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The last two years of the BAFTA Awards told opposite stories of how Britain’s most prestigious film honors correspond with their American counterpart, the Oscars. In 2023, they went wholly in their own direction, voting differently from AMPAS in all major categories — showering Edward Berger’s “All Quiet on the Western Front” with gold and all but ignoring Oscar darling “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Last year, however, they matched the Oscars in every category save for best visual effects, as Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” ran the table on both sides of the pond. The BAFTAs, in other words, are either the most crucial Oscar precursor or the most rogue; either way, pundits watch them with bated breath.

When BAFTA voters go their own way, it’s often in favor of contenders close to home. Berger’s follow-up to “All Quiet,” the well-liked Vatican thriller “Conclave,” is the only British...

At 91 and with more than 70 years(!) in the industry, Michael Caine has obviously come across some of the most powerful talents to ever hit the screen. But one that stood out even at the start of his career was Tom Cruise, who Michael Caine remembers as a dynamic, eager up-and-comer who wanted to make a name in Hollywood.

Speaking with The Sunday Times, Michael Caine recalled the first time he met Tom Cruise. “I’ve known Tom for more than 40 years. We were doing a big event for Educating Rita (1983) and I turned around and there was this young actor, very polite, asking questions about how not to be just a flash in the pan. That was Tom, probably around the time of Risky Business.” Keep in mind that Cruise was just now trying to get his movie stardom going, with 1983 being his real breakout year after supporting roles in...

Legendary British actor Sir Michael Caine recently shared his memory of meeting a young Tom Cruise over 40 years ago, offering insight into the dedication that has fueled Cruise’s success. In a new interview promoting his memoir, Caine recounted an encounter with Cruise around 1983 after the premiere of Caine’s film “Educating Rita.”

At the time, Cruise was just breaking out with his role in “Risky Business” but was remarkably humble and inquisitive. “I turned around and there was this polite young actor asking me questions about avoiding being a one-hit wonder,” Caine said. While he can’t recall his exact advice, Caine remarked it clearly served Cruise well as his star rose quickly.

Even early in his career, Caine saw Cruise’s special qualities. “He had a great attitude and self-assurance for someone just starting out,” Caine observed. Today, Cruise remains one of the few true movie stars people...

Michael Caine has shared that a young Tom Cruise asked him for career advice when the pair first met 40 years ago.

Double Oscar winner Caine, now 91, has penned his memoir called “Don’t Look Back, You’ll Trip Over” and in an interview with The Sunday Times newspaper he revealed that he met the future superstar at an event for Caine’s film Educating Rita, back in 1983.

The British actor recalled:

“I turned around and there was this young actor, very polite, asking questions about how not to be just a flash in the pan. That was Tom, probably around the time of Risky Business.

“I can’t remember what I said, but it obviously didn’t do him any harm! There was something special about him. He had a great attitude, this sense of poise. What interests me is that he is really one of the last true stars in movies.

Our journey through Michael Caine’s 80s work reaches one of his best: Educating Rita, co-starring a powerhouse Julie Walters in the title role.

Michael Caine showed no sign of slowing down as he entered his third decade as a leading man. The 1980s would see him win his first Academy Award (Hannah And Her Sisters), tackle new genres such as horror (The Hand) and shark-based revenge movie (Jaws The Revenge) while continuing to work with interesting new auteurs like Brian De Palma (Dressed to Kill) as well as old friends from classic Hollywood such as John Huston (Escape To Victory).

Film by film, I’ll be taking a look at Caine’s 1980s filmography to see what hidden gems I can unearth alongside the more familiar classics…

Spoilers for Educating Rita ahead…

Directed by: Lewis Gilbert

Tagline: Frank Bryant is a professor of literature. And Rita is his newest student.

Christopher Nolan has earned numerous accolades for his work in the cinema. He recently took home his maiden Academy Award. And, now he is about to get a whole new honor that only a few can boast of.

Christopher Nolan on a film set. Credit: Wikimedia Commons/HellaCinema

Start calling him Sir Christopher Nolan from now onwards. The Oscar-winning filmmaker and his wife producer Emma Thomas are to receive a knighthood and damehood for their services to the movie industry.

Suggested“The film has lost none of its power”: Steven Spielberg’s War Movie is so Legendary Even Christopher Nolan Didn’t Want to Compete With It

Nolan and Thomas have collaborated on all of his major feature films, including The Dark Knight trilogy, 2010’s Inception, 2014’s Interstellar, 2017’s Dunkirk, and 2020’s Tenet. However, Nolan is not the only member of The Dark Knight trilogy to receive this honor from the Royal family.

Dame Maureen Lipman, star of films including The Pianist and Educating Rita, has hit out at BAFTA over its decision to offer award-winners gender-neutral prizes.

