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Being John Malkovich (1999) More at IMDbPro »
2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999
1-20 of 121 articles from 2009 « Prev | Next »
Jm Coetzee's Disgrace | Film
4 hours ago | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »
Theo Tait on the transition from page to screen of Coetzee's novel
It's often said that good novels make bad films: they're too nuanced, too complex, too long to fit into a slot two hours long. Readers don't thank film-makers for trampling on their treasured mental visions of a book – for making Sebastian Flyte shout "All you ever wanted was to fuck my sister!" at Charles Ryder, as in last year's film of Brideshead Revisited, or for casting Demi Moore as Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter or Nicolas Cage as Captain Corelli. The resulting adaptations tend to be, at worst, a travesty (Bonfire of the Vanities, Love in the Time of Cholera) and, at best, faithful and bloodless (Atonement, Revolutionary Road) – weighed down by the desire to do justice to a big reputation.
Few contemporary novels have a bigger reputation than Disgrace, Jm Coetzee's chilly, shocking 1999 tale of post-apartheid South Africa, »
Where are the wild things - Fraggle Rock?
23 November 2009 9:07 AM, PST | t5m.com | See recent t5m.com news »
After a gestation period longer than several female whales, we're finally closing in on the UK release of Where the Wild Things Are. Based on the 'children's' book by Maurice Sendak, the film has been a labour of love for director Spike Jonze. Telling the story of one boy's adventure and an imaginary world of wild monsters, the story has sold nearly 20 million copies worldwide. Despite having Sendak's own illustrations as a guide, there is always a danger in creating a film that so many people picture in different ways. From the look of the trailer, Jonze has worked wonders. The beautifully realised creatures look funny and a little bit scary but most of all empathetic. They remind me - and this is being said as a massive compliment - of the Gorgs - the wonderful creatures who lived above ground in Fraggle Rock. Jim Henson was always the master of humanising his creations. »
- Michael Shelton
Zombieland star Jesse Eisenberg caught taking clothes from film set
18 November 2009 1:34 AM, PST | Boxwish.com | See recent BoxWish news »
Sometimes there’s seemingly no difference between onscreen and offscreen. Just look at the whole Twilight business. Edward and Bella are inseparable and loved-up onscreen and offscreen there are rumours that Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are likewise. Sure, it might all just be gossip and speculation, but often we like to imagine that what we see at the cinema is the same as real life. And it’s not just us, the viewers that enjoy blurring this line as many Hollywood stars take it a step further by wearing their actual movie costumes in their everyday lives. Just a few months ago, Cameron Diaz admitted she loves stepping out as herself in her Being John Malkovich costumes (see Related Content, right) and now Jesse Eisenberg, rising star of Zombieland and Adventureland (he likes his “lands”) has spoken of his penchant for pinching screen clothes, a tendency that can prove embarrassing… »
Cold Souls | Film review
14 November 2009 4:06 PM, PST | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »
In this amusing, intelligent, well-acted picture, Paul Giamatti, playing a troubled actor called Paul Giamatti currently appearing in Uncle Vanya, goes to a New York surgery called Soul Storage and exchanges his soul for that of a Russian artist. It's a combination of the Faust legend, John Frankenheimer's Seconds and Spike Jonze's Being John Malkovich, but curiously flimsy.
Philip French
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds »
- Philip French
Where the Wild Things Are: A Monstrously Mediocre Children's Movie
13 November 2009 8:46 PM, PST | Huffington Post | See recent Huffington Post news »
Spike Jonze had a pretty impeccable record, from directing Christopher Walken's triumphal dance in the video for Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice," to producing MTV's transcendently stupid pain-porn Jackass, to his magnificent collaborations with Charlie Kaufman on Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. Nothing about that remotely suggests that he should adapt a children's book, though. He does a great job of evoking the weird and making it normal, but he's never quite pulled off believable emotion. Ultimately, that's what sinks Where the Wild Things Are. It's not just Jonze, though. The entire creative team is bizarre. Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, best known for fellating her mic at live shows, composed the soundtrack; Dave Eggers, best known for a fictionalized memoir (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) and a fictionalized biography (What is the What), adapted the 10 sentences... »
- Alex Remington
Paul Giamatti: 'I'm clearly not Brad Pitt'
12 November 2009 1:27 AM, PST | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »
Paul Giamatti tends to play moody defeatists and rageful misanthropes. Which is just the way he likes it
'I'm clearly not Brad Pitt, and I'm never going to be Brad Pitt," says Paul Giamatti, closely inspecting his coffee cup in a Polish restaurant in a leafy neighbourhood of Brooklyn. "But I don't think I'd want to be Brad Pitt, you know? So that's Ok."
