played convincingly by Kelly MacDonald, but in the middle of the night he is stricken with guilt. Not about taking the money but about leaving a dying man with no water. So goes in the dark to the isolated killing scene where he knows there's a vast quantity of drugs.
Inevitably, men with guns who have a proprietary interest in the contraband make their presence felt and Moss is fast on the run. Leading the chase is Chigurh, a man of perhaps East European extraction, who carries a tank of compressed air attached to the kind of bolt gun used to slaughter cattle. It sounds like something Carl Hiaasen would come up with, but Bardem plays the drug runner with such humorless conviction that his weapon of choice becomes truly threatening. Chiguhr, however, joins the list of implacable murderers such as Hannibal Lecter and the Terminator whose encounters with terrified innocent people are played for laughs. Chiguhr mostly just slays anyone he encounters but now and then he lets the toss of a coin decide someone's fate.
Sheriff Bell is on the case, looking to prevent the madman from killing too many people, especially Moss, but instead of being the Tommy Lee who always gets his man, this officer of the law is an ineffectual old windbag. Woody Harrelson has a brief and redundant role as a mistakenly cocky bounty hunter.
Brolin is terrific as the likable country boy who sees his shot at the main chance and grabs it, although mid-way through the film when he has survived long enough to reach Mexico, he inexplicably doesn't stay there. His vet is tough and resourceful, though, and the film cries out for a resolution that, if not a happy one, would at least be satisfying. But McCarthy and the Coens would rather offer macho posturing about lost ideals than get down to business.
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Paramount Vantage and Miramax Films
A Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss production
Credits:
Screenwriter-directors: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Producers: Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Based on the novel by: Cormac McCarthy
Executive producers: Robert Graf, Mark Roybal
Director of photography: Roger Deakins
Production designer: Jess Gonchor
Music: Carter Burwell
Costume designer: Mary Zophres
Editor: Roderick Jaynes
Cast:
Sheriff Ed Tom Bell: Tommy Lee Jones
Anton Chigurh: Javier Bardem
Llewelyn Moss: Josh Brolin
Carson Wells: Woody Harrelson
Carla Jean Moss: Kelly MacDonald
Wendell: Garret Dillahunt
Loretta Ball: Tess Harper
Ellis: Barry Corbin
Man who hires Wells: Stephen Root
El Paso sheriff: Rodger Boyce
Carla Jean's mother: Beth Grant
Poolside woman: Ana Reeder
Sheriff Bell's secretary: Kit Gwin
Strangled deputy: Zach Hopkins
Man in Ford: Chip Love
Agua man: Eduardo Antonio Garcia
Gas station proprietor: Gene Jones
Managerial victims: Myk Watford, Boots Southerland
Desert Aire manager: Kathy Lamkin
Cabbie at bus station: Johnnie Hector
Waitress: Doris Hargrave
Gun store clerk: Rutherford Cravens
Sporting goods clerk: Matthew Posey
Mexican in bathtub: George Adelo
Hitchhike driver: Mathew Greer
Nervous accountant: Trent Moore
Hotel Eagle clerk: Marc Miles
Pickup driver: Luce Rains
Border bridge youths: Philip Bentham, Eric Reeves, Josh Meyer
Flatbed driver: Chris Warner; INS official: Brandon Smith
Well-dressed Mexican: H. Roland Uribe
Chicken farmer: Richard Jackson
Boys on bikes: Josh Blaylock, Caleb Jones
Odessa cabbie: Dorsey Ray
Norteno band: Angel H. Alvarado Jr., David A. Gomez, Milton Hernandez, John Mancha
Running time -- 122 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 5/20/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Indican opens door for 'Jesus'
Indican Pictures has acquired North American rights to Screen Door Jesus, written and directed by first-time director Kirk Davis. Set in a small East Texas town, the film centers on the events surrounding the appearance of an image of Jesus on a screen door. It stars Anjannette Comer, Buck Taylor, Myk Watford and Scarlett McAllister and features a score and songs by Back Porch Mary. Produced in 2003, the film has played the South by Southwest Film Festival and the Hamptons International Film Festival. The deal was brokered at the Cannes film market by producer's rep Mark Litwak and producer Sam Adelman on behalf of the film and Randolph Kret on behalf of Indican.
- 5/31/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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