Writing in The Spectator magazine, Lipman branded BAFTA “Dafta” after winners were given the option to have “performer” engraved on their mask plaque as opposed to actor or actress.

BAFTA has had the policy in place for a number of years, but it was spotlighted last week in The Times after longlists were published for the film awards.

BAFTA continues to have best actor and actress categories, meaning there is no change in how its awards are presented to winners.

Lipman wrote a diary piece in The Spectator about watching The Graduate. “Was there ever a better directed movie or, in Anne Bancroft, a sexier, darker, more restrained actress?” she asked.

Lipman added: “Yes, you heard me: actress, you numbskulls at Bafta. Not a ‘performer’, as you now label us.

Garth Craven, the British-born sound and film editor and second-unit director whose credits included six Sam Peckinpah features, as well as Turner and Hooch, My Best Friend’s Wedding and Legally Blonde, has died. He was 84.

A resident of Malibu, Craven died May 20 after he suffered a medical emergency while flying back to Los Angeles from a safari in Namibia, his daughter, Willow Kalatchi, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Craven collaborated with the maverick director Peckinpah on Straw Dogs (1971), The Getaway (1972), Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973), Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974), The Killer Elite (1975) and Convoy (1978).

He worked with fellow editor Roger Spottiswoode on the first three of those films, and when Spottiswoode graduated to director, they partnered on the features Shoot to Kill (1988), Turner and Hooch (1989) and Air America (1990) and on two HBO telefilms: 1989’s Third Degree Burn and 1993’s And the Band Played On.

Craven also cut Gaby: A True Story...

Film and sound editor Garth Craven, who edited films including “Legally Blonde” and got his start in film editing with Sam Peckinpah’s “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid,” died May 20 in Barcelona. He was 84.

His death was only recently announced by his daughter Willow.

Craven not only worked in the cutting room but also in sound departments and served as second unit director on several films. At the beginning of his career, Craven worked on Federico Fellini’s fantasy drama “Satyricon” (1969) in the sound editing department, which served as his introduction to filmmaking.

Back in England, he continued working on films in London. Resuming his work in the sound department, Craven received a BAFTA for the critically acclaimed romantic drama “The Go-Between” (1971) directed by Joseph Losey.

He eventually became a frequent collaborator and friend of Peckinpah. Craven worked as a sound consultant on “The Getaway,” a sound editor on “Straw Dogs,...

One of the most high-profile releases in the spring of 1983 was “Flashdance,” starring Jennifer Beals, directed by Adrian Lyne, and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson. It marked Beals’ feature film debut, as well as Lyne’s second major feature following 1980’s “Foxes.” It was also one of Bruckheimer’s and Simpson’s earliest projects, coming soon after “American Gigolo.” Released 40 years ago on April 15, 1983, “Flashdance” took second place at the box office its opening weekend with four million dollars, but then it became the sensation of the spring movies, jumping up to first place the next weekend and staying there well into early May. By the end of its run, “Flashdance,” about a woman who works as both a welder and an exotic dancer and wants to get into ballet school, made more than $90 million in the United States and more than $200 million worldwide. Read on for our...

The cinematic universe would be far less rich without Michael Caine. It may sound like a well-worn cliché, but he truly is an international treasure. An enduring icon with a seven-decade career. He’s appeared in such acclaimed films as

“Alfie,” “Get Carter,” Sleuth,” “The Man Who Would Be King,” “Educating Rita,” “Hannah and Her Sisters,” “The Cider House Rules,” “The Muppet Christmas Carol” and Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy.

He’s received six Oscar nominations and won two Academy Awards, a BAFTA, three Golden Globes, a Screen Actors Guld Award and numerous critics’ honors. He’s made Cockney accents and oversized glasses sexy. He’s an accomplished writer, penning two memoirs: 1992’s “What’s It All about” and 2010’s ‘The Elephant to Hollywood.” And two days after the 95th Oscars, Caine will celebrate his 90th birthday. Though Caine walks with a cane due to a spine issues, he...

Dame Julie Walters has been forced to leave the cast of the forthcoming Channel 4 drama Truelove, due to ill health.

The veteran star of stage and screen, 73, was diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer in 2018.

In 2020, she gave an interview in which she revealed that she had got the all-clear and said that she felt like a “different person” after having cancer.

Walters’ role as Phil in the drama Truelove was set to be her return to TV after a seven-year hiatus (she was last seen in the acclaimed 2016 Channel 4 drama National Treasure).

Walters will be replaced on the show by Lindsay Duncan, who now stars opposite The Wire’s Clarke Peters.

The pair play former teenage sweethearts who reunite at a friend’s funeral after many years, and make a pact to help each other experience dignified deaths, rather than slow declines.

