tagged w/ David Cronenberg
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“Cosmopolis” isn’t an easily digestible film or terribly exciting one, its odyssey is purposefully meandering, with lots of heady commentary on the state of our nation, the cultural miasma that is NYC and the corrosive effects of extreme wealth but it is thoroughly engrossing film.“Cosmopolis” isn’t an easily digestible film or terribly exciting... more
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In David Cronenberg’s new film “Cosmopolis,” the “Twilight” series’ monumentally popular Robert Pattinson utterly lacks any sense of onscreen magnetism. Without the armor of his signature role, Mr. Pattinson’s speech is halting, his face blockishly blank and he seems aware that he doesn’t really belong in the kind of art films he’d like to make.
Yet, while Cronenberg’s film, based on the novel by Don DeLillo, does not feature a strong performance by Mr. Pattinson, he ends up being good for the movie. A more naturally gifted actor would not have served the story, which needs at its center someone who emphasizes the very stilted quality of each line and the whole enterprise’s distance from reality.
Mr. Pattinson plays Eric Packer, a man who works with money in a not-fully-defined capacity: he’s worried about the yuan. Mr. Packer’s eventful day makes up the plot of “Cosmopolis,” as the young man only occasionally leaves his giant limousine. Cronenberg’s body-horror impulse is in full effect here, with the capacious limousine growing ever more claustrophobic and Eric ever more vulnerable to violation and attack.
As he is chauffeured across midtown Manhattan to get a haircut at his father’s old barber, his anxious eyes are glued to the yuan’s exchange rate: it is mounting against all expectations, destroying Eric’s bet against it. Eric Packer is losing his empire with every tick of the clock. Meanwhile, an eruption of wild activity unfolds in the city’s streets. Petrified as the threats of the real world infringe upon his cloud of virtual convictions, his paranoia intensifies during the course of his 24-hour cross-town odyssey. Packer starts to piece together clues that lead him to a most terrifying secret: his imminent assassination.
The interior of the car is brilliantly shot in order to convey a sense of the car’s scope without ever showing its full space. The world Packer inhabits is so unsafe that to leave the car even to urinate is a great risk; so, too, is expressing any passion for the woman he brings into the car for sex. Mr. Pattinson doesn’t even remove an article of clothing for the liaison. When he finally gets the haircut he’s been driving vaguely toward all day long, it’s a half-shaved, half-long mess that looks like a Manhattanite’s idea of a Brooklynite and won’t win Pattinson any new fans.
David Cronenberg’s direction throughout “Cosmopolis” is impeccable, both inside the limousine and out. Mr. Cronenberg keeps you rapt, even when the story and actors don’t. Some of this disengagement is certainly intentional. Taken as a commentary on the state of the world in the era of late capitalism, “Cosmopolis” can seem almost banal. But these banalities, which here are accompanied by glazed eyes, are also to the point: the world is burning, and all that some of us do is look at the flames with exhausted familiarity.
This piece includes color photographs, the full video of “TimesTalks: David Carr with David Cronenberg and Robert Pattinson,” the Official Trailer for “Cosmopolis” and two additional video clips from the film.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2012/08/19/dazed-and-confused-robert-pattinson-in-david-cronenbergs-cosmopolis/In David Cronenberg’s new film “Cosmopolis,” the... more
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In David Cronenberg’s new film “Cosmopolis,” the “Twilight” series’ monumentally popular Robert Pattinson utterly lacks any sense of onscreen magnetism. Without the armor of his signature role, Mr. Pattinson’s speech is halting, his face blockishly blank and he seems aware that he doesn’t really belong in the kind of art films he’d like to make.
Yet, while David Cronenberg’s film, based on the novel by Don DeLillo, does not feature a strong performance by Mr. Pattinson, he ends up being good for the movie. A more naturally gifted actor would not have served the story, which needs at its center someone who emphasizes the very stilted quality of each line and the whole enterprise’s distance from reality.
Mr. Pattinson plays Eric Packer, a man who works with money in a not-fully-defined capacity: he’s worried about the yuan. Mr. Packer’s eventful day makes up the plot of “Cosmopolis,” as the young man only occasionally departs his giant limousine. Cronenberg’s body-horror impulse is in full effect here, with the capacious limousine growing ever more claustrophobic and Eric ever more vulnerable to violation and attack.
The interior of the car is brilliantly shot in order to convey a sense of the car’s scope without ever showing its full space. The world Packer inhabits is so unsafe that to leave the car even to urinate is a great risk; so, too, is expressing any passion for the woman he brings into the car for sex. Mr. Pattinson doesn’t even remove an article of clothing for the liaison. When he finally gets the haircut he’s been driving vaguely toward all day long, it’s a half-shaved, half-long mess that looks like a Manhattanite’s idea of a Brooklynite and won’t win Pattinson any new fans.
David Cronenberg’s direction throughout “Cosmopolis” is impeccable, both inside the limo and out. Mr. Cronenberg keeps you rapt, even when the story and actors don’t. Some of this disengagement is certainly intentional. Taken as a commentary on the state of the world in the era of late capitalism, “Cosmopolis” can seem almost banal. But these banalities, which here are accompanied by Pattinson's glazed eyes, are also to the point: the world is burning, and all that some of us do is look at the flames with exhausted familiarity.
