Film
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German Spy Thriller Barbara
Christian Petzold Film in Palm Spring Festival
By: - Jan 20th, 2013Christian Petzold, one of Germany’s finest film directors, presents an insightful drama and character study in his screen story “Barbaraâ€. It’s a film about the effect of constantly being under suspicion and under scrutiny and how long-term repression plays on a society. The spy thriller was included in the annual Palm Springs Film Festival.
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The Intouchables Screened at Palm Springs
Charming French Comedy is a Must See
By: - Jan 20th, 2013This classy little comedy tale of Philippe, a super-rich quadriplegic (Francois Cluzet) and a young man, who goes by the name of Driss (Omar Sy) whom Philippe hires from the Parisian projects to become his caretaker, is funny, clever, poignant, and a delight, thanks mainly, to its two stars: Francois Cluzet and Omar Sy. It was screened during the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
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Unfinished Song Wraps Palm Springs Film Festival
Co Starts Terrence Stamp and Vanessa Redgrave
By: - Jan 20th, 2013“Unfinished Songâ€, written and directed by English filmmaker Paul Andrew Williams is the light-hearted, poignant and touching love story of Marion and Arthur; a devoted couple of English septuagenarians. The dramedy is the type of movie that just seems to be right up the Brits alley.
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The Informant by Writer/Director Jamie Meltzer
One of 60 Plus Documentaries in Film Festival
By: - Jan 20th, 2013The Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) usually attracts a large contingent of documentary film entries (some sixty plus). Documentary filmmakers are drawn to this festival as are moths to a flame. If you want your “docu†to be seen, then PSIFF is the 800-pound gorilla when it comes to audience exposure. But they only accept the best for consideration.
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Beasts of the Southern Wild
Richly Deserving Oscar Nominee
By: - Jan 18th, 2013In a field of nine "Beasts of the Southern Wild" has a snowball in hell's chance of winning an Oscar for Best Picture. It has a slim chance in the three other categories for which it has been nominated, including Best Actress for the nine-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis. While a long shot indie this is truly one of the most unique, compelling and astonishing films of the past year.
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Tarantino’s Dreary Django Unchained
What’s So Funny About Slavery
By: - Jan 16th, 2013Arguably, Quentin Tarantino is a Sam Peckinpah wannabe, washing the screen with buckets of spattering blood and piles of corpses, with, here’s the twist, a sense of humor. It's more Kill Bill this time with carnage delivered by pistols rather than swords. Yet again, heads roll, with witty dialogue.
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Defiant Requiem at Palm Springs Film Festival
Holcaust Themed Documentary by Doug Schultz
By: - Jan 11th, 2013“Defiant Requiemâ€, currently screening at the Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF), is a powerful and emotional documentary by Doug Shultz that honors the Prisoners of Terezin (the infamous Nazi concentration camp located just outside of Prague).
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Check Mate Screened at Palm Springs Festival
Dominian Republic's Writer/ Director Jose Maria Cabral
By: - Jan 11th, 2013Film writer/director Jose Maria Cabral has cracked the code on how to get your first feature length film accepted at the third largest film festival in North America, and he is only twenty-four years old. No, he hasn’t a powerful relative in the movie industry.
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Mondays at Racine Oscar Nominated
Screened at Berkshire International Film Festival
By: - Jan 10th, 2013Cynthia Wade’s 39-minute documentary film MONDAYS AT RACINE, chronicling a salon in Long Island that opens its doors every month to women diagnosed with cancer, is nominated for an Academy Award in the Documentary Short Form category. This is the second nomination for director Cynthia Wade, who previously won the Oscar in 2008 for her documentary short FREEHELD. This is a first time nomination for producer Robin Honan. The documentary was featured during the 2012 Berkshire International Film Festival.
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2013 Oscar Nominations
Let the Games Begin
By: - Jan 10th, 2013The just released list of nominations for the annual Oscars evokes a debate about the depth and quality of films this year. There appears to be a field of good but not great films and performances. Arguments will be made for the special merits of nominees but overall the selection is somewhat enervating. Will it be a big night for Lincoln or Les Miz? Can Life of Pi sneak in there? Or Django Unchained and even Argo? The suspense is brutal.
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Palm Springs International Film Festival
Spain's Oscar Nominated Blancanieve (Snowhite)
By: - Jan 08th, 2013The Opening Night movie at this year’s festival is a somewhat unusual, but brilliant selection, called “Blancanieves†(“Snowhiteâ€) from Spain. It’s also Spain’s Official Oscar submission for the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.
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Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock
Psycho Killer Bio Pic DOA
By: - Jan 06th, 2013Forget the Hollywood PR hype. This is not “Best picture of the Year†material. If Hitchcock were alive today, he would groan at the amateurish, venal, and non-engaging movie that bears his famous name.
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Les Miz-mash
Actors With Cockney/ Aussie Accents Who Can’t Sing
By: - Jan 05th, 2013Why is it that hit musicals have such a hard time making a transition from stage to film? Director Tom Hooper, while striving to make a film, attempted to separate the genres. Having the actors sing on camera with tight closeups was an interesting idea. It didn't work because the cast of fine actors, for the most part, can't sing. This epic film proved to be a tedious, two and a half hour snore.