Filming on Truelove was initially last year...

The estate of the late director Lewis Gilbert has arranged for the British firm Bellman's Auctioneers to auction key pieces from his personal archive on 18 November in London. Gilbert directed such high profile films as "Sink the Bismarck!", "Alfie", the James Bond blockbusters "You Only Live Twice", "The Spy Who Loved Me" and "Moonraker", as well as the acclaimed comedy "Educating Rita". The collection will offer Gilbert's personal scripts, production photos, rare contact sheets and many other artifacts from his long career. For information about bidding, click here.

Not only is the 25th James Bond film “No Time to Die” the last 007 adventure thriller starring Daniel Craig, it’s also the first one directed by an American: Cary Joji Fukunaga. The 44-year-old filmmaker won the Sundance dramatic directing award in 2009 for “Sin Nombre,” was the first Asian-American director to win an Emmy for directing in 2014 for “True Detective” and earned a Peabody in 2015 for “Beasts of No Nation.”

He joins other cutting-edge filmmakers to direct Craig as Bond including Oscar-winning English director Sam Mendes (“American Beauty”) who helmed 2012’s “Skyfall” and 2015’s “Spectre” and indie German filmmaker Marc Forster (2008’s “Quantum of Solace”), who had directed Halle Berry to an Oscar for 2001’s “Monster’s Ball” and Johnny Depp to a nomination for 2004’s “Finding Neverland.”

These three are a far cry from the early Bond directors who were British and had worked their way up the ranks...

British director Lewis Gilbert is largely forgotten today, but in his heyday he helmed a number of classic films ranging from comedy and war films (Sink the Bismarck!) to franchise action. Though his later career was devoted mostly to character-driven dramedies like Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine, Gilbert’s penultimate effort Haunted (1995) is one of the smartest and eeriest horror flicks of its era. Executive produced by Francis Coppola and photographed by Merchant-Ivory stalwart Tony Pierce-Roberts, […]

The post Haunted, One Crazy Summer, Bugsy Malone and Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid: Jim Hemphill’s Home Video Recommendations first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

British director Lewis Gilbert is largely forgotten today, but in his heyday he helmed a number of classic films ranging from comedy and war films (Sink the Bismarck!) to franchise action. Though his later career was devoted mostly to character-driven dramedies like Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine, Gilbert’s penultimate effort Haunted (1995) is one of the smartest and eeriest horror flicks of its era. Executive produced by Francis Coppola and photographed by Merchant-Ivory stalwart Tony Pierce-Roberts, […]

The post Haunted, One Crazy Summer, Bugsy Malone and Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid: Jim Hemphill’s Home Video Recommendations first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The 55th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Aug. 20-28) will honor Michael Caine and Johnny Depp.

Two time Oscar winner Caine is this year’s festival special guest and will be presented with a Crystal Globe for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the festival’s opening ceremony.

At the festival, Caine will personally present the comedy drama “Best Sellers” (2021), director Lina Roessler’s feature film debut in which he portrays a cranky old author who sets out on one final book tour.

When he received his first Oscar for best supporting actor for “Hannah and Her Sisters,” it was his fourth nomination for the Academy Awards, having been previously nominated for “Alfie,” “Sleuth,” and “Educating Rita.” In 2000, he received his second Oscar for his performance in the film adaption of the bestselling book “The Cider House Rules” and in 2003 he was again nominated for “The Quiet American.”

The festival will also honor actor,...

With her latest film, The Secret Garden, arriving in August, here’s a look at Walters’ greatest big-screen roles – from Educating Rita to Paddington

Lewis Gilbert directed Walters in her seminal movie debut, Educating Rita, and although this stagey and subdued film (Gilbert’s last) doesn’t have anything like the fizz of that, Walters gives it her considerable best. She is the eldest of three sisters uneasily reunited for their mother’s funeral (the other two are Joanne Whalley and Victoria Hamilton). Walters is Teresa, a housewife devoted to her mother’s memory and very domineering when it comes to her husband, played by Tom Wilkinson. A strong character performance.

Michael Caine celebrates his 87th birthday on March 14, 2020. The two-time Oscar winner shows no signs of slowing down, amassing dozens of credits in the span of over 50 years. But how many of those titles are classics? In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 20 of Caine’s greatest films, ranked worst to best.

The English-born thespian first came to the attention of movie audiences with a prominent role in the historical epic “Zulu” (1964). He earned his first Oscar nomination as Best Actor just two years later for “Alfie” (1966), playing a devil-may-care ladies man who starts to face the consequences of his actions. The role made Caine an international star, providing him with leading roles both in the UK and the Us.

He won his first Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for playing a man desperately in love with his wife’s sister in “Hannah and Her Sisters...