This piece includes color photographs, the full video of “Times Talks: David Carr with David Cronenberg and Robert Pattinson” and the Official Trailer for “Cosmopolis.”
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2012/08/17/creative-destruction-robert-pattinson-in-david-cronenbergs-cosmopolis/In David Cronenberg’s new film “Cosmopolis,” the... more
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We have a long and storied history of feting David Cronenberg over here at SOS – hell, the first iteration of our podcast was called The Naked Lunch. Our Cronenberg fanboyism gets seriously tested this week, though, with the opening here in Montreal of perhaps Cronenberg’s most well-behaved films – on the surface, anyway – the period drama A Dangerous Method. All hands – Ricky, Justine, Julian, and Simon – are on deck to have it out over the flick, as well as touching on Croney’s then-controversial psychosexual 1996 dramaa Crash.
http://www.soundonsight.org/sound-on-sight-podcast-305-david-cronenbergs-dangerous-method-and-crash/We have a long and storied history of feting David Cronenberg over here at SOS –... more
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A review of David Cronenberg's dramatic thriller A Dangerous Method starring Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender, and Viggo Mortensen.A review of David Cronenberg's dramatic thriller A Dangerous Method starring... more
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SoS host Simon Howell was lucky enough to not only get to attend this year’s Telluride Film Festival, but also to take part in the fest’s Student Symposium, which grants access to the filmmakers behind some of the fest’s high-profile gets. To talk about three of the fest’s most interesting films, as well as the fest in general, he’s joined by Telluride vets Kate Rennebohm and Olivier Creurer. The movies up for discussion: Wim Wenders’s 3D doc Pina, David Cronenberg’s wildly divisive period piece A Dangerous Method, and the latest Werner Herzog documentary, Into the Abyss
listen at the link below
http://www.soundonsight.org/sound-on-sight-radio-289-telluride-2011-pina-a-dangerous-method-into-the-abyss/SoS host Simon Howell was lucky enough to not only get to attend this year’s... more
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Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th marks BBC Films weekend as the filmmaking arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation launches its new television home on BBC Two. The channel will show the network premiers of three of the BBC’s most critically acclaimed films of the last few years – “Is Anybody There”, “The Damned United”, and “Eastern Promises”.Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th marks BBC Films weekend as the filmmaking arm of the... more
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The Rotten Tomatoes Show runs down the top five dream sequences of all time, including the scene featuring a giant metal Samurai in Terry Gilliam's "Brazil." Surprisingly, Hitchcock's "Spellbound" misses the list -- Ellen Fox explains, the sequence designed by Salvador Dali is somehow not weird enough.
The Rotten Tomatoes Show is a movie review show that airs on Thursday nights at 10:30/9:30c on Current TV. From reviews of the newest releases to commentary on cult favorites and movie trends, each episode of The Rotten Tomatoes Show is a fast-paced, comedic journey through the week in cinema.
For more from the Rotten Tomatoes Show: http://rottentomatoesshow.com
The Big Lebowski premieres on Current TV Thursday, November 4th at 9 pm ET/6 pm PT.The Rotten Tomatoes Show runs down the top five dream sequences of all time, including... more
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Man, I read the GReader for all 20 minutes and came up with nothing remotely interesting. Thank God there's a new Rotten Tomatoes Show tonight featuring reviews of Jennifer's Body, The Informant! and Love Happens.
-Bryan Singer continues his fall from grace with Jack the Giant Killer. It is about killing giants and Jack. [Current]
-David Goyer is in talks to write the Ghost Rider sequel. Guaranteed boners will occur. [Current]
-David Cronenberg will remake The Fly a second time. Mm. [AICN]
-Can anyone get a signal out today? Anyone? [FourFour]
-John Lichman
Man, I read the GReader for all 20 minutes and came up with nothing remotely... more
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[youtube GgW5djnKKi4]
Oh Tuesday, you're like Monday but I actually remember to do work on this day. Well, to be fair, I did work yesterday, but it was much more involved with your webcams and my coffee and god knows what else. Except now there's a rumor that Josh Brolin may take the spot meant for Javier Bardem, David Cronenberg is adapting Don DeLillo and the video-game-to-film adaptation of Castlevania has a new director. Join me below.
Brolin supposedly was offered the lead villain role yesterday, but no one confirms. If Finke is saying it though...[DHD]
David Cronenberg will direct an adaptation of Don DeLillo's Cosmopolis. [Current]
James Wan (Saw) is the next contestant in "Adapt This Shitty Script Into A Film" with Castlevania. [Current]
Comic Con failed to BEAT THE TWEETS. Or something. Didn't appear to effect anything. [Variety]
Jon Hamm and Rebecca Hall join The Town, which is only exciting to me since Ben Affleck is directing. [Variety]
James Cameron still swears, for the umpteenth time in a decade, he will make a Battle Angel Alita film. One day. [ANN]
Today's video: Iron Man 2 footage from Comic Con. Sweded. [ScreenCrave]
-John Lichman[youtube GgW5djnKKi4]
Oh Tuesday, you're like Monday but I actually remember... more
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The ever-fruitful and edgy creative partnership between director David Cronenberg and actor Viggo Mortensen continues, with today’s announcement of a sequel to their captivating 2007 Russian mob film Eastern Promises. The pic above perfectly conveys our expectations. Deadline reports that producer Paul Webster is overseeing the project, which now has a completed script by Steve Knight, who penned the original and also wrote David Fincher’s planned Bobby Fischer biopic Pawn Sacrifice.