This is partly just a reference to Giamatti's "character-actor" looks, but also to something deeper: a sense of composure, of being comfortable in one's own skin, that the archetypal Hollywood star exudes but both Giamatti and his characters tend to lack. "You know that thing where you can just fuckin' stand there and people can't take their eyes off the person? I don't have that weight of charisma," he explains. "That's not me. If I just stand there, it's going to be boring. You're going to »
- Oliver Burkeman
Total Recall: John Cusack's Best Movies
10 November 2009 5:40 AM, PST | Rotten Tomatoes | See recent Rotten Tomatoes news »
For much of the 1980s, John Cusack was one of Hollywood's most dependable go-to guys for affable leads in teen romantic comedies -- typecasting that led to some great films (Better Off Dead, Say Anything...) as well as some rather forgettable efforts (Hot Pursuit, One Crazy Summer). But beneath that guy-next-door exterior lurked the heart of a thespian, and over the last 20 years, Cusack has assembled one of the more eclectic filmographies in the biz, starring in action flicks (Con Air), quirky dramas (Being John Malkovich), and even dabbling in horror (1408). With his starring turn in Roland Emmerich's... »
Cusack Interested in 'Preacher'?
8 November 2009 9:25 PM, PST | CinemaSpy | See recent CinemaSpy news »
Recently, Sam Mendes (The Road to Perdition, Away We Go) said the script for Preacher — an adaptation of the DC/Vertigo comic book series — is about halfway finished. Now it appears that John Cusack, who’s starring in the upcoming 2012, may want in on it.
In an interview with io9, Cusack described a comic book movie circulating around Hollywood that he’s trying to get himself attached to. "It's a vampire and a killer, and they're on the road, and it's this really strange story," he said.
When asked if he was talking about Preacher, which revolves around a former faith-spreader, his trigger-happy girlfriend, and a vampire who hit the road to teach God a lesson, Cusack replied, "I think it might have been Preacher," adding that he would be interested in playing “either the vampire or the priest."
"One of those two guys," he said.
If Preacher sounds like an odd fit for Cusack, »
Cusack Interested in 'Preacher'?
8 November 2009 9:25 PM, PST | CinemaSpy | See recent CinemaSpy news »
Recently, Sam Mendes (The Road to Perdition, Away We Go) said the script for Preacher — an adaptation of the DC/Vertigo comic book series — is about halfway finished. Now it appears that John Cusack, who’s starring in the upcoming 2012, may want in on it.
In an interview with io9, Cusack described a comic book movie circulating around Hollywood that he’s trying to get himself attached to. "It's a vampire and a killer, and they're on the road, and it's this really strange story," he said.
When asked if he was talking about Preacher, which revolves around a former faith-spreader, his trigger-happy girlfriend, and a vampire who hit the road to teach God a lesson, Cusack replied, "I think it might have been Preacher," adding that he would be interested in playing “either the vampire or the priest."
"One of those two guys," he said.
If Preacher sounds like an odd fit for Cusack, »
Review: Coraline
28 October 2009 6:30 AM, PDT | HeyUGuys.co.uk | See recent HeyUGuys news »
The latest movie sent over for us to review on our iPod Touch so kindly given to us by NBC Universal is Coraline. I have to admit to not knowing too much about this movie before I watched it. I’d heard something about buttons for eyes and that it was a bit twisted but other than that I was pretty clueless.
The movie stars Dakota Fanning as Coraline, Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman, Ian McShane, Keith David and is directed by Henry Selick who previously brought us A Nightmare Before Christmas. Once you see Coraline, that will make perfect sense. I think that I had the misconception that this was a kids movie but now that I’ve seen it, it’s so much more than that and will definitely appeal both to adults and children. That said, it’s quite a freaky film with a few bits that made me, »
- David Sztypuljak
London Film Festival ‘09:Cold Souls
23 October 2009 11:17 AM, PDT | SoundOnSight | See recent SoundOnSight news »
Cold Souls Directed by Sophie Barthes Charlie Kaufman's attorneys must be pleased. The first phrase one grasps at to describe Sophie Barthes debut feature, Cold Souls, is 'Kaufmanesque': a metaphysical comedy with an absurd, fantastical central proposition, be it a machine that erases memories of a failed love affair or a puppet master accessing the consciousness of a well respected character actor. In Cold Souls, the story is no less outlandish, concerning, as it does, a medical procedure that surgically extracts and stores people's souls, an idea inspired by a dream that Barthes had (appropriately enough) featuring her and Woody Allen in a doctor's waiting room only to discover that he had the soul of chickpea. Speaking as someone who finds nothing in life more tedious than other people telling you how crazy and wacky their dreams are, Cold Souls initially sounded like a potentially horrific experience, and while »
- Ricky
A Glimpse at Where the Wild Things Are’s Costume Design
22 October 2009 4:02 PM, PDT | Atomic Popcorn | See recent Atomic Popcorn news »
A unique Sundance Channel interview with costume designer Casey Storm — a man who has worked on films including Being John Malkovich, Zodiac and The Onion Movie — has revealed some interesting details regarding Where the Wild Things Are’s design and the process of director Spike Jonze.