Dame Julie Walters, the two-time Oscar-nominated British actress, has said that she plans to cut her workload after undergoing treatment for bowel cancer.

The Harry Potter and Mamma Mia! star told the BBC that she was diagnosed with stage three cancer in her intestine in 2017 and underwent surgery and chemotherapy to treat the disease. She has now been given the all-clear.

Walters said the experience has made her reevaluate her career, revealing that it was a relief to climb off the “merry-go-round” of film and TV roles. “I was due to do two big series… and there were two films. And I just didn’t have to do any of it. And that was wonderful,” she said.

Her cancer fight meant that she has had to be cut from certain scenes in The Secret Garden, the Marc Munden feature in which she stars alongside Colin Firth. Walters also missed the...

Sometimes watching a movie is the best way not only to relax, but also to get some motivation to study or work. In case studying at college or university has been extremely stressful recently, do not hesitate to take a little break and watch some motivational movie. Here are a five options for you.

There is no doubt that the amount of tasks you are supposed to submit is huge. Sometimes it feels like are no longer able to write at least one more sentence. Learning is hard. What is more, the whole college process is a rather frustrating period in general. However, you need to acquire as much knowledge as possible to land a well-paid job. In case studying at school has become too exhausting, allocate a few hours to relax and watch ‘History Boys’. This movie is about a group of boys who discover that having good grades...

Oscar-winning actor Michael Caine will star in Best Sellers, the directorial feature debut of Lina Roessler.

Pic follows a has-been author, played by Caine, who is on a wild book tour with a young editor trying to save his boutique publishing house. Caine’s author is miserable and sharp-witted and just wants to live out his days in peace with a bottle of scotch, a cigar, and his orange Tabby cat.

The project is based on Anthony Grieco’s original screenplay which won a 2015 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting award, and will be an official Canada-uk co-production, produced by Arielle Elwes (Braid), Cassian Elwes, Petr Jákl and Wayne Marc Godfrey on the UK side and Jonathan Vanger (Wishing Tree Productions: Miss Sloane) and Pierre Even on the Canadian side.

Michael Caine celebrates his 86th birthday on March 14, 2019. The two-time Oscar winner shows no signs of slowing down, amassing dozens of credits in the span of over 50 years. But how many of those titles are classics? In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 20 of Caine’s greatest films, ranked worst to best.

The English-born thespian first came to the attention of movie audiences with a prominent role in the historical epic “Zulu” (1964). He earned his first Oscar nomination as Best Actor just two years later for “Alfie” (1966), playing a devil-may-care ladies man who starts to face the consequences of his actions. The role made Caine an international star, providing him with leading roles both in the UK and the Us.

SEEOscar Best Supporting Actor Gallery: Every Winner in Academy Award History

He won his first Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for playing a man desperately...

Way back in the 20th century, the BAFTAs, which take place Feb. 10, occupied a shifting, uncertain place in the film awards calendar. For much of the 1990s, they acted as a kind of after-party to the long, strenuous haul of Oscar season: taking place a few weeks after the big day in L.A., they were cheerfully divorced from the pressures and rigors of Academy Awards campaigning. And while they preceded the Oscars for years before then, they were seen as very much their own ball game — prestigious, yes, but hardly an essential red-carpet pit stop for Oscar contenders with their eyes on the American prize.

There was occasional overlap between the British Academy and the Oscars, of course, not least when a U.K. film became a crossover hit: It’s hardly a surprise that tony productions from “Lawrence of Arabia” to “Chariots of Fire” to “Shakespeare in Love...

“The Favourite” reaped a leading 12 nominations for the BAFTA Awards. Among these are bids for both Best Picture and Best British Film. But these two categories could cancel each other out in the minds of the BAFTA voters. Since the British academy reintroduced Best British Film in 1992, separate from the top award for Best Picture, only two movies have won both races.

“The King’s Speech” was the first film to pull off this double act at the BAFTAs in 2010 and it went on to win Best Picture at the Oscars. Last year, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” repeated this feat on home turf but lost the top Oscar race to “The Shape of Water.”

For Best Picture, “The Favourite” is up against two seven-time nominees — “Roma” and “A Star is Born” — as well as five-time contender “BlacKkKlansman” and four-time nominee “Green Book.” Its rivals for Best British Film are seven-time nominee “Bohemian Rhapsody,...

Sandra Oh took home her second Golden Globe on Sunday night and is now the second woman of Asian descent to win the Best TV Drama Actress.

The “Killing Eve” star and Globes co-host joins Yoko Shimada as the only Asian women to win the category. Shimada prevailed in 1981 for her performance in the miniseries “Shōgun,” for which she was Emmy-nominated on the limited series/TV movie side. (The Globes didn’t add acting categories for miniseries and TV films until 1982.) Shimada was the first Asian performer, male or female, to win in any acting category at the Globes.