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Wes Anderson's Moonlight Kingdom
Film Wins Five Independent Spirit Awards
By: - Dec 01st, 2012Earlier this week, Moonlight Kingdom received back-to-back honors with five independent Spirit Awards after winning the best feature film award from Gotham. Academy members are taking note. Anderson’s films, rooted in meaning, accident, marginalia and idiosyncratic, handcrafted details, are rich in reference and also in dark humor. They defy description. One is left with a lingering satisfaction, surely the mark of great filmmaking.
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Daniel Day Lewis Riveting as Lincoln
Spielberg/ Kushner Film Among Year's Best
By: - Nov 30th, 2012Daniel Day Lewis is widely regarded as one of the finest actors of his generation. As such he chooses roles carefully. In Lincoln, directed by Stephen Spielberg with a script by Tony Kushner and input by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, he has taken on an American icon. It is a career challenge to portray a character carved into the face of Mt Rushmore and cast in bronze in Washington's Lincoln Memorial by Daniel Chester French. The gift of this superb film is the richness of nuance he brings to the man we thought we knew.
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James Bondage
Rebooting Double Oh No 7 Franchise
By: - Nov 13th, 2012Now 50 the James Bond franchise was running on vapors until an extreme overhaul with Daniel Craig in Casino Royale in 2006. That was followed by Quantum of Solace in 2008 and now Skyfall. There are two more Bond films starring Craig scheduled over the next four years. By then he will be a ripe old 46. In dog years but actually just 44 since the films have already been shot. But, any way you run the numbers, Bond is showing his age.
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Just 45 Minutes From Broadway
Indie Film by Henry Jaglom
By: - Nov 07th, 2012Henry Jaglom is an American actor, and a writer/director of sometime quirky and idiosyncratic films that often deal with women’s issues, or subject matter that main- stream writer/directors often eschew. Jaglom relishes the filmic road less traveled.
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14th Williamstown Film Festival, 2012
Mostly about Shorts
By: - Nov 03rd, 2012The October 2012 WFF went off without a hitch, well almost. BerkshireFineArts has already given overviews of this year's film festival. This report is primarily about short films, or Shorts, and their highly succesful screenings during a five day long movie feast!
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Berkshire International Film Festival Updates
Tickets on Sale and Heirloom Meals Events
By: - Nov 01st, 2012Passes and packages for the annual Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) for May 30 to June 2, 2013 are now on sale. Heirloom Meals’ Christmas Special is the follow-up program to the widely-seen and highly-praised Heirloom Meals’ Thanksgiving Special. Like the Thanksgiving Special, the Heirloom Meals’ Christmas Special features real people, with real food and heartfelt memories.
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2012 Williamstown Film Festival Part Two
Arcadia, Gayby, Richard Russo, Supporting Characters, Circus Dreams
By: - Oct 24th, 2012The second and final part of Williamstown Film Festival covers events on Saturday and Sunday. The five day festival drew some 1,200. With so much to absorb in a short time we offer some higlights and insights for the 14th annual WFF.
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Williamstown Film Festival Reaches Its Goals
Part One: Thursday and Friday Events
By: - Oct 23rd, 2012Now in its 14th year the Williamstown Film Festival has been compressed from two weekends to one Wednesday through Sunday stretch. That saw an increase of guest artists and visitors who hung in for the duration of the unique cinematic event. Yet again, artistic director, Steve Lawson, concocted a heady mix of many short films and several stunning features. There was a sell out for the thursday opening night of Dreamscape, followed by a party at Mezze. On Friday Mass MoCA was packed for Knuckleball. This is the first of two reports and several interviews.
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The Sessions: A Sexual Conversation
John Hawkes and Helen Hunt in Ben Lewin's Film
By: - Oct 19th, 2012Director and writer Ben Lewin, who is disabled himself, found an article by poet Mark O’Brien, a man crippled by childhood polio who sought out a sex surrogate to help him experience life more fully. He created a wonderful film.
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Argo Celebrates Hollywood
Or What Boston's Ben Affleck is Doing Post Season
By: - Oct 11th, 2012Argo tells the story of 6 American Embassy hostages who are rescued in Teheran in 1980. Sort of... "The script is in turnaround" drew howls from an industry audience at a screening in New York. Ben Affleck introed the film looking to all the world like a CIA agent.
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Williamstown Film Festival's 14th Season
Hollywood in the Berkshires October 17 to 21
By: - Sep 30th, 2012The Williamstown Film Festival's 14th season will run October 17 through 21. On the schedule: 37 films (many of them premieres) a half-dozen parties, and events at MASS MoCA, the Clark Art Institute, and Images Cinema.
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Richard Gere In Arbitrage
New Movie Doesn’t Resonate
By: - Sep 26th, 2012Richard Gere's latest film “Arbitrage†from first-time writer director Nicholas Jarecki, makes sure that his handsome visage is in practically every shot of the suspense/thriller/drama about a New York billionaire businessman who gets caught up in his own money-making schemes with other Wall Street billionaires; as well as the police on a homicide investigation.
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