Storm pretty much glows about Jonze, as would be expected (”He has an amazing ability to find people whom he admires and then ask them to do something they’ve never done before. He knows who gets his creative vision and will execute it perfectly”). The interesting details are in the specifics of Wild Things’ production:
“The biggest challenge was getting the wolf suit right. It’s tough when you have so much scrutiny on just one suit. How do you interpret a two-dimensional sketch? How do we get the details? We spent two months just taking snaps, playing with fabrics, etc. One of »
- John Cooper
Happy Birthday, Spike Jonze: Wake-Up Video
22 October 2009 6:00 AM, PDT | MTV Newsroom | See recent MTV Newsroom news »
If you happen to run into Spike Jonze today, be sure to give him a pat on the back for making a truly stunning film adaptation of "Where the Wild Things Are." But you can also wish him a happy birthday, as today he turns 40 years old. The man born Adam Spiegel spent his youth as a Bmx and skateboard enthusiast and got involved with filmmaking when he started filming his friends doing tricks and stunts. His warped visual style, wide-eyed innocence and sense of adventure have served him well, as he has become one of the most talked-about American film directors. 1999's "Being John Malkovich" and 2002's "Adaptation" were both formidable stories told with Jonze's slick mix of absurdist humor and childlike melancholy, but it's the recently-released "Where the Wild Things Are" that solidifies Jonze as a true genius.
Of course, the director has had a long history with MTV. »
- Kyle Anderson
The L Word: The Final Season
22 October 2009 12:43 AM, PDT | HollywoodNorthReport.com | See recent HollywoodNorthReport.com news »
Behind-the-scenes photos by actress Jennifer "Flashdance" Beals on the set of the Vancouver-lensed TV series The L Word have appeared as part of a photographic journal in the new L Word Final Season 6 DVD set. The Us/Canadian co-production for Showtime television portrayed the lives of a group of women, their friends, family and lovers in the trendy Los Angeles-area city of West Hollywood, California, airing from 2004 to March 2009. The show was created by executive producer Ilene "Barb Wire" Chaiken for producers Steve "Being John Malkovich" Golin and Larry "Barbershop" Kennar. Season 6 cast included Beals as 'Bette Porter', Leisha Hailey as 'Alice Pieszecki' (who went on to star in the spin-off pilot The Farm), Laurel Holloman as 'Tina Kennard', Mia Kirshner as 'Jenny Schecter', Katherine Moennig as 'Shane McCutcheon', Pam Grier as 'Kit Porter', Rachel Shelley as 'Helena Peabody' and Daniela Sea as 'Max Sweeney'. Click the images to enlarge »
Where The Wild Things Are Review
19 October 2009 12:22 AM, PDT | Filmofilia | See recent Filmofilia news »
The children’s classic “Where the Wild Things Are” is only nine sentences long. The new, live-action film version is more than 90 minutes long. You might expect that clever director Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) and trauma-tested co-writer Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) would pad the story with extraneous detail to captivate modern kids and their parents.
Where the Wild Things Are is about a child’s innocence brushing up against reality’s prickles. As king, Max (solidly played by newcomer Max Records) inherits the wonder of power, bossing around the monsters in fits of rumpus fun. The child-like tyranny of fun is easy, but the party’s sheen wanes, and Max faces the actual responsibilities of leadership. When forced to deal with being a caretaker, mediator, and confidant to his kingdom’s dysfunction, Max is in way over his head. The monsters of his fantasy »
- Allan Ford
It's a Magical Place 'Where the Wild Things Are'
18 October 2009 9:25 PM, PDT | CinemaSpy | See recent CinemaSpy news »
With the help of bestselling author and hipster favorite Dave Eggers, director Spike Jonze has turned a nearly wordless picture book into a full-length feature. Where the Wild Things Are brims with creativity, imagination, and the untamed spirit of childhood—all hallmarks of Maurice Sendak’s enduring creation. With its PG-rating and source material, Jonze’s film might seem like standard children’s fare, but there’s a palpable sense of loneliness, sadness, and unpredictability rarely felt in mainstream family films.