See 2019 Golden Globes: Check out the full list of winners

Four more performers of Asian descent have since won Globes. Ben Kingsley, who’s British-Indian, took home Best Drama Actor and the now-defunct Best New Actor in 1983 for “Gandhi.” Haing S. Ngor, the Cambodian physician-turned-actor, was named Best Supporting Actor in...

Sandra Oh is indeed the hostess with the mostest now that she’s snagged her own Golden Globe during the same ceremony she played co-hosted with Andy Samberg. The actress took home the award for Best Actress in a Drama Series on Sunday night for starring as tenacious MI5 agent Eve Polastri in BBC America’s thriller “Killing Eve.” Oh brought dogged determination and dry wit to Eve, which not only made her a fascinating character, but also created palpable chemistry with her co-star Jodie Comer as the assassin Villanelle. “Killing Eve” returns for its second season on April 7.

This win makes up for her Emmys disappointment and makes Oh — who is Korean-Canadian — the first Asian performer ever to win multiple Golden Globes. Previously, she’d snagged only one Golden Globe in 2005 for her scene-stealing role as Cristina Yang on “Grey’s Anatomy,” a baffling statistic since she was on the show for 10 seasons.

It’s a good day to be Sandra Oh, and it could get so much better come January 6. On Friday, the day after she was announced as the Golden Globes co-host alongside “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” star Andy Samberg, Oh received a nomination in the Best TV Drama Actress category for her lead role on “Killing Eve.”

The timing of the two back-to-back announcements feels particularly fortuitous, and Oh is currently the odds-on favorite to win in that category, just edging out Julia Roberts in Amazon’s “Homecoming.” Oh has received acclaim for playing the dogged and quirky MI5 agent Eve Polastri in the BBC America series from “Fleabag” creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and even received a groundbreaking Emmy nomination this year. She ultimately lost out to Claire Foy for “The Crown.”

A win this time around would make up for that Emmys disappointment and would make Oh — who is Korean-Canadian — the first...

After presenting together at the Primetime Emmy Awards in September, Sandra Oh and Andy Samberg are getting an awards show promotion: They will host the 76th Golden Globe Awards next month.

“Sandra and Andy are the perfect choices to host this world-class event,” Paul Telegdy and George Cheeks, co-chairmen, NBC Entertainment, said in a statement Wednesday. “They bring wit, charm and style to a room filled with the very best of film and television. It’s sure to be another unforgettable fun-filled night.”

Oh and Samberg, who did a bit while presenting Best Comedy Directing at the Emmys, are both Golden Globe winners themselves; Oh won for her supporting turn in 2006 for “Grey’s Anatomy” and Samberg won Best TV Comedy/Musical Actor in 2014 for “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” which also won Best Comedy/Musical Series that year. Oh is in contention this year for her BBC America hit “Killing Eve,” which...

A dozen years after reaping a BAFTA bid for his short film “Cubs,” Tom Harper could be back in contention with the feature “Wild Rose,” which chronicles the life of a single mother from Glasgow who dreams of becoming a Nashville star. Jessie Buckley, who starred in Harper’s TV version of “War and Peace,” is very convincing as the title character. This Irish actress nails the Scottish accent and her is the sort of performance that the BAFTAs like to recognize – a strong leading lady performance in a small British drama.

Also in contention are two supporting actresses who add much to the movie. Oscar nominee Sophie Okonedo (“Hotel Rwanda”) plays Susannah, a wealthy woman who hires Rose as a house cleaner and befriends her, helping to realise her musical dreams. Curiously, Okonedo has never been nominated for a film BAFTA before, only for two TV BAFTAs. Perhaps that could change this year.

Paul Bradshaw Sep 24, 2018

Now that a director has been confirmed for Bond 25, we take a look back at the men who made 007.

This article comes from Den of Geek UK.

Directing a James Bond movie is pretty big deal. Bond 25 was thrown into chaos when Danny Boyle dropped out, and the news that Cary Fukunaga signed on to replace him has made headlines around the world. But it’s only recently that anyone actually cared who was behind the camera on a 007 film.

Partly because big name “auteurs” don’t often make franchise movies, partly because the Bond producers have always aimed for a kind of stylistic consistency to stop anyone putting a particularly big stamp on it, and mostly because 007 has always been more about a dozen other things that don’t have anything to do with the camerawork – most of the men (and they are all...

Paul Bradshaw Sep 23, 2018

Now a director has been confirmed for Bond 25, we take a look back at the men who made 007

Directing a James Bond movie is pretty big deal. Bond 25 was thrown into chaos when Danny Boyle dropped out, and the news that Cary Fukunaga signed-on to replace him has made headlines around the world. But it’s only recently that anyone actually cared who was behind the camera on a 007 film.

