Mehran Tamadon is a Paris-based filmmaker who's spent most of his life outside of Iran. And yet, his skills as a host says “Iranian” as is revealed in his new film, entitled "Iranian" which is coming out next week in France and found no distribution in the U.S. nor gained any traction with festivals here. In this documentary film a kind of summit on Islam and society is held at a house in ... more >
Archives for November 2014
ARCHIVES
Living together in harmony, that’s the motif of the documentary IRANIAN
A France/Switzerland/Iran production
105 mins
NIGHT CRAWLER, first film and this thriller is a massive success
It's ninja-style TV reporting
Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo
Directed by Dan Gilroy
Dan Gilroy’s first feature film, “Night Crawler,” is a rare treat, a perfect thriller, a soufflé that rises as it should and keeps its superlatively fluffy texture from minute one to minute 117. But you stand warned, this film about a sleazy, nasty loser-drifter who has watched one too many TED talk about how to be wildly successful will not be as easy to digest. Jake Gyllenhaal, skinny, driven, ... more >
MIKE NICHOLS dead at 83
He was born in Berlin, Germany
Diane Sawyer was his wife
Mike Nichols, auteur of "The Graduate," has passed away. He was 83. Nichols was a German-born American film and theatre director, producer, actor and comedian. He began his career in the fifties with the improv troupe the Compass Players, predecessor of the Second City in Chicago and as one half of the comedy duo Nichols & May, along with Elaine May. In 1968 Nichols won an Academy Award for ... more >
PREVIEW | ZERO MOTIVATION
Directed by Talya Lavie
[Israel, 2014, 100 mins]
If I had to guess I'd say Israelis have a love-hate relationship with military service, which is mandatory in their country for everyone and which lasts two years. In fact, it's probably a hate-hate thing. Winner of six of the equivalent of the Oscars in Israel and winner of the Best Narrative Feature Award at the Tribeca Film Festival ”Zero motivation” is a sharply observed, sometimes dark and ... more >
SHORT TAKE | The salt of the earth
Film will qualify next month for an Academy Award
Released by Sony Pictures Classics
Opening March 27, 2015
For the last forty years the photographer Sebastião Salgado has been traveling through the continents in the footsteps of an ever-changing humanity. He has witnessed some of the major events of our recent history: international conflicts, starvation and exodus. He is now embarking on the discovery of pristine territories, of wild fauna and flora, and of grandiose landscapes as part of a huge ... more >
FOXCATCHER
On Dupont's long and colorful history
Steve Carell and Channing Tatum
Directed by Bennett Miller
I should begin any review of Bennett Miller’s "Foxcatcher" by noting that DuPont products put dinner on my table. My father, an accountant by trade, later purchased a small business that sold DuPont products to auto body shops. That might make me the wrong person to review the film. Or it might make me the right person. You judge. The DuPont company has had a long and fascinating history, ... more >
NEW POSTER released for “Drug Lord”
GRAVITAS / FRONTLINE / SUBMARINE
[news]
In "Drug Lord: The Legend of Shorty" BAFTA- and Emmy award-winning director Angus Macqueen and Guillermo Galdos, producers Simon Chinn ("Searching for Sugar Man") and Andrew Mackenzie-Betty ("Thriller In Manila") lead us on a journey to find the leader of the biggest drug cartel in Mexico's history. To some, he is a revolutionary hero and a latter-day Robin Hood, the powerful peasant campesino who ... more >