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18 articles from 2009
Al Pacino to Star in The Humbling for Director Barry Levinson
16 December 2009 7:37 AM, PST
| Collider.com
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The New York Times Arts Beat is reporting that Al Pacino will star in an adaptation of Philip Roth’s latest novel, The Humbling. The film will be directed by Academy Award winning director Barry Levinson (Rain Man, Bugsy) and will be written by legendary screenwriter Buck Henry (The Graduate, To Die For). Pacino will star in the lead role and also bought the movie rights to the novel, which is about “an aging and irrelevant stage actor who finds hope of renewal through a younger woman”. This sounds pretty bland and cliche to me, but I do have a little bit of hope for this one just because of Buck Henry’s involvement.
Barry Levinson and Al Pacino also just finished working together on the cleverly named Jack Kevorkian biopic, You Don’t Know Jack, which will air on HBO sometime next year.
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- Ramses Flores
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Las Vegas: where celluloid dreams meet the Mirage
10 December 2009 7:14 AM, PST
| The Guardian - Film News
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Traditionally, the desert city has been synonymous - both on screen and off - with sin, tragedy and despair. But as this year's smash comedy The Hangover, now out on DVD, highlighted, it's increasingly an arena for a new, Disneyfied version of vice. Paul MacInnes reports
There are lots of tigers in Las Vegas. But, try as you might, it's hard to coax one back to your hotel room. Mainly, they live in zoos; zoos like the one in the Mirage Hotel that's named after Siegfried & Roy, the German-born magicians who became inextricably linked to the beasts after a seven-year-old called Montecore bit Roy on the neck. Sometimes the tigers live in private homes. But, either way, they're not for hire. And you try lifting one out of its cage.
The sight of a roaring tiger in a bathroom at Caesar's Palace is one of the most memorable moments in The Hangover,
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- Paul MacInnes
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Uncanny Birthday Suits
23 November 2009 7:30 AM, PST
| FilmExperience
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Celebrating cinematic folk, born on this day 11/23. Get out your kazoos.
Franco, Maxwell and Harpo. Half of the fun of building these posts
is these completely nonsensical groupings!
1859 Billy the Kid, outlaw. I've always thought it a mystery as to exactly why people routinely idolize characters whom they would never want to meet in real life. Murderers, criminals, thieves, (especially gangsters)... they all get the silver screen pedestal treatment. Billy has been portrayed dozens of times and Val Kilmer, Emilio Estevez, Kris Kristofferson, Buster Crabbe and Paul Newman have all done the job.
1888 Harpo Marx I'm embarrassed to say this but I can never remember which Marx Bros is which. When I watch 30s comedies, I almost always select a screwball romance.
1892 Erté artist over whom wee Nathaniel obsessed, wanting a whole animated movie to spring forth from his theatrical illustrations of ladies in elaborate headdresses and fab gowns.
1913 Michael Gough,
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- NATHANIEL R
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Barry Levinson
10 November 2009 5:30 PM, PST
| The Wrap
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Barry Levinson is an Oscar-winning director, screenwriter and producer. His film credits include "Diner," "Rain Man," "Good Morning, Vietnam," "Bugsy," "Wag the Dog" and recent documentary "Poliwood." He was executive producer of TV series "Homicide: Life on the Street" and "Oz." Known for his devotion to his native Baltimore, he is a minority owner of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team.
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- Lisa Horowitz
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DVD Review: ‘Tyson’ is One of the Best Documentaries of 2009
24 August 2009 2:11 PM, PDT
| HollywoodChicago.com
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Chicago – To a lot of people out there, the very concept of James Toback’s “Tyson” might sound overwhelming. Spending ninety minutes with a man as intense, controversial, and even scary as Mike Tyson could have been a nightmare. But in the hands of the very talented Toback (“Bugsy,” “Fingers”), “Tyson” is a riveting portrait of a life lived in the public eye but barely understood by it.
DVD Rating: 4.0/5.0
How does one even begin to understand someone who goes into a ring to get punched in the face? No one could possibly dissect Michael Tyson more accurately than Iron Mike himself and Toback made his most brilliant move before he even shot a frame of film, allowing the former champ to tell his own story. For three days, Toback merely brought up subjects and the occasional question, and edited the resulting footage together with archival/fight footage and footage
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- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
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James Toback Gets in the Ring with Tyson
17 August 2009 8:49 PM, PDT
| MovieWeb
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The director of this new documentary on the controversial boxer talks about the film, the fighter and future projects
James Toback has distinguished himself as a filmmaker by working on his own terms. Toback, who received an Oscar nomination for his amazing screenplay for Bugsy, has now put his unique imprint on the world of documentaries with Tyson, which will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 18. I had the chance to speak with this wonderful filmmaker over the phone about his wonderful documentary about the former undisputed heavyweight champion and here's what he had to say.
I watched the DVD and it's quite a wonderful film, I must say.
James Toback: Thank you, thank you.