See related Our pick of the best Nintendo Switch deals Our pick of the best handheld consoles (from the current generation) Our pick of the best projector screens

Partly because big name “auteurs” don’t often make action movies, partly because the Bond producers have always aimed for a kind of stylistic consistency to stop anyone putting a particularly big stamp on it, and mostly because 007 has always been more about a dozen other things...

Like the other acting winners of the 1980s, the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor went to big stars and character actors alike. The ’80s featured big-name winners like Jack Nicholson, Kevin Kline, Sean Connery and Michael Caine alongside hardworking veterans like John Gielgud, Louis Gossett Jr. and Don Ameche. The Academy also rewarded emerging talent, like Timothy Hutton, Haing S. Ngor and the now double-champ Denzel Washington.

So who is your favorite Best Supporting Actor winner of the 1980s? Look back on each performance and be sure to vote in our poll below.

Timothy Hutton, “Ordinary People” (1980) — Hutton came out of the gate strong with his heartbreaking performance in Best Picture winner “Ordinary People.” Hutton plays Conrad Jarrett, a teenager wracked with guilt after his brother is killed in a boating accident. Hutton is clearly the lead of the film, but at age 20, the studio may have felt it fairer...

Gilbert on the set of the 1977 James Bond blockbuster The Spy Who Loved Me with production designer Ken Adam and producer Albert R. Broccoli at Pinewood Studios, London.

By Lee Pfeiffer

Cinema Retro mourns the news of director/producer Lewis Gilbert's death in London at age 97. Gilbert was a good friend to our magazine and gave what is probably his last interview to our correspondent Matthew Field several years ago. It ran in three consecutive issues of Cinema Retro (#'s18, 19 and 20). 

Gilbert had a remarkable career that began early in life as a music hall performer and an actor in small roles in British films. During WWII he served in the Raf, producing and directing documentaries for the military. His first feature film as director was "The Little Ballerina", released in 1947. Gilbert toiled through directing low-budget, often undistinguished films, honing his craft along the way. He earned praise for...

Film director whose long and varied career produced hits including Alfie and Educating Rita

The film director Lewis Gilbert, who has died aged 97, never sought the limelight: he always said he wanted his films to speak for him, and several of them, including Alfie (1966) and Educating Rita (1983), have become part of cinema history.

Alfie is the story of an amoral young man who philosophises to camera on sex, love and women as he pursues sexual encounters with one girl after another. Paramount wanted the setting moved to New York and Tony Curtis to play Alfie, but Gilbert held out for Michael Caine. Caine’s performance assured his career, and the film was nominated for five Oscars.

Lewis Gilbert, the Oscar-nominated British filmmaker whose credits include “Alfie” and three James Bond titles, died on Feb. 23, according to multiple media reports. He was 97. Gilbert’s Bond titles include “You Only Live Twice,” “The Spy Who Loved Me” and “Moonraker.” “Alfie” won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1966 and scored five Oscar nominations including Best Picture. His other films include “Sink the Bismark,” “Educating Rita” and “Shirley Valentine.” Born in London in 1920, Gilbert became a child actor in the 1920s and 1930s, landing a role in Victor Hanbury and John Stafford’s “Dick Turpin” in...

Author: Cai Ross

Bond fans are mourning the loss at the fine old age of 97, of director Lewis Gilbert. Gilbert was responsible for three of the biggest James Bond films of the 60s and 70s, You Only Live Twice, The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker.

His Bond movies took everything up to eleven. They all featured immense lairs for larger than life villains. In You Only Live Twice, Donald Pleasance’s HQ was housed inside a Japanese volcano. Moonraker’s climax was set on board a gargantuan space station, and The Spy Who Loved Me’s goliath supertanker set was so huge that thee producers had to build an entire sound stage at Pinewood to accommodate it.

The Spy Who Loved Me was an enormous gamble, an expensive doubling-down after the disappointing returns of The Man With The Golden Gun. The producers were rewarded with one of the biggest...

Gilbert was made a fellow of the British Film Institute in 2001.

Lewis Gilbert, best known for directing Alife and three James Bond films, has died aged 97.

According to reports he passed away on February 23. His funeral will be held in Monaco next week

Alfie, starring a young Michael Caine, won the jury prize at Cannes in 1966 and received five Oscar nominations including best picture.

Gilbert’s Bond entries were You Only Live Twice with Sean Connery and The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker starring Roger Moore.

His other films included Sink The Bismark, the Bafta-winning Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine.

Gilbert was awarded a Cbe in 1997 and was made a fellow of the British Film Institute in 2001.