Read more: David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen to Reteam for Eastern Promises 2 | /Film http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/03/26/david-cronenberg-and-viggo-mortensen-to-reteam-for-eastern-promises-2/#ixzz0jKXWjraCThe ever-fruitful and edgy creative partnership between director David Cronenberg and... more
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"Before there was The Fly, there was Scanners, a 1981 science ficition horror film directed by David Cronenberg. Much like Cronenberg’s other work, Scanners deals with the effects of technological advancements on humanity. In this case, manufactured drugs come into play, as well as questions about the morality and culpability of large corporations.
The story is straightforward: Scanners are people with telekinetic abilities, and they can get into other people’s minds (hence the scanning). ConSec is a drug and weapons manufacturing company that wants to use the scanners for their own purposes. ConSec’s problem is that their last scanner on payroll got himself killed during a press conference when he tried to scan someone as a demonstration, but the volunteer turns the tables and scans him back. This volunteer is actually Darryl Revok (Michael Ironside, Starship Troopers, Total Recall, Highlander 2: The Quickening), the leader of the scanner underground, and he’s trying to gather all the willing scanners together to they can take over the world."
read the rest at the link -> http://www.examiner.com/x-7322-Orlando-Movie-Examiner~y2009m10d26-Halloween-movie-review-Scanners"Before there was The Fly, there was Scanners, a 1981 science ficition horror... more
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"There are many types of horror movies, and certain subgenres have more films than others. Zombie movies are a dime a dozen, and you can't throw a dead, pasty faced goth kid without hitting a vampire flick. There are horror movies with monsters, with aliens and with good old fashioned, down-to-earth, honest to God psychopaths. There are slasher movies and ghost stories and whatever you want to call the Saw and Hostel movies. But the genre that stands out above the rest in terms of intense horror, inventive gore and real terror is the same genre that has even less film entries than movies about evil toys, and that is the often overlooked genre of body horror."
read the rest at the link:
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-7322-Orlando-Movie-Examiner~y2009m10d22-Halloween-movie-review-The-Fly"There are many types of horror movies, and certain subgenres have more films... more
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South African alien Apartheid is front and center in this weekend's District
9 so Brett decided to dig into the Top 5 Movie Metaphors of all time. No
similes' allowed!
The Rotten Tomatoes Show is a movie review show that airs on Thursday nights at 10:30 e/p on Current TV. From reviews of the newest releases to commentary on cult favorites and movie trends, each episode of The Rotten Tomatoes Show is a fast-paced, comedic journey through the week in cinema.
For more from the Rotten Tomatoes Show: http://rottentomatoesshow.com
For more about movies from Current: http://current.com/moviesSouth African alien Apartheid is front and center in this weekend's District
9... more
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"Cosmopolis," which has yet to be cast, will tell [Don] DeLillo's story of a 28 year-old billionaire who crosses Manhattan for a haircut.
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I'm so in."Cosmopolis," which has yet to be cast, will tell [Don] DeLillo's story... more
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Hellz Yeah!!! (even better if he gets to direct it)
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Universal to remake 'Videodrome'
David Cronenberg-directed thriller gets redo
By MICHAEL FLEMING
Universal Pictures will remake the 1983 David Cronenberg-directed thriller "Videodrome," with Ehren Kruger set to write the script and produce with partner Daniel Bobker.
The producers tracked down the rights to Canadian distribution vet Rene Malo, who will be exec producer. Universal distributed the original and had first refusal on a remake, and the studio snapped up the opportunity.
The original "Videodrome" starred James Woods as the head of Civic TV Channel 83, who makes his station relevant by programming "Videodrome," a series that depicts torture and murder that transfixes viewers.
The new picture will modernize the concept, infuse it with the possibilities of nano-technology and blow it up into a large-scale sci-fi action thriller.
Cronenberg has no role in the film as yet. He is prepping for MGM "The Matarese Circle" as a starring vehicle for Tom Cruise and Denzel Washington. Since Cruise appears likely to next star in the DreamWorks drama "Motorcade" and Washington has committed to the Fox drama "Unstoppable," "Circle" doesn't appear likely to get under way until later this year or 2010.
Bobker/Kruger Films recently set the thriller "Dream House" at Morgan Creek and is producing, with Matthew Stillman, "The Keep" for Rogue. Kruger co-wrote the June 24 Paramount/DreamWorks release "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.Hellz Yeah!!! (even better if he gets to direct it)
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Universal to remake... more
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