I noticed on the special features that you said you had known Mike Tyson for about 20 years, so I was wondering how you first met him and how your relationship has grown over the years?
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'Tyson' Director James Toback: Grilled
16 August 2009 2:21 PM, PDT
| The Wrap
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"I had no idea that he was carrying so much fear around with him."
By Jordan Riefe
“Write what you know,” goes the mantra. If you’re James Toback, you know writing, gambling and boxing. The Oscar-nominated scribe (“Bugsy”) wrote the screenplay to Karel Reisz’s 1974 “The Gambler,” an autobiographical account of a Nyu lit professor who is also a compulsive gambler.
Following “Fingers,” his promising 1978 directorial debut starring Harvey Keitel as a hitman, Toback’s career has moved in fits and starts, including “The Pick-Up Artist” and "Two Girls and a G
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- Michael Speier
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Third Narnia Film Starts Principal Photography
28 July 2009 11:18 PM, PDT
| FilmShaft.com
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The third film in the epic Narnia series - The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader began principal photography this past Monday in Queensland, Australia. The production is a joint venture between Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and Walden Media, after the property was dropped by Disney last year following the release of last year’s “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian”.
In the third installment of the series, which began in 2005 with The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, along with their annoying cousin Eustace Scrubb – find themselves swallowed into a painting and transported onto a fantastic Narnian ship headed for the very edges of the world.
Joining forces once again with their royal friend Prince Caspian and the warrior mouse Reepicheep, they are whisked away on a mysterious mission to the Lone Islands, and beyond. On this
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- Craig Sharp
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The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of The Dawn Treader Starts Shooting
28 July 2009 5:07 AM, PDT
| MovieWeb
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The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of The Dawn Treader, the third in the epic series of films based on the bestselling books by C.S. Lewis, began principal photography on location in Queensland, Australia, on Monday, July 27. The production, a joint venture between Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and Walden Media, continues the franchise which commenced with the 2005 release,The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and its 2008 follow-up, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, whose combined global box office gross tops $1.2 billion.
This time around - Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, along with their pesky cousin Eustace Scrubb - find themselves swallowed into a painting and on to a fantastic Narnian ship headed for the very edges of the world.
Joining forces once again with their royal friend Prince Caspian and the warrior mouse Reepicheep, they are whisked away on a mysterious mission to the Lone Islands,
…
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That's not the IMAX I grew up with
29 May 2009 2:05 AM, PDT
| blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
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It started for me with a letter from a Los Angeles filmmaker named Mike Williamson, who contacted me March 7 in outrage about a bait-and-switch involving IMAX. He paid an extra fee to see a movie in Burbank, and wrote the company in protest: "As soon as I walked in the theatre, I was disgusted. This was not an IMAX screen. Simply extending a traditional multiplex screen to touch the sides and floor does not constitute an IMAX experience. An IMAX screen is gargantuan. It is like looking at the side of a large building, and it runs vertically in a pronounced way. It is not a traditional movie screen shape....This screen was pathetic by IMAX standards."
If you will click to enlarge the graphic below, you will see that Williamson has a point. The illustration comes from Jeff Leins of newsinfilm.com, based on one with a useful article by James Hyder,
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- Roger Ebert
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SFIFF52 Day 10: James Toback and "Tyson"
3 May 2009 9:06 PM, PDT
| JustPressPlay.net
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You can already read Neil's review of Tyson here, which I think is spot on, but on Saturday I had the chance to see the movie introduced extensively by the film's director, James Toback, which offered me an uneasy perception of the film—largely because during the Q&A, Toback painted himself as a biased and somewhat unreliable source.
Toback was present at the Festival to receive the Kanbar Award, which acknowledges excellence in screenwriting. Toback has certainly reached a level worthy of recognition with three decades of work from 1974's The Gambler starring James Caan, to the Oscar contender Bugsy, to 2004's Neve Campbell vehicle When Will I Be Loved.
He has a way with dialogue, though he has an unusual method of writing. Toback admitted to having a hard time writing stuff down, preferring to dictate his screenplays to a transcriber.
His latest film Tyson is a documentary
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- Arya Ponto
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Barry Levinson to Write and Direct Sixty-Six
30 April 2009 11:36 PM, PDT
| TheMovingPicture.net
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Barry Levinson is set to write and direct Sixty-Six, an adaptation of his own novel bout a group of characters coming of age in 1966 Baltimore on the eve of significant historical events such as the counterculture movement and the war in Vietnam.
The protagonist in Sixty-Six is an employee at a local television station, whom some have noted is a stand-in for Levinson and his professional and personal life. Like one of the director's most famous works, Sixty-Six also will feature a diner as the center of social activity.
Levinson’s credits include Diner, Good Morning, Vietnam, Rain Man, Bugsy, Sleepers, Wag the Dog and more recently the comedies Man of the Year with Robin Williams and What Just Happened? with Robert De Niro.