Heather Stewart, BFI Creative Director, said: “The BFI salutes the most prolific of British filmmakers. Awarded our highest accolade, a BFI Fellowship for his outstanding contribution to British film, everything from three Bond films – including the best, You Only Live Twice – and definitive...

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” won the very first BAFTA Award of the evening on Feb. 18 when it was named Best British Film. And it ended the night by claiming the Best Picture prize. That marked just the second time since the British academy reintroduced Best British Film in 1992 that the same movie won both awards. The only other double dipper was “The King’s Speech,” which went to win Best Picture at the Oscars in 2011.

It might seem odd that a film like “Three Billboards,” which is set in the American heartland, qualified for consideration as Best British Film. However, it was written and directed by an Englishman, Martin McDonagh, and co-financed by UK broadcaster Channel 4.

See 2018 BAFTA Awards: ‘Three Billboards’ wins 5 including Best Picture, ‘The Shape of Water’ takes 3 [Updating Live]

Over the last quarter century, seven other British films have been named Best Picture at the BAFTAs: “Howards End...

“Darkest Hour” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” each reaped nine nominations for the 2018 BAFTA Awards. Among these are bids for Best British Film. While that nomination for the former makes sense given the subject matter and pedigree of Joe Wright‘s biopic about prime minister Winston Churchill, the latter doesn’t appear to be British. However, while the film is set in the American heartland, it was written and directed by an Englishman, Martin McDonagh, and that qualified it for consideration in this category.

Both films also number among the five in contention for Best Picture, alongside the American-made “The Shape of Water” and the international co-productions “Call Me By Your Name” and “Dunkirk.” Fans of either of “Darkest Hour” or “Three Billboards” should be rooting for one of their rivals in the Best British Film race — “The Death of Stalin,” “God’s Own Country,” “Lady Macbeth” or “Paddington 2” — to win on Feb.

The Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in the 1990s went to many long overdue veterans of the industry. Actors like James Coburn, Jack Palance and Martin Landau finally earned Oscars in this decade, alongside then-newer stars like Cuba Gooding Jr and Kevin Spacey. What is your favorite Best Supporting Actor performance of the 1990s?

Read through a recap of their performances and vote in our poll below. (See 2018 Oscar predictions for Best Supporting Actor.)

Joe Pesci, “Goodfellas” (1990) — Joe Pesci won his Oscar with the most iconic role of his career. In “Goodfellas” Pesci plays Tommy DeVito, a blustering gangster who provides some of the funniest lines in the film. Pesci was previously nominated in Best Supporting Actor for “Raging Bull” (1980).

SEEWho’s your favorite Best Director Oscar winner of the 1990s: Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Jonathan Demme … ? [Poll]

Jack Palance, “City Slickers” (1991) — Jack Palance finally won his Oscar thanks to “City Slickers,...

This article marks Part 4 of the 21-part Gold Derby series Meryl Streep at the Oscars. Join us as we look back at Meryl Streep’s nominations, the performances that competed with her, the results of each race and the overall rankings of the contenders.

After “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” in 1981, Meryl Streep lined up two exciting projects for the following year, both lead turns and both given prime late-year release dates for Academy Awards consideration.

First on tap was Streep’s much-anticipated reunion with “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979) director Robert Benton. “Still of the Night” would mark her first big screen thriller to date, pairing Streep with two-time Oscar nominee Roy Scheider. Exciting, right? Well, the Benton picture came and went that November in the blink of an eye, failing to even crack the box office top 10. Not only were reviews for the film itself lukewarm but critics argued both...

Following the worldwide hit “Paddington,” one of the most successful family films of all time, this much-anticipated sequel finds Paddington (Ben Whishaw) happily settled with the Brown family in London, where he has become a popular member of the local community, spreading joy and marmalade wherever he goes.

While searching for the perfect present for his beloved Aunt Lucy’s hundredth birthday, Paddington sees a unique pop-up book in Mr. Gruber’s antique shop, and embarks upon a series of odd jobs to buy it. But when the book is stolen, it’s up to Paddington and the Browns to unmask the thief.

Reuniting many of the original film’s cast while welcoming those in new roles, Paddington 2 stars Golden Globe nominee Hugh Bonneville (“Downton Abbey”), Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins (“Blue Jasmine”), three-time Golden Globe nominee Brendan Gleeson (“The Guard,” “Into the Storm,” “In Bruges”), Oscar nominee Julie Walters (“Billy Elliot,...

The actress known to millions as Gone With the Wind‘s Melanie Wilkes is now officially Dame Olivia de Havilland.

The 100-year-old two-time Oscar winner was named a Dame Commander in Queen Elizabeth II‘s Birthday Honors list on Saturday, becoming the oldest-ever person to achieve the distinction.