Like Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits and Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, Where the Wild Things Are boasts an undercurrent of darkness that might surprise children and any unwitting parents unfamiliar with Jonze’s past work in Adaptation and Being John Malkovich. However, despite its sometimes melancholy mood, this adaptation is often buoyant with moments of joy and gleeful abandon.
Max (Max Records) is a terror of a child »
'Where the Wild Things Are' Leads the Rumpus at Box Office
18 October 2009 8:25 PM, PDT | Aceshowbiz | See recent Aceshowbiz news »
"Where the Wild Things Are" kicked off a wild rumpus at the North American box office by opening atop the chart over the weekend. Winning over adult audiences with 43% of the moviegoers being 18 and older, the Spike Jonze-directed fantasy drama scared up an estimated $32.5 million. The number beat analysts' expectations by about $2 million.
With the impressive bow, "Wild Things" became the second successful adaptation of a children's book in recent weeks following "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs". It also marked the best debut for Jonze. The filmmaker's two previous movies, "Being John Malkovich" and "Adaptation", took in only as much as $22.9 million and $22.5 million respectively during their domestic runs.
"I can't imagine too many people who could do what Spike did," said Dan Fellman, the head of distribution for Warner Bros. said. "He had always felt deeply about the book, and he delivered a movie that evokes those same feelings. »
- AceShowbiz.com
Box Office Report: 'Wild Things' is king with $32.5 mil
18 October 2009 11:36 AM, PDT | EW - Hollywood Insider.com | See recent EW.com - Hollywood Insider news »
After a long and troubled production, Warner Bros.' Where the Wild Things Are found its supper waiting, and it was hot to the tune of $32.5 million, according to early estimates by Hollywood.com Box Office. The movie was easily the best debut for acclaimed director Spike Jonze, whose two previous films, Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, ended their domestic runs at $22.9 million and $22.5 million, respectively. All eyes will be watching to see how much Wild Things, with its reported $80 million budget, drops next weekend. The film earned a relatively solid "B+" grade from CinemaScore moviegoers, but some families may »
- John Young
Synecdoche New York – Review
18 October 2009 8:23 AM, PDT | FilmShaft.com | See recent FilmShaft.com news »
*Warning: Contains mild spoilers*
Thought provoking, ambitious, confusing, disturbing. Four words that are very different and yet each one can be applied to screenwriter Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut. The sheer scale and ambition of his masterpiece is both courageous and truly mind-boggling, however I was left with the distinct feeling that in the pursuit of art, Kaufman has created a film so complex and confusing that it could fail to reach a mainstream audience on any real emotional level.
Pronounced “si-neck-dockee”, Synecdoche New York was always expected to be a strange; some would say “zany” ride. Having written such trips as Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Kaufman’s first excursion into the world of film direction had high hopes all-round. While the director succeeds in confounding the audience, he fails to then provide a successful narrative on which the viewer can follow the »
- Craig Sharp
Where Are the Wild Things? Skateboarding with Spike Jonze
16 October 2009 1:49 PM, PDT | Vanity Fair | See recent Vanity Fair news »
Lance Mountain, Spike Jonze, and Mark Gonzales. Photograph by Fred Benenson. Ten years ago, following the release of the critically acclaimed, quirky comedy Being John Malkovich, New York City's Museum of Modern Art approached the film's director, Spike Jonze, about doing a retrospective at the museum. Shocked, Jonze rejected MoMA’s offer, saying that he had only had one feature film, surely not enough of a career to warrant an exhibition. Now Jonze has given in, and this Sunday, MoMA wraps up its two-week Filmmaker in Focus series “Spike Jonze: The First 80 Years.” (He’s 39). Last night, on the eve of one of the most anticipated movies of the year, Where the Wild Things Are, which Jonze co-wrote and directed, the filmmaker celebrated his retrospective with a screening of skateboarding videos from the 1980s to the present, and a question-and-answer session with skate-industry legends Lance Mountain, Jake Phelps, Greg Hunt, »
2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999
1-20 of 121 articles from 2009 « Prev | Next »
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