Levinson most recently completed Polliwood, which is premiering this week at the Tribeca Film Festival. The documentary generally looks at the intersection of Hollywood and politics
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- James Cook
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Interview: Talking ‘Tyson’ With Writer, Director James Toback
28 April 2009 4:40 PM, PDT
| HollywoodChicago.com
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Chicago – If you’re merely a casual movie goer, you may not know the name James Toback, but you probably know his work. If you do know the name, you probably have an opinion. The writer/director of films like “Fingers,” “Exposed,” “Bugsy,” “Two Girls and a Guy,” and “Black and White” has divided audiences and critics for years, but they all seem to be unanimous about his latest film, a startling, riveting, and brilliant examination of a fascinating man, “Tyson”.
In fact, the near-universal acclaim regarding what is essentially an hour-and-a-half self-portrait of the former boxer (the film uses no one’s words but Mike Tyson’s own) has surprised Toback.
“I’ve always had mixed response,” Toback told me on a rainy afternoon at the Peninsula Hotel. “I’ve always had people who really got [my movies] and were excited. And I’ve always had some vicious detractors. And then
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- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
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Exclusive: 'Tyson' Poster Premiere
10 March 2009 9:02 AM, PDT
| Cinematical
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Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for Tyson, a much buzzed-about documentary about former boxing champion Mike Tyson that's been making the festival rounds and is now ready to hit theaters on April 24. Directed by James Toback (The Pick-Up Artist, Bugsy), Tyson follows the life experiences of Mike Tyson through a mixture of original interviews, archival footage and photographs. As James tells us in his Cannes review of the film from last year, Tyson "is older, sadder, sober, off drugs and out of the fight game, trying to battle things you cannot simply strike with your fists." He later adds, "Tyson isn't just a look at the hitting and hitting back of boxing and a champion who defeated almost everyone who faced him; in its finest moments, it shows us a man determined to stop defeating himself." Meanwhile, I just wanna know why he covered half his face with that wacky tattoo?
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- Erik Davis
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Top Ten: After Kate Winslet, Who?
4 March 2009 10:48 AM, PST
| FilmExperience
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Kate Winslet finally won her Oscar, delighting the bulk of fans who have been rooting for her since she dreamt of Hollywood in '94 -- 'they're desperately keen to sign me up!' -- or nearly drowned in '97. She never let go. So, who is next?
Or rather... who is most overdue?
Contrary to popular belief, it ain't easy to win an Oscar. It certainly wasn't easy for Kate the Great. You need more than an accent, a disability, a good or popular movie, old age makeup or mimicry skills. You also need star charisma, a role that compliments or complicates that charisma and media support. Above all else you need luck combined with surgically precise good timing. History is full of performers who never won the movie's top prize despite plentiful contributions to the art of acting.
For the following list I'm ignoring outstanding performers who have never
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- NATHANIEL R
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Slumdog Millionaire adds to awards with costume design honour
19 February 2009 3:25 AM, PST
| Boxwish.com
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It’s won seven BAFTA film awards, four Golden Globes and goes into this Sunday’s Academy Awards another prize heavier as Brit sensation Slumdog Millionaire was honoured for its costume design at the 11th annual Costume Designers Guild Awards on Tuesday night. The film which has charmed audiences around the world and made a star of former Skins actor Dev Patel picked up the excellence in contemporary film award for the hard work of designer Suttirat Larlarb making it the 60th; yes the 60th win for the Danny Boyle adaptation of the Vikas Swarup bestseller.
Slumdog beat off stiff competition in the category from the likes of Iron Man, Mamma Mia!, The Wrestler and the ultra-fashionable Sex and the City, though Satc’s designer Patricia Field didn’t go home empty-handed picking up the award for contemporary TV series with Edwardo Castro for her work on Ugly Betty.
Costume
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The 31 Stupidest Oscar Moments
17 February 2009 6:45 AM, PST
| TotalFilm
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1. Best Picture Outrage The Academy has a knack of anticipating the best films in any given year/decade/career by not rewarding them at Oscar time. In 1981 it was Martin Scorsese’s still-searing boxing masterpiece Raging Bull, which lost a points decision to Robert Redford’s schmaltzy, po-faced grief ‘em up Ordinary People. 2. Bugsy’s Perfect 10 Oscar has always had his clear favourites, and arch smooth operator Warren Beatty is definitely one of them. How else to explain the fact that his dreary and disjointed...
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- sashurst
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The 30 Stupidest Oscar Moments
17 February 2009 5:57 AM, PST
| TotalFilm
| See recent TotalFilm news
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1. Best Picture Outrage The Academy has a knack of anticipating the best films in any given year/decade/career by not rewarding them at Oscar time. In 1981 it was Martin Scorsese’s still-searing boxing masterpiece Raging Bull, which lost a points decision to Robert Redford’s schmaltzy, po-faced grief ‘em up Ordinary People. 2. Bugsy’s Perfect 10 Oscar has always had his clear favourites, and arch smooth operator Warren Beatty is definitely one of them. How else to explain the fact that his dreary and disjointed...
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- sashurst
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18 articles from 2009
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