Of the honor, de Havilland said in a statement to People that she is “extremely proud that the Queen has appointed me a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.”

“To receive this honor as my 101st birthday approaches is the most gratifying of birthday presents,” she said.

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Author: Zehra Phelan

“You’re were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off” is and will always be Michael Caine’s most iconic line of all time, uttered in the 1969 British Caper The Italian Job. With a career spanning a hefty 64 years between 1953 and 2017, Caine hits our screens yet again this week starring opposite Morgan Freeman and Alan Arkin in Going in Style, a remake of the 1979 heist comedy directed by Zach Braff. It tells the story of a trio of retirees who plan to rob a bank after their pensions are cancelled, proving he isn’t quite ready to hang up his acting shoes to start drawing his own pension.

At the tender age of 84 the man previously known as Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, now known as Sir Michael Caine after being knighted by the queen in 2000, has starred in a staggering 125 films in his career to date. His...

Jenny Morrill Dec 20, 2016

Russ Abbot, Bullseye, Noel Edmonds and a film we all watched in the same room. Christmas TV was more exciting in the 80s...

Cast your mind back to when Christmas Day wasn't about Doctor Who followed by sticking something on Netflix until it was time to go watch the annual fist fight outside the pub.

See related Looking back at Martin Scorsese's The King Of Comedy The Wolf Of Wall Street review The Wolf Of Wall Street & Scorsese's confrontational films

In the 80s, Christmas was about seeing which fantastic fare the TV had decided to bless us with. Of course, the more prepared among us knew this well in advance, having eagerly pored over the Radio Times/TV Times to check that Jimmy Cricket's Family Laugh 'n' Waz would be shown. There it was – right after Reflections On The Eucharist With The Reverend Paul Leyland.

In not surprising news, Sam Mendes is moving on from the 007 franchise after Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015). Daniel Craig is probably moving on, too, but rumors about who will replace him are, as ever, premature. The names floating about this time are Idris Elba and Tom Hiddleston (wishful fan thinking, maybe, since the internet has been suggesting these two names forever) and 30 year old Jamie Bell which is an interesting idea and probably not a bad one. If chosen he'd be the youngest Bond since Sean Connery (who was 30 when he was cast for Dr. No (1962) though most subsequent Bonds have been around 40 when they started. Plus Bell is super charismatic but underused in cinema.

Though Bond films are largely regarded as producer driven and leading actor focused pictures, rather than directorial feats, the man in the chair is important. In the past the franchise has generally relied on mid level directors rather than auteurs,...

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From killer bees to Steven Seagal, Michael Caine's seen it all. We celebrate five hilarious performances in five very bad B-movies...

"If there is one thing worse than being offered bad scripts it's being offered none at all," Michael Caine once noted - an admission that might explain some of the roles he's taken on over his long and often wonderful career.

Michael Caine may have attained national treasure status now, but from the late 70s to the middle of the 90s, classic roles like Dr Frank Bryant in Educating Rita and Scrooge The Muppet Christmas Carol were interspersed with some - shall we say - less acclaimed movies. Yet even when the production values were awful, the script stank and the films flopped, Michael Caine's performances often remained fascinating. This isn't to say he was necessarily putting his heart and soul into them -...

European Film Academy to award “long overdue” honour to veteran British actor.

Sir Michael Caine is to be presented with the Honorary Award of the Efa President and Board at the 28th European Film Awards - only the third time the honour as been bestowed in nearly 30 years.

The British actor, whose 60-year career has run from Alfie and The Italian Job to The Dark Knight trilogy, will accept the award at the EFAs on Dec 12 in Berlin.

Caine is also nominated for his performance in Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth. He was previously nominated in 2001 for Fred Schepisi’s Last Orders.

In a joint statement, Efa Board chair Agnieszka Holland and Efa President Wim Wenders said: “We have come to the decision that we are long overdue on paying special tribute to Sir Michael Caine.

“This recognition to an outstanding film personality is coming from the bottom of our hearts and has only been presented twice in the...

European Film Academy to award “long overdue” honour to veteran British actor.

Sir Michael Caine is to be presented with the Honorary Award of the Efa President and Board at the 28th European Film Awards - only the third time the honour as been bestowed in nearly 30 years.

The British actor, whose 60-year career has run from Alfie and The Italian Job to The Dark Knight trilogy, will accept the award at the EFAs on Dec 12 in Berlin.

Caine is also nominated for his performance in Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth. He was previously nominated in 2001 for Fred Schepisi’s Last Orders.

In a joint statement, Efa Board chair Agnieszka Holland and Efa President Wim Wenders said: “We have come to the decision that we are long overdue on paying special tribute to Sir Michael Caine.

“This recognition to an outstanding film personality is coming from the bottom of our hearts and has only been presented twice in the...